In early March people driving past Mall of the Emirates on Sheikh Zayed Road will see the second Dubai Metro launching girder installing viaduct span segments.
Dubai, UAE: The Rail Agency of the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) announced that the second Dubai Metro launching gantry, LG4, had commenced installation of precast concrete viaduct deck segment early this month. This gantry now operates concurrently with the first launching gantry, LG7, which commenced installation of deck segments at Interchange 5.5 near Ibn Battuta Mall in early February and is currently progressing at an impressive rate of 2 spans completed per week. Incredibly, it is anticipated that this rate of installation will be improved upon to at least 3 spans a week by the end of March 2007!
These two launching gantries will shortly be joined by five more gantries strategically positioned at various locations on the 52km Dubai Metro Red Line currently under construction.
Adnan Al Hammadi, Director of Construction, Rail Agency said," The viaduct deck segments being installed by the gantries are transported to their respective launching gantry installation location from the Dubai Metro Jebel Ali Casting Yard by truck. The casting yard is reported to be the largest precast concrete casting yard in operation in the world. The precast concrete viaduct segments are typically ten metres wide and four metres long and are currently manufactured at a rate of up to 20 per day. Remarkably this rate of production is expected to be increased to around 40 segments per day by the end of April 2007."
The segments are installed individually by the launching gantries and connected together to form a completed viaduct span bridging across two supporting piers. The segments are glued together and then post-tensioned using high strength cables threaded through each of the segments.
The lengths of the spans vary from 24-72 metres where the minimum number of segments per span is 8 and the maximum is 18. The first span was completed on 4th February 2007.
The launching gantries are equipped with their own lifting winch, power and control equipment to enable lifting and moving of the heavy concrete segments accurately into position. There will be around 11400 pre-cast concrete viaduct deck segments used for Dubai Metro's Red Line, each weighing in excess of 50 tones.
The concrete segment installation process using launching gantries is a construction method used widely around the globe. It will be performed in accordance with internationally recognized standards and in compliance with pre-planned and approved detailed work methodologies.
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© Press Release 2007
