Causes of Ironwork Failure

.

Failures of highway ironwork are unfortunately commonplace. Scott Wilson Kirkpatrick identified in a study that on principal routes, half of all of manholes will have failed within 2 years, but why? 

The failure modes have been well studied and fall into three main categories: 

Image
Image
Image

The problem with traditional repairs

Traditional repairs fail time and time again. Studies of 1,500 highway ironwork failures showed that in 100% of circumstances, more than one failure mode was identified including bedding mortar, packing, brickwork, road surface surround and ironwork.  

The main problems surrounding traditional repairs are: 

  • Structural problems 
  • Financial problems 
  • Litigation problems 
Image