Water Ingress Into Reinforced Concrete Structure

Dear Sparkstation

Thanks for your feedback. All regulatory systems are in place, hence the need for some action. We are weighting various options at the moment. The viruses and bacteria are basically harmless to humans but can be catastrophic for the livestock industry (we are working with animal borne diseases), and the facility is a quarantine in itself. I started in this position on July 01, 2008, so I would say I am fairly new in this position.

Kind regards

Mag

Dear Mag,

I completely agree with the advice given by Sparkstation. I urge you to act immediately. To do otherwise would be criminal negligence.

Best regards,

Pores in the concrete, seeping expansion joints, stress cracks, all could be the source of the leakage. I concur the safety factor overrides all other considerations. I can't think that you'd be engaged in this kind of research without ongoing oversight by some regulatory agency or other. Make sure they are involved in finding the solution from the beginning - you do NOT want to be accused of a cover-up!

Do you think this post is for real? How would you be able to be in charge of maintenance of a facility like this and not know of safety regulations? How could a facility of this type not be under constant inspections by someone? And why "Guest"

If the answer to your first question is "yes", then the obvious answer to the last one is "anonymity". The answer to the second one is "I have NO idea, unless it's the result of one of those bogus diplomas we discussed in an earlier thread". And the remaining answer is "not likely, unless the anti-science faction of the current administration abdicated all sense of propriety". If the answer to your first question is "no", then all bets are off on the rest. Except the third one, that's still possible...

If it is half as real/possible as it sounds we should be able to follow the next chapter in our news papers. Unless big brother decides it would be better for us not to know.

They wouldn't do that would they?

BAB

Few days back in Bihar state in India there was serious situation of bursting of one of the big dam in northern part of Bihar where the river Kosi flows.It lead to diversion of the river water,many villages were flooded, millions lost their homes, property of millions of Dollars worth was lost, standing corps were damaged,many people lost their lives. Relief operation are going on but it brought misery to many poor people.

So this can happen anywhere if dams gets bursted due to corrosion of RCC in dam's structure.

Suresh Sharma.

Hi,

ultraviolet light (if intense) is eating away any organic life. So if contamination is on the surface, you may try this.

If to go deeper - this seems to be the biggest problem, then take hydrogen-peroxide.

(UV light is producing H202 from water).

If in direct contact a concentration of 3% is enough, but in your situation I would stay with commercial quality 35% - to be stabilised - ! This material can decompose by many catalysts and then boil, evaporate, detonate with organics etc.

So you really need a specialist who is familiar with this.

This has a big advantage: it will find the same leaks as the leaking water. This is not really expensive and easy to handle with minimum safety efforts.

Chlorine may do the same disinfection but much more difficult to apply!

If you have done the first disinfection and you are convinced that everything is safe then it is advisable to flush with a water-fluoresceine solution. (I suppose that the fluoresceine is not surviving in the peroxide - to be tested).

With this you can detect for many kilometers downstream where the contaminated solution is coming to the surface again!

If you get tiny amounts of the reddish powder on your skin and add some water or look at you eyes you will see green color for days!

If you take a spectrometer tuned to this green color you may see it 1000km downstream.

Subsequent additional action suggested at sites where the water shows up again!

RHABE

Umm reinforced concrete. Iron+ H2O2=corrosion, and concrete is permeable. So H2O2 would probably kill some of the biologicals residing in the pores, but it may well rapidly accelerate degradation of the structural integrity of the facility. also, you do not usually get much H2O2 production fro UV light tranmission into water, the reactive agent in water drived from the interaction with UV light is tyically OH radicals. Again chlorine is worse as concrete is more permeable to gases, chlorine attacks and degrades the cementtitious materials and the reinforcing steel.

It is likely the water issues is either from a crack/fissure in the concrete or some other opening, as concrete tends to be relatively low permeability in the range of 10^-8 cm/s +/- an order of magnitude. Other openings might include drainage systems that are being infiltrated, as all drainage systems pipes tend to leak and infiltrate/exfiltrate subsurface waters. Are there any types of floor drains or such. also, any pipe structures penetrating concrete can pipe pipe water in along the void space between the concrete and the pipe, check the seals (if used) along all concrete pipe penetrations (or any system penetraions of the concrete for that matter). The water must infiltrate/exfiltrate the facility fairly rapidly if it is readily correlated to the surface water depths in a overlying basin. Obviously, as concrete is permeable to water, if you have sufficient head across the concrete, you will move sufficient water through to get moisture on the walls and drainage down to the floor where it collects, but this is a highly attenuated flow that tends to show response on the inside well after water pressures have developed on the outside.

