Product
MonkeyBar
MonkeyBar is a revolutionary new reinforcing bar coupler system for joining lengths of steel in concrete construction. The MonkeyBar 'integral bar-coupler' has significant advantages over existing coupling methods, including quicker installation, fast and easy quality checking and reduction of the amount of steel required by up to 24%.
The MonkeyBar system can join any two separate standard reinforcing bars of the same diameter. The bars are factory modified at each end to produce an integral bar-coupler. The modified ends of the bar are fitted together on-site and effectively locked in place in a few seconds by a retaining sleeve. The sleeve is available in either a polymer or steel and slides over the outside of the coupled bar ends (as shown right).
Reinforcing steel coupling in concrete structures
Most major construction projects use concrete in the building process. Everything from residential to commercial high-rise development, roads, bridges and tunnels. Concrete is a material that is very strong in compression, but weak in tension. To compensate for this imbalance in concrete's behavior, reinforcing steel bars are cast into it to carry most of the tensile loads.
There are a myriad of applications for reinforced concrete like concrete columns, piers, beams, joists, floor and walls. In high-rise buildings, the concrete elements are generally built floor-by-floor such that reinforcing bar needs to be joined at each floor height. Reinforcing bar lengths are also restricted due to transport and handling issues on site. Therefore, wherever concrete is used that requires reinforcing bars, these bars must be joined together end-to-end. This joining is known in the market as "coupling".
Lapped bar and rebar couplers
There are a number of coupling systems commercially available. Current steel industry estimates are that about 80% of all coupling is done with overlapping of reinforcing bar, secured with steel wire wrapped manually by steel fixers. In vertical applications on a high-rise development the amount of overlap required, or the lap length, is approximately forty times the diameter of the steel bar being used. In a typical 30 storey high-rise building this equates to approximately 300 tonnes of reinforcing steel that could be saved by using MonkeyBar.
The relative low market penetration (20%) of competitive coupling devices is a result of their technical deficiencies and lack of strength, ductility and precision. MonkeyBar is designed with sufficient engineering performance to address the entire coupling market.
Product Range
MonkeyBar system is produced in the six most common diameter bars used in concrete construction: 16mm, 20mm, 24mm, 28mm, 32mm and 36mm couplers.
| Product Code | Bar Diameter | Double Ended Length | Steel Grade | Outside Diameter (fitted) |
MB16 | 16mm | Min. 1.5m to Max. 4m | N500 | 33.7mm |
MB20 | 20mm | Min. 1.5m to Max. 4m | N500 | 33.7mm |
MB24 | 24mm | Min. 1.5m to Max. 4m | N500 | 48.8mm |
MB28 | 28mm | Min. 1.5m to Max. 4m | N500 | 48.8mm |
MB32 | 32mm | Min. 1.5m to Max. 4m | N500 | 60.8mm |
MB36 | 36mm | Min. 1.5m to Max. 4m | N500 | 60.8mm |
