Alphatec Engineering

We predicted the peak temperature inside a 700 kg epoxy grout pour to within 0.1 °C.

Here is why that matters.

In a large pour, the grout generates its own heat. Add a summer ambient temperature and the exotherm stops being a footnote in the method statement. It becomes the variable that decides whether you get a sound block or a cracked one. Most teams find out which after demoulding.

So we stopped estimating and measured it. We reproduced a real industrial installation using our AT800 Epoxy Grouting System:

1,830 x 430 x 440 mm, approximately 700 kg, placed in a single continuous pour. Five embedded thermocouples logging the full thermal history, from gelation through the exothermic peak and back to ambient.

Results: Peak core temperature 71.8 °C Controlled thermal gradient across the section No cracking and no visible defects after demoulding

The number that matters most is the comparison. Our thermal model, calibrated over years of validation pours across different geometries, volumes, and pouring configurations, predicted 71.7 °C. Measured: 71.8 °C.

That means we can tell a client what the inside of their block will do before anyone opens a unit. Pour windows, shift planning, and hot weather precautions become decisions based on data rather than on how the last job went.

Anticipating a problem is worth more than solving it.

If you have a large pour scheduled in high ambient temperatures, we can model it first. Send us the geometry and the site conditions

Diamond wire cutting is not new for us. We have been cutting out failed foundations, concrete, and old anchor bolts this way for years, on jobs where the damage was too far gone to repair in place.

It now has its own page.

Vibration-free, precise cuts through heavily reinforced concrete, no jackhammering next to a live machine. The same crew then rebuilds it: new anchor bolts, concrete, epoxy grout, realignment.

At a power plant in Saipan, that meant cutting twelve concrete blocks (32 m³) and replacing 42 anchor bolts on a diesel engine foundation, with a return campaign in 2024.

Full details on the service page: https://alphatec-engineering.com/services/foundation-repair/diamond-wire-cutting-foundation-removal/

Most foundation failures get blamed on the equipment. The grout underneath is usually the real problem.

Vibration and temperature swings crack ordinary grout. Voids open up, bolts loosen, and bearings fail long before the machine should have worn out.

AT800 is built for exactly that: a proprietary epoxy grout rated from -40°C to +80°C, in service across 50 or more countries, from Arctic LNG plants to Middle Eastern refineries. Get more details here: https://alphatec-engineering.com/products/high-performance-epoxy-grouts-for-heavy-machinery/at800-alphatec-800-high-performance-epoxy-grout/

Cement grout reaches roughly 24 to 27 MPa compressive strength after 24 hours. Epoxy grout reaches roughly 55 to 70 MPa in the same 24 hours, and moves on to 85 to 100 MPa within 7 days.

That gap is why the European Forum for Reciprocating Compressors (EFRC) treats cement grout as a filler material for static equipment in its foundation design guidance, not a solution for anything carrying vibration or dynamic load.

Cement is cheaper, and it creeps less than epoxy under sustained load. It also bonds poorly to steel, has close to no chemical or oil resistance, and takes weeks rather than days to reach a strength that will actually support the machine.

For rotating equipment, that trade-off rarely goes cement's way.

Full EFRC report here:https://www.recip.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/EFRC-RD-Report-Foundation-Anchor-Bolts-Grouting-October-19th-2017.pdf

Some of the foundations we get called to are older than the plant's own maintenance records.

Cracking nobody logged. Old anchor bolt pockets from a repair three owners ago. A cold joint someone patched and never mentioned again.

What is the oldest foundation you have inherited, and what condition was it in when you first took it on? Photos welcome in the comments, we would genuinely like to see them. ⚙

A geothermal turbine foundation, built in an H-shape, had been showing rising vibration for some time. The engineers on site calculated the foundation's mass-to-power ratio and found it too low, so they added new concrete to build up the mass. Vibration stayed high.

The real problem wasn't mass. It was a cold joint between the old and new concrete. Cold joints aren't a structural defect under static load, but they don't transmit vibration energy well, so only the concrete above the joint was doing any damping.

We repaired it with an epoxy resin injection. Vibration dropped back to normal parameters.

If you're running geothermal turbines or pumps and seeing vibration that adding concrete won't fix, get in touch. This is exactly the kind of foundation problem we work on, in geothermal and across heavy industry.

Most LNG maintenance budgets are optimised for the 20% that barely moves profitability.

Benchmarking across LNG facilities shows that 80% of profitability gains come from increasing reliability and availability, only 20% from cutting costs. The industry benchmark for top performers is "0-99-97-95": zero incidents, 99% reliability, 97% availability, 95% utilisation. Unplanned downtime, not spend, is what separates plants that hit those numbers from plants that do not.

Reciprocating compressors and their foundations are among the most maintenance-intensive assets on an LNG train. A degraded foundation left unaddressed does not just cause vibration and misalignment, it risks the shutdown itself.

Alphatec carries out foundation repair and regrouting with the compressor in place, avoiding the extended outage a full replacement would require. Avoiding two days of downtime on an LNG train pays for the repair many times over.

Reach out to discuss a foundation assessment ahead of your next planned outage. 📊

Sources: Plant Reliability – Hint Global

Rip out the foundation and start again, or repair what's already there?

At a combined cycle power plant, a gas turbine had failed and its foundation mat was cracked deep inside, where testing found anomalies no surface patch could reach. The rebuild called for reusing the mat, not replacing it.

So we went in through 24 injection points: 126 litres of AT342 epoxy resin, seven hours straight, each point sealed under pressure with AT800 grout. The resin filled the cracks, voids, and cold joints and set into a monolithic mat, verified by core testing.

Four days on site. No new foundation. A turbine base sound enough to rebuild on.

New case study here: https://alphatec-engineering.com/success-cases/gas-turbine-mat-foundation-epoxy-resin-injection/ ⚙️

Nobody photographs anchor bolts. Everybody photographs the equipment they hold up.

This is Week 10 at DEG 6, Saipan. Full bolt replacement, in progress.

Drill the hole. Set the rod. Grout it in. Repeat, bolt by bolt, in a space too tight to rush.
It is unglamorous work. It is also the difference between a machine that runs for decades and one that shakes itself apart.

Reach out to talk anchor bolt replacement or foundation rehabilitation. ⚙️