Flyover Support Pier

Construx supplies column and column head formwork for THV Rinkoniën on the Oosterweel project

The Oosterweel project commissioned by Lantis aims to ease traffic around Antwerp and will give the city more green space. The THV Rinkoniën, of which Artes Group, CIT Blaton, Stadsbader and Mobilis are part, is responsible for more than 90 structures: a fly-over of more than 450m, new tunnels, bridges and walls. In addition, existing infrastructure is also being renovated. One of the first works to be carried out is the fly-over, for which 9 round columns with a diameter of 2800mm and a column head, maximum 14.2m wide, need to be poured. THV Rinkoniën appealed to Construx to bring this assignment to a successful conclusion. For both the column and the column head, Construx supplies the formwork and the corresponding support.

Column formwork

The column formwork consists of round modular parts of 8m, 4m, 2m, 1m and 0.5m height, which are mounted on top of each other without through tie pins. In this way, the lowest (8m), highest (15.5m) and all intermediate columns can be formworked in a simple manner and with an adjustable height of 0.5m. Each formwork section consists of 2 shells (semi-circles), which are made up of heavy-duty lasered ribs with a fixed steel, perfectly round rolled cladding. In order to assemble the shells almost seamlessly against each other, alignment splatters and self-centering bolts and nuts are used. The lower shells (8m height) are equipped with heavy adjustment feet and one shell has two heavy triangular supports. On the upper element, a movable steel working platform with non-slip floor, risers and backrests is placed. A full height cage ladder is provided. On the 8m base element and the 4m top element these are fixed cage ladders, on the other elements they are movable.

Types of column heads

Three types of column heads can be made, with widths of 10,8m, 12,9m and 14,2m, each with the same thickness: 2900mm. The support of this column head formwork consists of a stamping frame and a support frame. The stamping frame is height adjustable and consists of 5 sets of 2 frames of 2500mm height, 4 extension legs of 1250mm, 4 extension legs of 625mm and 4 heavy duty spindle feet. The frames are provided with wooden blocks so that they can be pulled against the poured column. The frames are also interconnected (from one side of the column to the other). A cage ladder is provided on the stamping frame over the full height (up to the level of the pouring platform of the column head). The support frame is placed on the stamping frame. The column head formwork can be placed under inclination (max. 5%), the adjusting system used for this purpose consists of filling blocks, jacks, fine adjustments and formwork wedges. At this level there is also a large working platform (1m larger than the outer dimensions of the column head) with handrail. The cage ladder from the stamping frame ends at this level. The formwork of the column head consists of 4 parts, where again no tie pins go through the concrete element, only above the formwork. The whole is 5% "rotatable" in relation to the round column by means of a control system. The connection against the column is different for each slope. On one long side and on the two ends there is a fixed steel working platform with non-slip floor, risers and backrests. On the other long side, there is only a fall protection system. The two bulkheads can be placed in three fixed positions.