Strengthening works to the new Transportation Hub Office Building using TYFO^® Fibrwrap^® Systems

In view of the expected increase of inter province travelers in China for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, a new commercial complex was developed to function as both a new transit cum waiting area as well as an office tower. The site is situated near the Beijing Inter Province Passenger Transportation Hub, one of the biggest passenger transportation hubs in the South East Asia. Upon completion, future passengers can look forward to enjoying a wide range of shopping areas and eateries while waiting in transit.

During construction of the second storey slabs, the developer made a sudden and bold decision to increase the proposed height of the building from 16 stories to a revised height of 20 stories. The structural engineers involved in the project had prior experience with the TYFO^® SEH51 glass fiber fabric and therefore designed and specified TYFO^® SEH51 glass fiber fabric to be wrapped onto the deficient columns to accommodate the additional loads. A total of fifty numbers of columns each approximately 3.2m high was strengthened to sustain the increase in loading.

As using glass fiber for structural strengthening was relatively new to the resident engineer and the awarded subcontractor for this project, Fyfe China provided technical support to help address design as well as solve site queries and problems. The TYFO^® SEH51 glass fabric turned out to be very well received by the owner, engineers and the applicator.