HS2 Thames Valley Viaduct Pier Mould
Civil Project for Pacadar UK Ltd (Thamesport)
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HS2 Thames Valley Viaduct Pier Mould
CLIENT: Client Pacadar UK Ltd (Thamesport)
Project Description – To design and manufacture a steel containment mould, to allow production of an adjustable precast concrete pier – total concrete weight 38.2T.
Design the mould as per the customers specification and to ensure the mould is strong enough to withstand the hydrostatic pressures of the concrete volume, also the need for fast turnaround and mould fill / empty.
Customer main specifications: –
- Steel mould to have hydraulic operated opening sides to assist with production / health & safety, during operation of the mould.
- Mould to be modular to allow variant pier casts to be produced – Adjustable stopper to accommodate various depths of plinth (1mm increments – up to 500mm)
All concrete containment moulds are bespoke jobs and have a number of uncertainties involved, primarily around design of the mould to suit the eventual shape of the product, fast turnaround of product, de-moulding problems and methods, various uses and multi-use for various products sizes etc. pressures in the mould, stressing and pre-stressing, curing of product, movement and handling of both moulds and products, batching and build of steel structural cage.
These uncertainties needed to be thoroughly investigated before the design started. All moulds are designed on 3D CAD software (SolidWorks) with a number of design meetings with clients and sign off stages to ensure we are solving uncertainties and issues that arise to the customers satisfaction. This is an iterative process in many cases.
Another factor in the design of this mould, was that due to its overall size, special attention was needed to ensure that the completed mould was constructed in a manner that allowed for legal transporting from its manufacturing base in KME, Lisburn, to its destination at Pacadar Thamesport depot, Kent.
The following two sketches, show the product in its cast position. The design of the mould had to take into consideration that the strengthening steel rebar projected from the top and bottom of the pier and that the mould could also be adjustable to facilitate the variant lengths/depth of the pier.
For this reason, the pier would be cast on its side. The highlighted “blue” section on the concrete sketch is the “fill face”. The fill face is the exposed area on the mould which the concrete enters when filling the mould. This is usually on a face which is not visually exposed on the finished piece of concrete.
Steel Moulds ready for transporting to customers destination. Low loading trailer required to remain within legal height requirement for high loads.
Mould in production at customers premises – opened ready for concrete release.
Concrete during installation and finished view:
With a project of this scale, careful attention was required during the design of the steel mould, to ensure that the mould was constructed to withhold the pressure of the concrete and retain the dimensional tolerances required by the client.
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