Hydraulic Bursting in Concrete Cutting Sydney

Concrete cutting Sydney involves the demolition, shattering, or removal of concrete, either in; slabs, beams, and walls or floors partially or totally. Concrete cutting has to be done delicately and carefully, especially where the concrete material is a support for the structure(s).

Hydraulic bursting is one of the methods of concrete cutting, but unlike other methods, hydraulic bursting is a more advanced and stress-free method for concrete cutting. Hydraulic bursting involves a high, non-percussive pressure method, which consists of the use of buster heads inserted in holes previously drilled into the area close to the concrete part to be demolished or destroyed.

Working Principle

Before the hydraulic bursting is applied to the concrete, a hole is first drilled into the concrete material/structure. The hole sizes may vary (48mm to 200mm), depending on the thickness and toughness of the structure to be cut. Holes can be drilled using different drilling methods or materials, the most notable of them all being the diamond drilling machines.

Once the drilling is complete, the buster head of the hydraulic bursting machine is inserted into the drilled hole(s). Then, the pressure it exerts on the walls of the concrete, and the holes are increased to up to 2000 tons per square meter (2kpa).

The increased pressure exerted on the concrete makes the concrete crack up in larger areas at first, then continuous application further cracks it into smaller pieces. This ensures a safer and noiseless method of shattering the concrete structure. This pressure is maintained on the concrete structure until the whole concrete is shattered (for total structural demolition).

Advantages of Using the Hydraulic Bursting for Concrete cutting Noiseless and moderately inexpensive

The hydraulic bursting technique is a highly noiseless process, apart from the pre-drilling. Hydraulic bursting also involves the use of hydraulic (liquid) pressure, and this is an otherwise silent process. This can be very helpful in areas abhorrent to noise like hospitals, workplaces, schools.

The hydraulic bursting method is also a cost-effective method of concrete cutting. The process of cutting is moderately cheaper compared to other methods.

Reduces injury and wear caused by vibrations

Most concrete cutting methods involve the use of machines that generates lots of vibrations. Vibration is largely undesirable both to the humans, the machine, and the overall structure.

In humans, prolonged exposure to vibrations causes severe injury to man such as:

• Hand-arm vibration syndrome;

• Carpal Tunnel syndrome;

• Vibration white finger.

In machines, vibrations causes wear and reduce machine efficiency. Vibration from the machine also affects the integrity of the structure, where partial concrete cutting is to be performed.

The hydraulic bursting is a suitable method since it does not have vibrating parts.

Very useful in small, enclosed areas

Sometimes, work has to be done in little areas. Hydraulic bursting involves controlled/ measured crunching or demolition of concrete. Since this method does not involve the use of percussion or large equipment, it can be carried out in small spaces.

Dust-free

The use of the hydraulic bursting method means the concrete is cracked measuredly, as opposed to explosive destruction means, which is characteristic of other cutting methods or crude methods.

Varied source of energy

Unlike other cutting methods, the hydraulic bursting method can operate with either electrical or chemical (hydrocarbons, e.g. petrol, diesel) sources of energy. This can prove very useful where one of the sources of energy is unavailable.