Steel Pilings
Bridge, River Tees, Stockton
Aarsleff Piling used a Swedish Banut 700 self-erecting pile driving rig to successfully pitch and install two regimented forests of steel end bearing piles on both banks of the River Tees at Stockton on Tees, Cleveland. The mixture of long raking and vertical piles provided foundation support for the two abutments and ends of the approach embankments of a new bridge, which formed an integral part of the South Stockton Link Road built by Main Contractor Birse Construction for client Stockton on Tees Borough Council.
The £8.9 million project involved the construction of a 1.6 km long dual carriageway to provide access to a major new housing development at Ingleby Barwick. The works also included the 106m long twin pier bridge together with a new junction.
Birse sub let the £170,000 contract to pitch and drive the steel end bearing piles for the bridge abutment and adjacent embankment to Aarsleff Piling. The poor ground in the area of the bridge abutments required 168 bearing piles up to 24 m long, which had to be driven in two halves and welded together. Aarsleff Piling equipped its Banut 700 leader rig with a modified Banut hydraulic, free falling drop hammer to generate the required impact energy to drive the piles and also to dynamically test some of them after installation.
With equal numbers of piles on both sides of the river Aarsleff Piling started off on the south bank initially driving three regimented rows of raking and vertical steel H section under piles for the abutment. The first line of 11 piles adjacent to the river, were driven at a backward rake of 1:4 and were followed by identical rows of 1:8 rakers and a line of verticals. Aarsleff Piling continued directly behind installing similar rows of 50 steel H under piles for the embankment.
Aarsleff then peppered an area about 28m by 7m with under piles prior to welding on the extensions.
On completion of the piling works on the south bank Aarsleff Piling put the rig on a low loader and transported it 20km to the opposite north abutment. Here Aarsleff performed a similar operation installing a forest of 84 H piles up to 24m long for the bridge’s north abutment and end of the adjacent embankment.
