The Fontana Drive Bridge in Box Hill is a recently completed bridge project that boasts a 100-year design life. This is a significant achievement in the field of bridge engineering, as it ensures the safety and longevity of the structure for future generations.

The bridge’s retaining walls, which consist of prestressed beams spanning across a river, were heavily reinforced. However, due to issues with vibration and compaction during the construction process, the concrete showed voids and honeycombing throughout the walls. This raised concerns with the council, contractor, and consulting engineers regarding the structural integrity of the bridge.

The team responsible for the project took swift action to address these concerns, putting people’s safety first. Our National Technical Manager “Hacene Baleh” personally inspected the site thoroughly and wrote a detailed full specification proposal on how to remediate the wall, both deep inside the concrete and on the surface. The proposed methods included the use of PENETRON, PENETRON CR-90, PENESEAL PRO RTU, and PENEGUARD. The results of these efforts were outstanding, and the bridge was approved for the intended 100-year design life.

In conclusion, the Fontana Drive Bridge in Box Hill serves as a shining example of the lengths that can be taken to ensure the safety and longevity of a bridge. The 100-year design life of this bridge demonstrates the effectiveness of the methods used to remediate the structure. Furthermore, the efforts of the team responsible for the project serve as a testament to the importance of collaboration, paying attention to detail, in the field of bridge engineering.

Penetron Australia was engaged to present a remedial solution for a wet basement in a watertable
area. The area had been treated with a bentonite blanket system and had a secant piling system
around the perimeter of the project. It was however, 12 months into the build, still leaking through
the piles to slab junction, through a section of the slab and through the piles themselves. Penetron
Admix was selected for the topping slab with Penebar SW-55 at all construction joints and around
pipe penetrations.

The major issue however was the continual moisture coming through the secant piles. There were
varying degrees of waterflow in-between the piles and moisture ingress through the piles. Some
sections had water spilling out in a stream. Contractors had been engaged to inject the leaks with
epoxy resin. As can be seen in the images below, it made for an ineffective and messy solution.
After an intense clean through pressure wash, Peneplug was recommended to stop all active
waterflow through the piles and Penecrete Mortar used to plug between piles where water was not
present, as a preventative measure. After all water flow had ceased, Penetron was spray applied to
the entire pilling wall from floor to ceiling, with particular attention to the junction where slab
meets piles.

The Gold Coast Desalination plant Project is part of Council’s Gold Coast Waterfuture Strategy and the State’s South East Queensland Regional Drought Strategy Contingency Supply Plan. It is the largest sea water desalination plant built on the eastern seaboard of Australia.

In July 2006, the State Government provided funding to Gold Coast City Council to support works associated with the proposed expansion of the desalination plant from an operational capacity of 55 megalitres (ML) per day to 125 megalitres (ML) per day.

The Gold Coast Desalination Alliance (GCDA) made the decision to protect any cracking that appeared in the concrete floors and walls in all storage tanks to ensure the long term durability and sustainability of the concrete structure for the asset owners for decades to come.

GCDA were seeking an innovate and superior solution and ultimately selected the Penetron repair system to undertake all the crack remediation where over 1,000 lineal metres of cracks were repaired and sealed using a combination of the following Penetron products where we were able to add some value engineering :

– Peneplug: Cementitious crystalline rapid setting anchoring plug.
– Penetron : Cementitious crystalline slurry.
– Penecrete Mortar: Cementitious crystalline mortar.

With this project being over 15 years old, it reinforces the strength, sustainability and durability of the Penetron system. Bring the power of Penetron to your next project.