Using Polyurethane Foam for Infrastructure and Industrial Applications

Most polyurethane foam concrete lifting jobs are residential or commercial, but polyurethane foam for infrastructure also has significant applications in industrial and infrastructure projects.

Some involve large-scale applications of concrete lifting or void filling. In other cases, they involve specialty polyurethane foam applications.

Examples of Using Polyurethane Foam for Infrastructure and Industrial Applications:

Lifting and Under-sealing Streets with Polyurethane Foam

You can use PolyPier polyurethane foam for road or highway projects in multiple ways.

The first group mimics how polyurethane foam is used on other concrete slabs, such as sidewalks, but simply on a larger scale.

If a portion of a road is sinking or if there is a known underground void that could cause problems, polyurethane foam can be injected to level the roadway and fill the subsurface voids.

The second application is the use of polyurethane foam as an undersealing agent. In this case, the foam acts as a barrier, preventing water absorbed into the more permeable pavement surface from reaching the base layer, where it could cause damage.

PolyPier offers several different foams suitable for roadway applications. Read more about them here.

Airport Runways

Airport runways are among the concrete slabs that have to withstand the heaviest traffic. Sinking slabs and cracking concrete can be a problem, especially if they reach a level where portions of the runway need to be redone, taking it out of service during construction and curing.

Polyurethane foam provides several key advantages. First, if done by a trained contractor, it can be both precise and long-lasting. Second, it has a short application process and cures quickly, reducing the runway’s downtime while solving the sinking slab problem.

Abandoned Tank and Pipe Filling

When an underground tank or pipe is taken out of service, the best option is to remove it from the ground entirely.

Sometimes, however, this is either impossible or not cost-effective. Filling the tank or pipe with an inert material is still necessary to avoid collapse or other issues. Foam is an excellent solution to this problem.

Unlike some of the other options, the foam requires a small opening to be sprayed into the tank or pipe. It is also lightweight. This reduces the headaches if you must eventually remove the tank.

See the types of PolyPier suitable for tank filling applications.

Trench Breakers

Trench breaks are often installed during pipeline construction to inhibit water flow, prevent erosion, and prevent the trench from collapsing.

Stacks of sandbags were once the method of choice. Now, polyurethane foam is used instead. This method is more efficient and versatile than sandbags, easily adapting to almost any trench size.

Learn More About the Uses of PolyPier

If you want to learn more about how your business can use PolyPier’s various polyurethane foams, contact us today.