projects & contracts
THE LANAYE LOCKS ARE
located on the
border between Belgium and the Nether-
lands and combine the Albert Canal with
Juliana Canal, a side canal of the River Meuse.
Through the construction of additional lock
chambers, the capacity will therefore be
quadrupled. Integral part of the complex
building project is the new 200 m long road
bridge which crosses the shipping channel
at right angles.
The S-shaped, 15 mwide bridge is a steel
composite construction and has unusually
large cantilever lengths of 4,5 m. For their
realization, formwork solutions on the basis
of the Variokit engineering construction kit
from Peri were selected.
The 136 m long main crossing is being
completed with the help of two Variokit
composite formwork carriages whilst the Peri
bridge solution featured radially-arranged
Variokit cantilever brackets for realising
the two almost 30 m long extremely tight
curve radii.
Steel composite carriages
The steel composite construction method
is based on the interaction between steel
beams and reinforced concrete. In the first
step, a steel beam in the form of a hollow
box cross-sectionwas positioned, after which
the reinforced concrete slab was formed
by means of two independently-operating
Variokit formwork carriages. Thus, a total of
13 casting segments with lengths ranging
from8m to 12mcould be constructedwhilst
maintaining the required striking times in
what was a very tight schedule.
The composite formwork carriages are
moved on heavy-duty rollers; mounted on
supports on the steel construction with
4mspacings.Their construction is based on a
longitudinal truss consisting of standardized
main beams which have been modularly
adapted to match the geometric and static
boundary conditions. In addition, the lateral
units of the Variokit system could be flexibly
adapted to suit the specified bridge sec-
tion – this has led to extremely economical
project solutions. Furthermore, the on-site
application has resulted in efficient and safe
working operations: thus, for example, the
tie suspensions of the cantilever form-
work can be operated entirely from above.
Cantilever brackets
On both banks of the river, the bridge con-
struction features two 90° bends – complete
with extremely tight axis radii of almost
30m respectively. For this, Variokit cantilever
bracket units mounted on steel beams have
provided an ideal construction site solution.
In addition, the complex geometric and
static area where the circular columns are
positioned have been shuttered using Peri
know-how and, for the most part, with stan-
dardmaterials. Here, the external brackets are
arranged radially with the pressure support
on the available reinforced concrete columns
by means of Variokit components and Mul-
tiprop 625 aluminum slab props playing an
important part in the Peri project solution.
Individual project solution
with construction kit system
The Variokit modular construction system is being used for the cost-
effective realisation of the steel composite bridge over the extended
Lanaye lock facility in Belgium. Based on standardised, rentable
system components, Belgian and German PERI engineers adapted
the bridge solution to match the range of construction site
requirements: in a combined application as a movable formwork
carriage as well as a cantilever bracket.
The expansion of the Lanaye lock facility required the new construction of a 200 m long road bridge.
Construction of the steel composite bridge was
carried out using formwork carriages and cantilever
brackets – both based on the Variokit modular
construction kit.
November 2013
CONSTRUCTION WORLD
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