Manhole covers have different capacities. What are the factors that will help identify manhole covers’ capacity? What are the indicators that one should look at to identify its capacity as well as its life span.
In choosing the materials for manhole covers, the top priority is safety. Aside from the specific requirements that the law set, there are also other factors to consider including the life span of manhole covers made of specific materials. It is important to know how long the manhole cover will last. Different materials have different life span aside from other extrinsic factors that affect the manhole covers’ condition. No matter what kind of material it is made of, it is important that the manhole covers last a long time. There are limitations as to when one can say that a manhole cover has a long life span. First, one has to use the manhole cover for about thirty to fifty years before he or she recommends it. Second, even though different experimental methods and simulations can help, not all of these methods are reliable. Some of these are not even worth the time and effort. The best way is to perform experimental methods and stimulations with reference value.
To ensure that the manhole cover will last for a long time, the following aspects should be considered:
- It should be efficient when used in open-air locations. Different factors such as sun, rain, climate, and extremely high and low temperature should be considered. There are currently some artificial aging tests that place the manhole cover in hot and humid conditions. These artificial aging tests help estimate the life span of the manhole cover accurately.
- It should be used continuously with varying loads. Aside from the weight of passing vehicles, you should also test and consider whether or not the manhole cover can withstand vehicles passing by repeatedly. These vehicles can have different weights. While most tests check its one-time static load capacity, it is also important to check its long-term and dynamic load capacity. Such simulation will help identify the life span and resiliency of manhole covers.
- It should be tested via road simulation. The situation on the road is different from other places. Therefore, it is very important to simulate road use as that is where it would actually be used. You should consider using vehicles and incorporate gravel just like how the manhole covers’ situation will be once these covers are used on the road. This will test the wear resistance and the resiliency. This factor directly affects the life span of the manhole cover.
