Epic 8-month HS2 viaduct deck slide completes – video
The deck, which stretches for 450m, used to be assembled in three phases, ranging from 90m to 180m, with every body pushed out from the north abutment earlier than the subsequent allotment used to be bolted on in the aid of it.
This painstaking project meant that the weight of the deck increased with every push, up from an preliminary 590 tonnes at the starting up of labor in January – to three,700 tonnes by the level it reached the south abutment on Saturday.
At some level of the chase, particular pads lined in Teflon had been typical to minimise friction between the deck and the non permanent steel bearings on high of the concrete piers.
To relieve keep aid an eye fixed on, the deck – which weighs linked to 264 double-decker buses – used to be pushed reasonably uphill, with the discontinuance level roughly 1.8m greater than the starting up level.
With the steelwork now in declare, engineers will exhaust two months reducing the deck 60cm onto the permanent bearings in preparation for its concrete deck.
HS2’s head of offer, Nicola Henderson-Reid talked about: “It’s been attention-grabbing to gape the deck slowly go into declare, and we now explore ahead to the subsequent stage of the venture – reducing the deck into closing declare and winding up the complex concrete work that can increase the recent railway.”
Wendover Dean Viaduct manufacture
The viaduct is the first predominant railway bridge in the UK to be constructed with a ‘double composite’ structure, which makes use of significantly much less carbon-intensive concrete and steel than a more typical manufacture.
Rather then the use of solid pre-confused concrete beams to form the spans between the viaduct piers, the gap ‘double composite’ structure makes use of two steel beams sandwiched between two layers of bolstered concrete to originate a more ambiance friendly great solid span.
A identical approach is furthermore being typical at Tiny Dean, Westbury, Decrease Thorpe and Turweston, that are all at an earlier stage of setting up.
All five viaducts are being constructed by HS2’s predominant works contractor, EKFB – a team made up of Eiffage, Kier, Ferrovial Construction and BAM Nuttall – with the affect and set up of the beams being led by experts at Eiffage Steel.
