01 December 2007

RMD Kwikform Middle East has recently designed and supplied an efficient formwork solution for the Arabian Ranches interchange, a significant infrastructure project undertaken as part of the continuous development of Dubai.

Being constructed for the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) by specialist contractor Taisei Corporation, the three-level interchange has 11 in-situ reinforced concrete structures and is located on Emirates Road at the roundabout linking Dubailand, the Autodrome and Arabian Ranches.
The two-year, $111 million interchange construction programme is scheduled for completion next year, when it will be become the largest interchange ever constructed in the UAE. The project is set to link up with the expansion of the Emirates Road to create the modern infrastructure needed to support the continuous rapid development of the region.
Due to the size and fast-track nature of the project, Taisei Corporation called on RMD Kwikform Middle East to provide the formwork and falsework needed to construct the concrete elements of the superstructure for the project. The 11 concrete structures were required in less than six months to enable Taisei to construct cast in-situ reinforced concrete post-tensioned box cell girder bridges and the wall formwork for the cast in-situ reinforced concrete cut-and-cover tunnel. The wall formwork of the tunnel will support the deck, which will be made up of precast beams.
Due to the fast-track nature of the project, RMD Kwikform Middle East had to prove that it could both design and deliver the equipment needed to construct all 11 structures in a window of just six months. In order to meet the tight programme schedule, the construction of all the structures had to run concurrently. This meant that the team at RMD Kwikform Middle East had to work in partnership with staff from the Taisei Corporation to design solutions that allowed each structure to be constructed quickly and efficiently with the available resources.
“With each bridge being between four to five spans long and some 150 m to 240 m in length, we had to design a solution that could be split into easy-to-assemble pieces,” says Russ McNeill, engineering director of RMD Kwikform. “This was achieved by taking a modular approach to the solutions we provided, so that the major elements could be pre-assembled on the ground and then craned into position. We also tried to kept the designs uniform for each of the structures to eliminate the need for re-assembly, thus impacting favourably on cycle times and the overall construction programme.”
The bridge structures were all 2,000-mm-deep box cell girders and were between three and five cells wide depending upon the number of traffic lanes on the deck. All the bridges had 1,700 mm cantilever walkways on either side of the decks.
Russ comments: “The real challenge for the design of the formwork and false-work solutions for the project was that most of the structures were curved in plan. This meant that our engineers went away from the conventional birdcage falsework solution commonly used for such jobs and took a more innovative approach to the shoring design.
“This was made possible by using our heavy-duty 80 kN Rapidshor modular falsework system, which was recently introduced in the Middle East market specifically to service infrastructure projects of this type. The use of Rapidshor has enabled us to use a falsework support system designed as 1,800 mm wide by 2,400 mm bay towers. Each tower consisted of six to eight bays depending upon the width of the decks.”
Used to support primary Superslim Soldier beams and secondary GTX timber beams, the Rapidshor towers have been designed so that they can be simply adjusted to the varying radius of the structures and changing soffit and ground levels on the project. Simplicity also played a major role in the erection process, with teams able to erect a large number of Rapidshor towers simply and effectively in a fraction of the time, due to the reduced number of components required when compared against alternative methods, he states.
In order to cut programme time down to a minimum, in addition to using the Rapidshor system, RMD Kwikform Middle East engineers also designed the cantilever footway sections of the bridges as standard units that could be pre-assembled on the ground prior to erection on site.
“By standardising the cantilever sections for all the varying super-elevations, we were able to reduce the need for more complex assembly and ensure that the quality of construction and erection was maintained. In considering logistics, site safety and the tight programme, RMD Kwikform designed the cantilever formwork such that it could be assembled at ground level in gang-form type assemblies that could be lifted into place and secured quickly and safely.”
In addition to the shoring and bridge deck formwork systems, RMD Kwikform Middle East also supplied base formwork used to form the pile caps and Rapidshor stair towers for pier access and bridge deck access that provided safe access throughout the project. The double-sided wall formwork for the cut-and-cover tunnel consisted of RMD Kwikform Alform aluminium beams for the walings, which were supported by RMD Kwikform Superslim Soldiers. The walls were 8,500 mm high, 1,500 mm wide and poured in 10 m lengths in one pour – the equipment used for the pile-caps was subsequently reused for the wall formwork.
For the box cell design, a combination of RMD Kwikform GTX timber beams and Superslim Soldiers were used for the construction of the internal system. GTX timber beams also combined with Kwikstage falsework to support the construction of the top slab for the main bridge structures.
Finally completing the overall provision of equipment for the project, RMD Kwikform engineers designed special steel yokes for the GRP pier moulds, to simplify the equipment assembly process, Russ says.
RMD Kwikform has been providing formwork and shoring solutions to the global construction industry over the last 50 years. With operations in 15 countries, RMD Kwikform has the ability to provide a truly local service, backed up by significant international experience.

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