Underground—Global—Special—Tunneling
BULLFLEX ® Support Pillars prove their Load-Bearing Capacity:
Successful Tests at the NIOSH Laboratory
BULLFLEX ® Support Pillars have been developed as a special supporting member featuring an excellent load-bearing
capacity. Their main fields of application are auxiliary standing support, artificial pillars, and corner slumps, as well
as repair work in overstressed or fault zone areas. Other applications include the rehabilitation of visitor mines or the
construction of bulkheads or dams.
The BULLFLEX ® system consists of patented
textile groutable hoses made of high-strength
fabric, which are subsequently filled with a
cement-bonded building material.
BULLFLEX ® Support Pillars are used wherever
a fast support solution is required. Due to
their active setting load and immediate load
transfer, support pillars, which are also referred
to as pumpable cribs, work like a strong
hydraulic prop that can be left in position as
a permanent standing support. Besides, the
BULLFLEX ® system has an active pre-loading
feature and a higher safety support factor
38
compared to conventional supplementary
standing support systems. for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in
the USA.
Recently, improved BULLFLEX ® Support Pillar
versions were developed that had to be tested
in terms of load-bearing capacity. Due to the
high load-bearing capacity levels featured
by BULLFLEX ® Support Pillars, only a few
testing laboratories are able to conduct load
testing on pillar samples. One laboratory with
long-term experience in testing and evaluation
of standing support systems is the Pittsburgh
Research Laboratory of the National Institute The testing program was developed by DSI in
cooperation with the partner and supply firm
BuM Beton- und Monierbau GmbH, Herten,
Germany. In May 2015, 5 Type 25-29"
(63.5-73.5cm) BULLFLEX ® Pillars with a height
of approximately 2.5m (8ft) and 5 Type 20-23"
(51.0-58.5cm) BULLFLEX ® Pillars with a height
of approximately 2.1m (7ft) were prepared
as test samples in Germany and shipped to
Pittsburgh.