Gulf Construction Online - Dynapac out in force at airport

Oman

A Dynapac CA602D ... at work at the Muscat airport.

Dynapac out in force at airport

01 February 2009

A fleet of four Dynapac CA602D single-drum soil compactors is currently working at Muscat International Airport in Oman to compact approximately 160 sq km of rockfill as part of a major development at the facility.

The initial phase of development is designed to increase the airport’s annual passenger handling capacity from the current five million to 12 million by 2011.
“As the first part of the project, the ground is being raised by 3 m to prevent the new runway and the new roads ending up under water. This is being done by transporting 10 to 12 million cu m of desert sand and crushed rock onto the site,” said a spokesman for Dynapac.
Five layers of rockfill will be compacted over the 160 sq km project area, each having a thickness of 550 mm with compaction metre values (CMV) of 21 for the initial layer and 55 for the remaining four layers. The 19-tonne Dynapac rollers are being used by local contractor Galfar Engineering and Contracting to achieve the compaction with eight passes.
“Once the rockfill has been compacted, an additional 1.3 m layer of subgrade, asphalt and concrete will be added to provide runways, taxiways and aprons capable of handling the Airbus 380, the world’s largest passenger aircraft, says the spokesman.
The rollers are equipped with Dynapac’s Compaction Analyser system (DCA), which not only gives the operator a continuous read-out of compaction values but also indicates precisely the areas that require additional compaction.
He adds: “On this project, the DCA is further enhanced with GPS, which shows the position of the roller in relation to a selected reference line. The analysis function also enables the compaction work to be replayed, if required, to assess if the roller has been used efficiently and to see which CMVs have actually been achieved.
“The important information provided by these on-board systems has been much appreciated by the surveyors working for the main consultant, Cowi-Larsen JV, which is supervising the whole project on behalf of Oman’s Ministry of Transport and Communications.”
Speaking about the roller units, the spokesman says: “Powered by a Cummins turbocharged diesel engine developing 142 kW (190 hp) at the rate of 2,200 rpm, Dynapac’s 602D roller is designed for the toughest applications, having an ability to compact rockfill in layers of up 2 m thick with individual rocks as large as 1 m in diameter. The machine is equipped with a 2,130-mm-wide smooth vibratory drum, which has a shell thickness of 50 mm for maximum productive lifetime.”
Dynapac is part of the Atlas Copco Group within the Atlas Copco Road Construction Equipment division. Products and solutions are marketed under the Dynapac brand and complementary brands. Headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, the division has production facilities in Europe, the US, South America and Asia.