Rebar Support in earth-formed concrete 1

[geoleng]

I have a question about a practice that I am seeing on one of my projects. The concrete sub is supporting the rebar mat section of the pile caps with no. 4 bars driven into the earth (earth-formed pile caps) and wire tied to the mat. I spent some years in the western United States where in many localities and States this was strictly prohibited. For some reason my current company does not have an CRSI material, but I have ordered the Standards Manual. I was hoping to get this resolved before their next pour on May 8, 2006. I was wondering if anyone has some insight or code information on this. The site is in Maryland. Thanks

 

[SlideRuleEra]

Over the last 25 years, or so, I have seen this done and have actually allowed it to be used on certain (short useful lifetime) concrete structures. I know that the practice goes against the intent of codes and common sense.

However... when these concrete structures had served there purpose and were being removed (5 to 10 years after initial construction), I made it a point to look at the interface of concrete/rebar/soil. For whatever reason, have never seen any problems at all - and this was at an electric generation station (in South Carolina) where stray electric currents combined with a seasonal high water table (at top of ground) cause a lot of underground corrosion problems.

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