TGB and Robit made the “impossible” sheet piling possible

Overview

A Swedish company TGB had major difficulties in sheet piling through rocky boulders. With Robit’s pilot technology, the impossible was made possible.

The rocky terrain proved to be so challenging, that the company decided to pre-drill the holes with Robit® Multi-Use casing system and retrieve the casing (406.4/12.5; L=6000 mm) afterwards. In the same project some piles were permanent and with the Robit® DTH-RoX 3-1, the same pilot was used to complete the drilling with Eco-rings.

TGB was able to complete the project on time with controlled investment. Christer Wretman, our distributor in Sweden, says: “Impossible project was turned to success with Robit Casing System”.

Skanska and Robit kept a warehouse stable in Turku

Overview

To meet the demands from the contractor, Skanska needed new drill technology for reinforcing the foundations of a famous warehouse with underpinning.

A long-time landmark in the center of Turku, Sokos Wiklund warehouse building, needed a total of 200 holes to be drilled with casing in the underground parking hall. Additional corrosion reinforcement and concrete were then installed inside the 219.1/12.5 Ruukki casing tube. Due to space restrictions set by the site, a small drilling unit was used. Drilling with a ring bit casing system was the only alternative.

With Robit Casing System, the drilling was completed in a very short time. With such an impressive outcome, it was decided to introduce the system to several similar projects in the region.

Robit and Sotkamon Porakaivo anchored a paperi mill to the bedrock

Overview

A paper mill in Finland needed altogether 58 holes for foundation reinforcement with depth varying from 12 to 16 meters. The terrain over bedrock was difficult, but Robit Casing System handled it fine.

Sotkamon Porakaivo had a challenge with the job of casing drilling to the bedrock and then drilling one meter into the bedrock itself. The first six meters of the formation consisted of sand and gravel. Blocks of granite and grillage (wood, clay and gravel) had also to be dealt with.

Robit® Casing System was the preferred technology due to its ability to drill difficult formations. Casing tube of 139.7/5.6; L=3000 mm was used. A 90 mm diameter steel bar was inserted and grouted to each hole. The end result was that the drilling went smoothly despite the difficult drilling conditions.

Pipe pile wall construction work at Viljuisk hydro power plant in Yakutia Russia

Overview

The goal of this project is to secure the reinforced concrete bottom and wall slabs of the incoming water channel and also to prevent their final breakage and flushing away by water flow.

The project owner is Russian State energy company «Rushydro» and it is projected by OAO “Lenhydroproject” engineering company from St. Petersburg in cooperation with Robit Rocktools. From Robit´s side the project was supported by Mr. Kari Juntunen and Mr. Juha Sorjonen. The project also included underwater drilling which was made during the operation of hydro power plant.

The project included the following stages:

  • diving operations in the depth of 8-9 m with water flow rate of 0,5 – 1,0 m/s
  • drilling through 1,7 – 1,95 m reinforced concrete bottom slabs using 1 m diam. diamond bit
  • removal of 1 m diam. pieces of reinforced concrete slab from the bottom
  • construction of 720 mm pipe pile wall (height 11,5 m) on the river bottom through the drill hole in reinforced concrete slab
  • concreting of the seam between the reinforced concrete slab and pipe pile wall
  • underwater concreting and installation of the pipe pile wall on the whole length of channel

After the operations above the complete pipe pile wall is installed according to the cross section of the incoming water channel of hydro power plant. This construction is used to prevent the breakage and flushing away of reinforced concrete bottom slabs what has already taken place during the last 20 years of operation.

Time of the project is 2 years but due to the working schedule of the power plant surface and underwater operations can be commenced only in July – September.

The installation of pipe pile wall was started in July 2013 by contracting company “OOO SU-299” from St. Petersburg. Till the end of September 15 piles were drilled and 20 m of pipe pile wall was installed. The method has proved to be successful and economical in the extremely hard working conditions of Yakutia.

From “OOO SU-299” company the project was managed by Mr. Vitali Korshunov, Project Manager and Mr. Vladimir Klimov, Development Director.

The following machinery was used in the project:

  • “BRAUN” diamond drilling equipment and tools
  • “ROBIT ROCKTOOLS” drilling technology and tools, Wing Bit DTH SF 720/10 N180
  • “COMACCIO” DTH drilling rig
  • “ROBIT” 18” DTH hammer
  • 200 t and 500 t barges, floating crane 5 t , a towing vessel

 

Piling without disturbing the neighbours in Stockholm

Overview

Solna Arenastaden right next to Solna railway station needed support piles for passage over railway between Arena and surrounding buildings. The urban site called for extra care and Robit products.

The work site needed some 150 piles (220/12.5) to be driven to overburden ground, which tends to ”suck the water” due to numerous fractions. What’s more, there was a large sewage passing near the worksite, let alone railway and buildings. In this environment, any pollution would be no-no as well.

Due to ground type, air drilling would almost surely cause problems to surroundings. The use of Wassara W150 ensured fast penetration and created less noise. The project was finished with minimum disturbance.

New Robit horizontal drilling equipment proves its worth in Sweden

Overview

Robit, in collaboration with our retailer Swedish retailer GDS Sverige AB, put our new HZ product series to test under a motorway ramp near Landvetter airport.

Robit has been developing the new HZ series for horizontal drilling in Sweden since the early 2011. Now, the new system was put through its paces under a motorway ramp, where a 24-meter hole of size 406.4/12.7 was drilled. The land filling under the ramp consisted partially of very large boulders. Because of the boulders and directional requirements, the drilling was a challenging test to our new HZ series.

Despite the rough terrain, the results proved successful. No problems occurred, and the drilling went as

planned. What’s more, the test drilling results have enabled the company to further improve the functionality of the HZ product line.

Lemminkäinen builds a new metro station with Robit

Overview

The so-called West Metro is a major expansion to current underground railway system in the Finnish metropolitan area, stretching it all the way to Espoo. Lemminkäinen is in charge of building the Koivusaari metro station, complete with a kilometer of tunnel. As usual, Robit delivers the goods.

The project, involving much earth-moving and digging, takes place in an urban, unforgiving environment. “The location is challenging, so it is essential that all components needed for the work have high quality and reliability”, says Annina Peisa, Construction Manager at Lemminkäinen. “Our suppliers have a substantial impact on the success of our projects”.

Lemminkäinen and Robit have been co-operating successfully for the past ten years, and this site is no exception. The installation and drilling tools required for making excavations and supporting the walls with RD piles this are supplied by Robit. Thanks to our dedicated, knowledgeable service, the construction is well on the way, and expected to be finished on time.

No wonder Peisa is pleased: “Robit is a very customer-oriented partner”, she says. “If we have any problems in our projects, Robit will provide us with quick and professional service. They will come and check the situation on site as needed.”

Customer description

Lemminkäinen is a construction group specializing in building construction, infrastructure construction and technical building services. Its main markets are Finland and the Baltic Sea region. The Group employs about 8,400 people, and its turnover in 2011 was approximately EUR 2.2 billion.