TOPCOR is becoming known more and more for its expertise in bridge repair, especially in coastal areas where chlorides have had such a severe impact on the reinforcing steel in structural concrete Cathodic Protection.

One of the major items on any bridge repair project is pile restoration.  Along the entire Gulf Coast and the southern East Coast, TOPCOR has specialized in the restoration of structural piles for bridges, docks, piers, ports, etc., through the use of Pile Jackets. 

Pile Jackets are available in a wide variety of configurations and end uses, but basically they provide a permanent “form”, usually manufactured of FRP (Fiberglass Reinforced Plastic), within which a repair material can be applied or pumped to restore the piles. 

Some examples:

Cathodic Protection Pile Jackets – this is an FRP jacket with zinc mesh installed on the inside wall.  This jacket is placed around a properly prepared concrete pile (round or square), the zinc is attached to the reinforcing steel to act as sacrificial cathodic protection, and a concrete mortar is pumped into the 2” annular space to fill the jacket.  The FRP stays in place and provides corrosion protection.  The zinc mesh protects the reinforcing steel from future corrosion.

Cathodic Protection Structural Pile Jackets – Similar to those above, with this system, we build an entirely new reinforcing cage and create a 6” annular space, which is filled with structural concrete.  These jackets not only cathodically protect the reinforcing steel, but they enhance the strength of the pile.

Epoxy Filled Pile Jackets – This system seals and protects piles that have little existing damage.  An FRP jacket is placed around a cleaned concrete pile and the annular space, only about ¾” is pumped with epoxy grout, which fully bonds to the concrete and the FRP jacket.

Epoxy Puttied Pile Jackets – Similar to above, these FRP jackets are pre-applied on the inside with an epoxy material and the two half shells are then applied to the pile and compressed to force out water and air, forming fully bonded and sealed epoxy FRP jacket protection.

Standard Concrete Filled Pile Jackets – These FRP jackets are formed similar to those above, but the annular space, which can vary, is simply filled with concrete to reinforce the pile.  Extra reinforcing steel is often added.

TOPCOR employs a full team of OSHA certified divers who are cross-trained to apply these jackets, usually installed partially above and partially below the water line.  The installation of Pile Jackets is usually accompanied by many of our other specialty services, such as:

Concrete Spall Repair
Metalized Zinc Cathodic Protection
Carbon Fiber Structural Strengthening
Bridge Joint Repair
Bridge Specialty Coatings 

Some examples of completed jobs:

Greater New Orleans Causeway Bridge – this 24-mile Causeway Bridge has a five-phase pile restoration project on-going.  We were the successful prime contractor on Phase D, encompassing 474 pile jackets on 54” and 36” diameter piles.  These were fiberglass Pile Jackets with epoxy grout pumped into the annular space.  Contract value $3.4 million.

Queen Isabella Causeway Bridge – in South Padre Island, TX, we performed this job as a sub-contractor in a TXDOT project.  We installed 48 square Cathodic Protection Pile Jackets, in addition to 125,000 square feet of metalized cathodic protection.  Contract value $2.2 million.

NASA Jay-Jay Bridge – this critical bridge carrying the fuel cells for the space shuttle required extensive pile restoration.  Using Cathodic Protection Structural Pile Jackets we restored over 100 square piles.  Contract value $850,000.