Thirty year old tanks may be hard to repair and/or water proof. However, there are systems taht are designed to completely coat the inside oif copncrete tanks with a material that dries to a plastic film coating that is impervious to attack by water and some more aggressive liquids. The problem as I see it with these coatings is that they require that you empty the tank and dry it before application. That could pose several problems, not the least of which may be compromising the structural integrity of the tank. At the depth you indicate and with the saturated soil around the tank, there is the distinct possibility that the walls may collapse when the tank is de-watered.

If the leaks are small, there is a foam agent that is sold in cartridges that are the same size as a standard caulking compound and may be dispensed with the same type of "gubns" that are used for caulking. This compound will expand when it comes in contact with water and we use it to seal cracks and holes in precast concrete tanks. Again, the tank must be de-watered at least to the level of the leak and the integrity of the concrete wall may be suspect.

I would suggest that you try a Google search for your needs and see what you get.

Good luck.

if what i have understood is correct the structure is 30year old and water is seeping out then please check for the wall joint ie place where vertical wall and floor joins the other culprit can be weak wall when the internal pressure increased due to flood the wall might have given way for if this problem has started recently there is no scope for one to think of air pockets in wall or floor.

the remidy for this is chip the joint superficially apply cementetious waterproof compound mixed with cement in thin format and follow it with thick slurry and resurface the plaster after that if you dont get the vaccum sound then give tow coats of pu or polyurea coating.

eventually you get to hear vaccum sound then try to open that and replaster the surface as indicated about and then after giving one base coat of epoxy fix pre impregnated frg cloth 5 mesh size and top coat it with exposy this will reseumably be a permenant solution

raghunath

hi

There has been reference to microbes etc this can be cleared using phosporic acid and detergent combination and once that is done there is anti microbial plaster and also coating which can be used this is specifically designed to resist the ingress of microbes

i can help you procure these products in case you are intrested.

raghunath protectsystems

Hello protectsystems2004

Phosphoric acid actually eats into concrete, so that is not a good idea.

The major problem at this installation appears to be both flooding plus extremely dangerous viruses & bacteria.

The viruses and bacteria will by now have permeated right into the concrete, and without destroying the concrete, they cannot be removed.

Please read my earlier post.

I would be very concerned if your above advice was taken.

Kind Regards....

hi

i suggested to use it with detergent 15% of phosporic acid and 25% detergent combi on trial and error method will solve your problem also the permiation time for the combi gives you 2 min you can dilute the coat using water within 2 min so that it wont enter the surface deep down. try this product made by chemline from usa if u want i can outsource it for u r u can take it directly u can talk to one john hennigson if its k u can refer my name r u can talk directly

The phosphoric acid will react with the calcium and magnesium to form a strong crystalline structure that will accelerate re-ifection of the structure, as phosphate is a primary micronutrient for all life. Add a little nitrate and you would have a bloom on your hands. Additionally ther eis a disposal issue, since phosphates disposal is restricted.

Hello "Guest",

The whole topic as originally posted appears to be hypothetical, at least I hope it is.

The reason I state that, is that no installation of the type you describe would have been built in the manner you state.

Either that, or if there is a real installation as you have described, the reason for it being built 10 metres underground, and poorly designed, and even worse, poorly constructed, makes me think that the organisation you say you work for is in the business of germ warfare, and intends to use that against others.

If you are genuine, the installation is a real situation, and you can actually leave the installation, do so, and blow the whistle on the activity without delay.

Perhaps you are in the Military, or contracted to them, but if at all possible, advise others of the location, so proper remedial action may be taken.

Kind Regards....

hello;are you saying you have holes to put up your scaffolding?which might be causing leaks?if you can't replace the wall its self,have you thought of cutting out the holes and pouring supports in place for the scaffolding,so this can be sealed-and left in place? plenty of rust proof material out there that will support this,hope this helps,is so please answer and let me know.