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What are the problems if reinforcement is in contact with internal vibrators?

During concreting, if internal vibrators are placed accidentally in contact with some of the reinforcement bars, some undesirable effects may result. The most obvious one is that the reinforcement bars may become damaged or displaced if loosely tied.

Air bubbles tend to move towards the source of vibration. For poker vibrators touching the reinforcement bars, air pockets may be trapped in the vicinity of the reinforcement because the vibration generated by internal vibrators attracts these air bubbles. Consequently, the bond between the reinforcement and surrounding concrete would be impaired.

To produce good surface finish close to densely-packed reinforcement cage, workers may insert the poker vibrators in the gap between the reinforcement cage and formwork because the reinforcement cage tend to damp down the vibration effect when the vibrators are placed at a distance from the formwork. However, concentrated vibration within the cover region causes the migration of finer cement mortar to this region and results in changes in concrete colour. If the concrete cover is small, the chance of getting the poker vibrators jammed within the gap is high and the formwork is likely to be damaged by the vibrators.

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This question is taken from book named – A Self Learning Manual – Mastering Different Fields of Civil Engineering Works (VC-Q-A-Method) by Vincent T. H. CHU.

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Kanwarjot Singh

Kanwarjot Singh is the founder of Civil Engineering Portal, a leading civil engineering website which has been awarded as the best online publication by CIDC. He did his BE civil from Thapar University, Patiala and has been working on this website with his team of Civil Engineers.

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One comment on "What are the problems if reinforcement is in contact with internal vibrators?"

PRANESH RAO says:

what happens if vibrator is struck, while pouring of concrete?

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