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Corus Steelworks, Port Talbot, South Wales
MULTIPROP Grid Design brings
Radial Clarifier Tank built on schedule
Welsh Contractor, Andrew Scott Ltd, employed radically different construction methods than those used 40 years ago when replacing a massive Radial Clarifier Tank at the Corus steelworks in Port Talbot.
The tank is designed to help skim off some of the residue from the steel-making process. The lack of skilled labour such as specialist shuttering carpenters necessitated a very different approach to its design and construction when compared with the original tank.
30m in diameter and incorporating a 3m high, 2m thick concrete transfer slab, the new tank could not be built using radial support beams, as in the 1960''s, simply because of the shortage of available skilled labour. Instead, the contractor worked closely with PERI Ltd to devise an easier way of building the circular tank. The PERI design team, based in Rugby, produced two designs, using carefully integrated PERI formwork and falsework systems, which demonstrated savings on processing time and costs. One of the design solutions was based on a square grid system.
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| PERI Systems In Use |
RUNDFLEX Circular Wall Formwork
MULTIPROP Slab prop
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Kostas Tsipas, Site Engineer:
“There is no doubt that had it not been for the PERI design solution we would have struggled to complete the job so quickly. In the event we are confident we will meet the 16-week programme set aside for the work.”
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The original scheme would have required the deck to follow the top of the slab which has a sloping soffit and ring beams around it. Had this approach been adopted it would have meant that when it was being built, work would have to stop to allow formwork to be erected and the columns then to be cast. |
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Such an approach was deemed by the Contractor to be just too difficult and time-consuming. The chosen PERI design enabled the tank to be cast on a grid of PERI MULTIPROPs with only the outer edge walls cast on a radius. This allowed the tank to be cast in two square stages with a stepped, flat soffit and then further slabs outside these to construct the final circular section. |
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Starting from the centre point of the circular tank, PERI TRIO formwork was used to cast the reinforced concrete columns. Those supporting the first square slab are at 5.39m centres, with the next column grid supporting a further flat-based slab at 3.51m outside of the first grid. Two more column grid lines project from these at 3.49 and 1.19m centres respectively to help accommodate the rest of the tank. |
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PERI’s aluminium MULTIPROP decking system was used to support the 2m thick slab itself. Standard RUNDFLEX PANEL units with widths of 820, 1,220 and 2,440mm were used to form the tank’s inner and outer circumference walls. RUNDFLEX PANEL is totally flexible and can be easily adapted to suit different radii without rebuilding the panels. |
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Nearly 600m³ of C35 concrete was placed in the slab, which was cast in two pours, with a further 120m³ in the walls which were cast in four pours. |
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| Contractor: |
Andrew Scott Ltd |
| Field Service: |
PERI UK Rugby Office |
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PERI scope, UK, 01/2005
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