Steel Shim Substitute 1

[mjohan]

Is anyone familiar with a material which could be used as a steel shim substitute?

The scenerio is a failed concrete column with a square steel column wrapped around it as a fix. At the top was a fabricated cap plate which was intended to have full bearing with a steel beam bearing plate. The actuality of it is the new cap plate has 1/4" gaps, all situated different. I was wondering if their is an epoxy or grout which could be injected in these gaps to create a full bearing situation? Because of the irregularities of the gaps, steel shims will not work. The compressive strength would also need to be around 8000 psi.

Thanks,
Mark

 

[bridgebuster]

About 15 years ago I was a field engineer on a bridge rehab project. We used an epoxy manufactured by Dural(

http://www.tamms.com)

to act as a shim between the existing steel floorbeams and the new bearings (elastomer with steel load plates). The bridge carries mass transit. Due to excessive rotation and twisting of the stringers, the existing bearings had milled down the top flange of the floorbeams leaving a gap. At locations where the gap was fairly large (sorry but I don't recall how large was large)we added 1/8" stainless steel shims, per manufacturer's recommendations.

 

[mjohan]

The link was very helpful.

Thanks!