Keep your boots on Andersen

Keep your boots on Andersen. We have a job for you. We have a bridge to build and therefore in need of a lot of interim construction.

Did I hear somebody say crane? This is a crane; a big crane designed to bring 80 m bridge section to shipment. One of the tracks was pile foundation, and that track brought my geotechnical profile to a test few weeks after my arrival.

It looks like an easy challenge to follow the rammer and be sure that we end up with 20 cm subsidence at seven blows from the ram block and be sure, that we have a load capacity at approximately 280-300 KN.

It was an easy task until that morning he raised a 15 m pile up in the ram tower, led the hammer block rest at it on top, lose the breaker and the pile disappeared for your eyes. Without a single blow from the hammer, it literary disappeared from the surface of the earth.

That was not what the geotechnical rapport show me. From that point on the track to harbour, was there absolutely no solid ground under the pile.

Eye contact with me college was not possible. They had all their special job functions to take care of, and my problem was not looking nice. So! >>Welcome on board Andersen. Your problem! Solve it.<<

By change the foundation distance and observing the regeneration factor's dependence of time by re-driving, we managed to find areas of clay, which could exhibit sufficient shear strength. But we could not find solid ground under the piles. They ended up hanging in the clay all together.

Google Sites

Report abuse