for Civil Engineering and other Industries

In addition to the FLUIDTS being used in the ports and shipyards, FLUIDTS is also used for various moves in civil engineering and in other industries. Moves with the FLUIDTS system has/can be successfully carried out for:

• Bridges
• Tunnelling shields
• Roof sections of subway-stations or shipyard buildings
• Lawn fields in multi-functional stadiums
• Wind energy turbines
• Clinker coolers and other aggregates in cement works
• Tanks, offshore and other steel constructions
• Generators in power plants
  
  
  
  

Examples:

Clinker cooler Jakarta

MAN Ferrostaal Indonesia contracted Konecranes to move a new pre-erected clinker cooler for Indocement in Jakarta. The design/engineering of the new cooler was carried out by leading German cement technology companies Polysius and IKN. The fabrication of the cooler was executed by a local Indonesian company. The new cooler with a dead weight of 400 tons was moved by means of the FLUIDTS system over a distance of 20 meters to the new location. In 1997 another clinker cooler was moved for Indocement. This method saved approximately 10 weeks production time, compared with a conventional erection method.

 

Dublin Port Tunnel - Herrenknecht, Schwanau

In 2002 Konecranes was awarded the contract for a cross move of a tunnelling shield for the Dublin Port project by Herrenknecht AG, Schwanau, the world-leading manufacturer of tunnelling shields. The new tunnel with two pipes connects the M1 motorway with the Port of Dublin and is part of a better traffic concept. The two pipes with a length of 4.5 kilometers each were drilled from a start pit in both directions of the tunnel. Due to some delay in the erection of the shields, one shield with a diameter of 11.8 meters and a weight of 1,150 tons was erected in the start pit and then cross moved by means of FLUIDTS on 4 slideway lanes. Additionally Konecranes supplied a cradle for the move. The tunnelling shield was lying on the cradle during this move. Further orders were carried out after the tunnelling shields reached the final pits. Konecranes then turned the tunnelling shields 180° to allow the shields to drill the second pipe on its way back to the start pit. The entire construction time of the Dublin Port tunnel project took about 3.5 years.

The decision for the FLUIDTS system was based on the situation that mobile cranes could not be used for the cross move and the turning of the shield.

 

5.500 tons Railway overpass for Helmstedt, Germany

Konecranes was awarded the order to move a railway overpass in Helmstedt by the German civil engineering company KAF Falkenhahn Bau AG in Kreuztal. For this move 28 FLUIDTS modules were necessary and installed on both longitudinal sites of the subject (2 rows with 14 modules). This construction for the railway line Brunswick-Helmstedt overpasses the southern ring road of Helmstedt. It replaces the former construction made in 1900. During the first engineering, the railway overpass was planned with a dead weight of 3,100 tons. After some revisions, the final building with brick linings was moved by the specialists of Konecranes in November 2004 having a dead weight of 5,500 tons.

 

Reinforced concrete frame bridge for Worms

In August 2006 the civil engineering company "von der Wettern" based in Cologne built a new reinforced concrete frame bridge as a pedestrian tunnel for the Worms railway station. The frame bridge, with a weight of 500 tons, was moved in a short break-down of German Railways over a distance of 30 meters from the erection place to its final location by means of the FLUIDTS system. Starting the FLUIDTS move was carried out by the Lord Mayor of the town of Worms, Mr. Michael Kissel the entire move took less then 1 hour to complete. The frame bridge now connects the Western part of the railway station with existing pedestrian stairs on the Eastern side.

 

Emperors Hall in Berlin, Germany

In March 1996 Konecranes was awarded a contract by Ed. Züblin AG to move the "Emperors Hall" located at the Potsdamer Platz in Berlin with the FLUIDTS system. The move included a distance of 75 meters including two changes of direction. Moving the Emperors Hall, weighing approximately 1,300 tons and built in the late 19^th century, was necessary due to the new-building of the Sony Centre and changed traffic conditions at the Potsdamer Platz. To conserve this historical and architectural impressive hall, the Emperors Hall was first moved with the FLUIDTS system and finally integrated in the new Sony Centre.

After lifting the building by 2.4 m, the hall was carried by 8 FLUIDTS modules which were installed under a special reinforced concrete frame. The longitudinal moves were executed on the FLUIDTS slideways. For the two changes of direction, thin metal plates were laid out on a concrete foundation on which the FLUIDTS modules were sliding. The hydraulic push-pull devices pushed the building forward and secured the building by its integrated clamping devices against uncontrolled wind situations.

CERN, Geneva - Matter and Anti-Matter

CERN, close to the town of Geneva, is the world's largest particle physics center. CERN has used the FLUIDTS technology since 1996 to explore what matter is made of, and what forces hold it together. In a 27 kilometer ring, some 160 meters below the earth's surface 2 particle rays are given high energy. These rays (protons and ions) are then accelerated in the ring in opposite directions. Very strong, super-conductive magnets accurately hold both rays on a calculated circular path in the ring. The collision of the rays happens inside the magnets which are equipped with special detectors to register the particles. CERN assumes that the collision also forms some unknown, new particles. The magnets used in this experiment have a weight of 12,000 tons. The segments of the magnets need to be pulled and pushed together, as well as to be inch-perfect positioned under laboratory conditions. The task of the FLUIDTS is to place the magnets in the perfect position.
Konecranes was especially proud to receive the  "2002 CMS Gold Award" from CERN.

 

Vessel moves on land? - Neptun shipyard, Rostock

In regular intervals since 2003, Konecranes has used the FLUIDTS system to carry out vessel moves for Neptun shipyard in Rostock. River cruise vessels, kasko and other ship sections are manufactured inside the shipyard halls and then fully-erected. They are then moved out of the hall via the yard onto a floating dock with FLUIDTS. In the floating dock these vessels or vessel sections are lowered down to special supports. In some projects there are up to 52 FLUIDTS modules that can be arranged in two rows up to 120 meters long. An important criteria in the election of the right transportation system and the decision for FLUIDTS, was the possibility of achieving very low soil pressure values. FLUIDTS fulfilled these requirements because of very wide slideways and by a variable number of modules. Probably the best known vessels of the Neptun shipyard moved with FLUIDTS are the river cruise vessels of the A'Rosa and Avalon range which are now travelling on the Danube, Rhine, and Rhone rivers.