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PERFORMING UNDER CHALLENGING CONDITIONS: Terex® CC 2800-1 LIFTS BRIDGE COMPONENTS in düsseldorf
ZWEIBRÜCKEN, January 5th, 2012 – In October 2011, Franz-Bracht Kranvermietung GmbH used its newly acquired Terex CC 2800-1 in order to assist with the construction of a new bridge at the Oberkassel district of Düsseldorf. The lattice boom crawler crane was responsible for hoisting a total of four structural steelwork elements into place, all while operating under the challenging conditions involved in working at a construction site located right in the middle of the city. Two of the lifts involved in the project turned out to be especially complex and ambitious, but the Terex CC 2800-1 easily overcame them: “The maximum load we needed to lift was 95% of the DIN (Deutsches Institut für Normung) value of this crane — seen from a size vs. load perspective, this made it the ideal machine for the project,” comments Thomas Spangemacher, technical manager at Bracht. This served to further solidify the crane’s reputation at Bracht, where everyone already swears by the performance characteristics and reliability of the CC 2800-1 — not surprising when one considers the fact that the company already has four of these Terex crawler cranes in its fleet.
Lift operation high above a four-lane road
The first lift that was lined up for the CC 2800-1 and the Bracht team was scheduled for Wednesday, October 5th, 2011, and consisted of lifting a 55-tonne (60.6 tons) bridge segment. The challenge: “We had to work above a four-lane street, including the overhead catenary for the tram.
On top of that, a transformer building was blocking our access, so we couldn’t get as close to the bridge with our CC 2800-1 as we would have liked to,” reports project manager Martin Bork, branch manager in Krefeld at Bracht.
In other words, there was simply no way around working with a large reach. In order to deal with the situation, the team set up the crawler crane with a 120-meter (393 ft.) SSL/LSL configuration and performed the lift in several stages: First, they picked up the bridge segment with a reach of 30 meters (98 ft.), which did not require the use of a Superlift counterweight. After this, crane operator Michael Hildebrand rotated the superstructure 60° clockwise and moved the CC 2800-1 right in front of the transformer building, where the assembly team joined the SL load-bearing beams together with the SL frame in order to enable the crane to work with a reach of 67.5 meters (222ft.), together with a 300-tonne (330 tons) Superlift counterweight. At this point, a telescopic crane was brought in to take over part of the load so that the CC 2800-1 would be able to work with a total reach of 100 meters (328 ft.). “This allowed us to install the segment in the bridge structure from a large distance by using a coordinated tandem lift,” explains Martin Bork.
Obstacle course at the construction site
The Bracht team’s collective ingenuity and skill was further put to the test when lifting a 32-meter (105 ft.) long and 12-meter (39 ft.) wide bridge component — the third of the series — that weighed 111 tonnes (122 tons). This final lift was to finish the bridge, but adverse weather conditions and high wind speeds made it impossible for the lift to be performed until October 12th. In order not to lose more time, the bridge component was transported all the way to the crane with a heavy-load SPMT module while bridge component No. 2, which had been previously hoisted into place, was still being secured on the bridge structure. However, since the ground conditions in the immediate area around the construction site were not sufficiently stable for holding a heavy-load module, the crawler crane had to operate with a large reach once again, and even moving the component towards the crane proved to be a difficult task due to the unfavorable space conditions involved. “We had to carefully maneuver the heavy-load module through trees on both sides in order to bring the bulky segment as close to the crane as possible,” comments Heinz Flore, Supervisor. The situation at the load pick-up point was not much better either: The bridge segment was surrounded by four trees, as well as by the crane’s main boom and superstructure cab, severely limiting the space within which it could move. However, with the help of two Bracht signalmen, the crane operator was able to safely lift the load by maneuvering the CC 2800-1, which was equipped with a 50-tonne (55 tons) SL ballast for the operation, with laser precision. Once this was done, the crane’s reach was gradually reduced under load. “It goes without saying that the SL counterweight kept sinking all the way to the ground during the process, since it was calculated for a radius of 11.5 meters (37.7 ft.) to begin with. In order to be able to slew the segment to the desired position anyway, we had to keep lifting the counter ballast,” reports crane operator Michael Hildebrand. While the component was floating freely in the air at the required height above the street, the crane’s reach had to be extended to 54.5 meters (178.8 ft.) in order to reach the bridge. To do this, the Bracht team increased the SL weight to 300 tonnes (330 tons). In order to finish the project by hoisting the last segment into place, a mobile telescopic crane was used to bring the component to its intended place by means of a tandem lift with the Terex® CC 2800-1. By the time the load-securing devices were removed around 5:30 PM, the first vehicles and trams had already passed safely under the new bridge.
The Terex® CC 2800-1
The Terex® CC 2800-1 is a lattice boom crawler crane with a remarkable level of versatility. For example, it can be converted from a standard crane to a special-purpose crane for wind turbine projects — and back — with only a few special components. These special components include specially reinforced main boom segments and a rigid luffing fly jib (LF2) with a length of 12, 24, or 36 meters (39, 78, or118 ft.) that was developed specifically with wind power-related applications in mind. The crane’s rated lifting capacity is 600 tonnes (661 tons) with a reach of ten meters, while its maximum load moment is 7,710 mt.
The standard carrier is available in in duo- or quadro drive and a narrow-track version, the latter allowing the crane to move through 5.3 meter-wide (17.3 ft.) roads. The narrow track kit can be used with either 1.2 meter-wide (3.9 ft.) track pads (for a smaller total width) or 1.5 meter-wide (4.9 ft.) track pads (for reduced ground pressure). In addition, the crane can also be supplied with a chassis designed for road travel. The basic machine, including all winches and the A-frame, can be transported within a 12 tonne axle load limit.
The high level of flexibility provided by these options and features saves time and money during transportation, setup, and disassembly, providing for a high level of cost-effectiveness in the process. Moreover, the time-tested Terex IC1 control system, featuring remote radio control capabilities, makes it possible to operate the Terex® CC2800-1 easily, safely, and comfortably no matter what the operating conditions.
About Franz Bracht Kran-Vermietung GmbH
Based in Erwitte, Germany, Franz Bracht Kran-Vermietung GmbH is one of the 50 leading crane service providers in the world. The company, which employs around 450 people, was founded in 1964 and today relies on a fleet featuring approximately 750 vehicle units, including around 200 mobile cranes with lifting capacities of 7 to 1,600 tonnes. The company has been certified according to DIN EN ISO 9001:2000 national and international standards and to TÜV’s Safety Certificate Contractors (SCC) standard since 2000. Its clientele includes not only wind turbine manufacturers, but also corporate clients from the fields of reinforced concrete construction, structural and civil engineering, prefabricated construction, large-scale industries, and the petrochemical industry. Expert crane operators and state-of-the-art machinery in all lifting capacity categories are two of the many factors that enable Bracht to always guarantee the best service for every single project.
For more information, please visit www.bracht-autokrane.de
About Terex
Terex Corporation is a diversified global manufacturer of a broad range of equipment that is focused on delivering reliable, customer-driven solutions for many applications, including the construction, infrastructure, quarrying, mining, shipping, transportation, refining, energy, utility and manufacturing industries. Terex reports in five business segments: Aerial Work Platforms; Construction; Cranes; Material Handling & Port Solutions; and Materials Processing. Terex offers financial products and services to assist in the acquisition of equipment through Terex Financial Services. More information can be found at www.terex.com.
