What is Hydraulic Concrete Bursting and What are the Advantages?

Also known as concrete bursting, hydraulic bursting offers a safe and efficient means of dealing with large concrete structures. It is becoming increasingly popular as a means of dealing with otherwise dangerous and lengthy demolition tasks, and offers many advantages over more traditional methods of breaking up concrete.

How does concrete bursting work?

Small holes are drilled into the concrete surface using diamond drill bits and the hydraulic bursters are inserted into the space and slowly expanded. This action puts immense pressure on the structure, causing the concrete to crack and break into smaller, easier to handle pieces.

Uses of concrete bursting

Concrete bursting is suitable for use in a huge range of settings on concretes of varying thicknesses and strengths. Because of the power that hydraulic bursting offers, this method is often used on reinforced concrete masses that other methods of demolition struggle to tackle. Just some of the uses of concrete bursting include:

• Walls
• Floors
• Foundations
• Pillars
• Beams
• Dams
• Bridges
• Nuclear power stations

Hydraulic bursting produces effective results against concrete, brickwork and natural stone.

Advantages of concrete bursting

The popularity of concrete bursting among the demolition industry is due to the benefits it holds to both the client and the demolition crew:

• Reduced noise pollution: The process is virtually silent, which makes it an ideal demolition solution for areas where there is a noise restriction.
• Reduced vibration: This technique relies very little on drilling, which reduces the risk of contracting a vibration related injury (a topic we’ve discussed in a previous article), which construction workers are highly susceptible to. This makes the entire process much safer and more comfortable for the team working on the job.
• Extremely effective for large structures: Even the most advanced  tools can struggle against large, immensely strong concrete structures, but the bursting method makes tackling the problem much simpler by reducing the structure into manageable sized chunks.
• Dust free: Because this process cracks the concrete rather than demolishing it, hydraulic crunching creates far less dust than other methods of concrete cutting, making the process much cleaner.
  
• Can be used in confined spaces: The equipment used for this process can be operated in very tight or small spaces, and as the crunching does most of the work, there is a reduced need for staff to be on site, allowing operations in confined spaces to run smoothly.
• Multiple power options: The equipment can be run on electric, diesel or petrol.

Concrete Drilling Services use the finest Brokk equipment to perform the quietest, quickest and cleanest hydraulic concrete bursting possible, operating throughout Bolton, Manchester, Liverpool and the surrounding areas. With 30 years’ experience, fully qualified, professional staff and top quality tools, you can rely on us for an efficient performance. For more information on our concrete bursting services, or any of our other services, get in contact today. We’ll be happy to help.