DAU and ETA documentation for our Geoconnect connectors

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DAU and ETA documentation for our Geoconnect connectors

Geoconnect LL®

The Geoconnect MP and Geoconnect LL connectors for structural joints are two of our most characteristic, innovative products because of the role they play as devices to permit transferring shear stresses through structural joints between floor structures, slabs, beams or walls.

In fact, the Geoconnect® products are the first structural connectors to be certified in Europe with the CE marking, issued by the Institute of Construction Technology of Catalonia (ITeC).

Geoconnect connectors with DAU and ETA certification

The ITeC is the official body that issues Documents of Assessment for Fitness of Use (DAU) and European Technical Assessment (ETA).

The Document of Assessment for Fitness of Use is a statement containing a favourable opinion regarding the performance of an innovation in relation to the planned uses envisaged in building and civil engineering.

On the other hand, the ETA document contains a documented assessment of construction product performance in regard to special features, in accordance with the European Technical Assessment document.

Geoconnect connectors, both the MP and the LL, have both been awarded the aforementioned documents, more specifically:

What differences are there between Geoconnect MP: and Geoconnect LL?

Here is a reminder about the uses of each model:

Geoconnect® MP

Connectors to transmit shear stresses between:
beams, slabs or floor structures to walls, piles or concrete supports without any relative displacement between them.

(*) Example of substituting a corbel with a Geoconnect® MP connector between floor structure and wall (fixed connection).

Geoconnect® LL

Connectors to transmit shear stresses between:
slabs, slabs and beams or supports, and between walls, creating an expansion joint where these items meet.

(*) Example of substituting double pillar solutions for Geoconnect® LL connectors in the expansion joint (connection allowing displacement)

The Institute of Construction Technology of Catalonia differentiates between them as follows: “the joint with the Geoconnect® MP connector comprises a fixed joint between the connected components (without relative displacement between them), whereas the Geoconnect® LL connector comprises an expansion joint preventing vertical movement and with relative displacement along the axis of the dowel (one direction), or according to the horizontal plane of the dowel (two directions)”.

A Geoconnect® connector for each use

In addition to the above, ITeC adds that “by design, the Geoconnect® MP connector, unlike the Geoconnect® LL connector, does not provide reinforcement or local reinforcement on the wall, pile or support side, and the fault mode of local crushing of the concrete on that side of the joint for the Geoconnect® MP connectors requires additional checks”.

Hence, “the performance of the products and the methodology for determination thereof in the respective DAU/ETA documents are therefore different and are not interchangeable”.

More specifically:

For a fixed connection between a horizontal component and a vertical component: the Geoconnect® MP connector should be used, in line with the declared performances in DAU 15/095.

For a connection between two components with a joint where movement takes place between them: the Geoconnect® LL connector should be used, in line with the declared performances in DAU 15/096.