E.B. Eddy Digester Tower, Gatineau, Quebec

Description:
The E.B. Eddy Digester Tower is a five-storey stone masonry structure 32m tall and 10m by 13m in plan, which was constructed approximately 100 years ago. The tower contains a large digester tank, which extends from the ground to the fourth floor level. Between the fourth and fifth floors, there is a large wooden hopper, which is supported on structural steel framing

The Digester Tower is comprised of stone masonry load bearing walls and reinforced concrete slabs at floor levels 2 through 4. The fifth floor and the roof are of timber construction.

Work Performed:
In May of 2002, a Structure & Stonework Stablitiy Feasibility Study was performed and the preliminary results of the seismic analysis showed that the structure could not resist the minimum seismic loads that are stipulated by the National Research Council’s (NRC) guidelines for its area.

Due to this, temporary stabilization measures were put into effect in 2003. These measures consisted of increasing the wall thickness on both sides of the front entrance at the west elevation and filling a number of openings in the Tower with concrete block masonry.