Greatest on shore foundation work in the world is carried in Brazil with Finnish presence
At ThyssenKrupp CSA Siderúrgica do Atlântico (TKCSA) worksite in Santa Cruz, metropolitan area of Rio de Janeiro, 120 pile driving equipments are working 24 hours a day carrying the piling and all the foundation works – the largest on shore foundation construction site in the world. Among these machines there are 5 hydraulic hammers and 2 pile driving rigs from the Finnish company Junttan.
TKCSA is the largest investment to take place in Brazil in the last ten years, with a total value of 4.5 billion Euros. Its main shareholder with 90% share-holding is ThyssenKrupp Steel, the largest producer of steel in Germany and one of the largest in the world. Vale, which will be responsible for supplying the iron ore, is holding the remaining 10% of shares.
The new steel mill complex is being constructed on an area of nine square kilometers. The project includes a harbor with two terminals, capable of handling 4 million tons per year of coal and up to 5 million tons per year of steel slabs. These figures mean that, at its peak capacity, TKCSA will raise Brazilian steel exports in 40%. The project business plan forecasts the exportation of all the production to ThyssenKrupp Steel operations abroad. The numbers impress even professionals used to mega engineering projects.
That is the case of the engineer Silvio Couri, responsible for the foundation and land movement works at TKCSA. Couri gives details of the challenges involved in this mega project: the installation of more than 24 thousand pre-casted concrete piles, steel profiles and FRANKI piles at 30 to 50 meters depths, in difficult soft clay terrain, operating 120 pile driving equipments – figures that make this operation the largest on shore foundation construction site in the world.
Major challenges
One of the challenges faced by the project was to by the amount of concrete pre-casted piles required to build the complex at a demand level that the Brazilian market was not used to supply, “the majority of piles with large diameters, usually are neither manufactured nor used in the country. Even the suppliers for the wider ones, did not have the moulds required for the diameters we needed”, remembers Couri.
In several moments during the works, it was necessary to use steel tubes instead of pre-casted concrete piles. As the piles were being delivered, a second challenge raised implementation of logistics to keep and transport them to the building site.
Among the solutions found by TKCSA engineers, a highlight has been the use of railway tracks for piling and with pile driving equipment on rollers, “for small loads, without horizontal efforts”, that according to Silvio Couri the pile methodology for driving, despite ordinary in Brazil, has caught the attention of German engineers that visited the building site.
Another solution has been the use of Junttan PM 20 pile driving rigs equipped with Junttan HHK-4/5S hydraulic piling hammers from Intersolo and the Junttan PM 20 machine equipped with Junttan HHK-4 hammer from JHP. Some other hydraulic hammers have been used as well, hammers suspended by crane, like the Junttan HHK-5S from Solofix, Junttan HHK-12A from Brasfix and Junttan HHK-16A from Andrade Gutierrez, that operated the offshore works. All pile driving equipment are manufactured by the Finnish company Junttan Oy that is one of world’s leading provider of piling equipment.
Productivity and safety
This equipment performance has gone so well that, according to Couri, “If we had thirty to forty Junttan equipment day and night, we wouldn’t need the other 120”. He states that the machines from Finland could be safely used during night or day, enhancing the productivity in the building site. Therefore, it was decided that these equipment should be operated 24 hours per day without interruption. The PM 20s, displacing on tracks, the HHK-5S operating with leaders attached on cranes, and the HHK-12A working crane suspended were considered the project jokers, as they faced all challenges or difficult demands.
To increase the production the pile driving rigs with drop hammers began the piling work and once they reached their capacity, Junttan machines took over the work where they have stopped and finished the piling.
These PM 20 pile drive machines also perform very well as they have a telescopic leader and move straight-forward, what makes the process of positioning the piles faster, more efficient and précising, besides being safer and less labor-intensive. All these Junttan piling hammers have showed high productivity and production, what raised the confidence of the engineers in this hydraulic equipment. The engineer ends with a positive balance of the project, by saying that: “during a long time, engineering in Brazil lost strength, losing several consultancy and contractors. TKCSA building site brought the opportunity to resurrect many foundation companies”. In fact, the forecast for the next ten years in Brazil is for more than 100 billion reais in foreign investments in foundation works in the country. “That will be a great opportunity to support a generation of engineers and technicians able of performing works of such magnitude as TKCSA”, Silvio concludes enthusiastically.
Silvio Couri’s brief profile
Graduated in Engineering by Universidade Federal Fluminense, Silvio Couri has started his career in 1975, in named Estacas Franki Ltda and after on he created his own foundation business, the S. Couri Fundações e Estruturas Ltda.
During his 33 years career, the engineer has taken part in major building sites and projects that have set the scene in Brazil, such as Rio de Janeiro Metrô , GERDAU-Açominas, Cândido Mendes building, Caemi Foundation, Meridian Hotel, Charles DeGaulle tower and Nuclei. Currently, he is ThyssenKrupp consultant and responsible for the TKCSA foundation project, the largest on shore piling work in the world, being built in Santa Cruz, which is part of Rio de Janeiro municipality.
Further information
Mr. Fabio Damasio, Máquina Solo
Tel. +55 11 9136 0850