When a new pedestrian tunnel leading to Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, began leaking water, PENETRON delivered an emergency treatment that stopped the leaks and virtually eliminated any further groundwater penetration.
Initially opened in June 2016, the new 110-foot (30 m) long and 8-foot (2.5 m) wide shotcrete tunnel was built under a busy roadway to connect the Nationwide Children’s Hospital with the parking garages located on the Nationwide campus in Columbus, Ohio. The tunnel was built approximately two stories below grade (starting at approximately 24-feet and extending down to 32-feet) to avoid disturbing in-street utilities and infrastructure; it comprises a 15-foot (4.5 m) diameter ring of steel plates with a structural concrete liner.
Unfortunately, the new tunnel was plagued with leaking conditions from the start. At the job site, the PENETRON Project Manager realized that a radical treatment was urgently needed to seal the structure. PENETRON prescribed an immediate application of PENEPLUG, a rapid-setting, crystalline-based, compound effective at stopping active leaks, even under high hydrostatic pressure. Once the flowing leakages were stopped, cracks were cleaned out and filled with PENECRETE MORTAR to provide protection against water ingress. Finally, two layers of PENETRON, a topical crystalline waterproofing material, were sprayed – in a shotcrete application – on the walls, ceiling and floor of the tunnel.
Regardless of the tunnel width or length, the concrete used in underground tunnels must have low permeability, self-healing capabilities and a lasting resistance to hydrostatic pressure to keep the tunnel stable and dry. The PENETRON System – with its permeability-reducing crystalline technology – used on the pedestrian tunnel at the Children’s Hospital reliably ensured lasting impermeability to hydrostatic pressure.
Nationwide Children’s Hospital is a primary pediatric hospital in Columbus, Ohio, with more than 1,280 medical staff members and over 10,000 employees. The pedestrian tunnel was part of a massive $730 million expansion project, including a five-story, $115 million outpatient care center, a six-story, $45 million office building and a Behavioral Health Pavilion.
PENETRON has been proven an effective technology for tunnel designers and tunnel repair personnel and used in projects around the world, including bikeways in Ohio, train tunnels in Pennsylvania, utility tunnels in Utah, more train and highway tunnels in South America and Europe – and on and on!
