Designing anchors for a 100-year design life

Designing anchors for a 100-year design life

Civil infrastructure is commonly designed for a lifetime of 100 years. This presents a challenge when we consider the primary international approvals for anchors (ETA in Europe and ERS in USA) are based on an assumed working life of 50 years.

When we look at the design life of a chemical anchor, for any duration, we must consider load resistance performance, displacement and durability. In the case of 50-year working life ETA documents, these are based on assessment to the European Assessment Document 'EAD-330499-00-0601- Bonded anchors for use in concrete' which includes assessment such as extrapolation of sustained load data to 50- years.

In October 2020, the assessment document, ‘EAD 330499-01-0601 - Bonded fasteners for use in concrete’ including new provisions for a service life of 100 years was accepted and published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU). This new EAD follows a similar assessment approach as the previous 50-year working life EAD but typically with extended test durations and test cycles.

Based on the latest European assessment document for bonded anchors, Hilti has qualified injection mortar systems for use as anchors and for subsequent reinforcement connections with a service life of at least 100 years. This is documented in the relevant European Technical Assessments (ETA’s) for both the Hilti HIT-RE 500 V3 injection epoxy system and the new HIT-HY 200-R V3 fast-setting injection mortar, which is the first fast-cure bonded anchor in the market with a prolonged service life.

HIT-HY 200-R V3 is fully cured and ready for loading in 1 hour (base material >20°) after installation. In large civil projects where productivity is critical this is a significant advantage over epoxy based chemical anchors products which can take 8 hours or more to cure.

For assistance on how to use this new data in your 100-year working life design please contact your local Hilti engineer or contact us by submitting an enquiry on the right.