Another Milestone in Chile
This is how you do it! Here’s an installation video (10s) of the space frame that hangs from the apex of one of the largest domes that we’ve ever designed.
Lifting the 40-ton platform over 30 meters (100 feet) went very smoothly, despite the complexity of the maneuver. This Bocamina South dome will store 150,000t of coal for Enel, the power plant owner. The hanging space frame will support a platform, fans and a rectifier mesh for the dome's ventilation system.
The space frame was assembled on-site from individual tubes and hubs. The Geometrica components weigh about 18 tons, but our client (and dome installer), Echeverria Izquiredo Montajes Industriales, requested that the dome be prepared to lift 40 tons.
The space frame's maximum horizontal dimension is 34.3 meters (112 feet)
Assembled on the ground, the space frame will support the dome's ventilation system
Why was our client asking to hoist 40 tons? Because additional equipment for the ventilation system such as fan supports, steel grating, handrails and the fiber-reinforced plastic rectifiers were to be pre-installed at ground level.
The FRP rectifiers needed special cutting and installation patterns. Doing the work at ground level saved a large amount of man-hours compared to working at a height of over 30 meters (100 feet). It’s just safer and faster on the ground - and, no special equipment or cranes were needed to lift each piece.
The apex of the Freedome® was prepared with 12 temporary hoisting supports in the bottom chord where remote-controlled electric winches were placed. On the ground, the space frame was also prepared with 12 matching hoisting points on its top chord.
One of 12 electric hoisting supports were placed on the bottom chord of the dome - 5 ton capacity for each
The video is a 10 second time-lapse - the maneuver took about 1hr in real-time. It was a surgical process. The 12 winches and cables were superbly controlled for simultaneous hoisting. Execution was perfect. Congratulations to the project team!
Bocamina South - clear spans 179 x 182 meters (587 x 597 feet)
This is the second Geometrica Freedome for the Bocamina power plant in Chile. Both domes have free-form plans to match the coal yard's areas, and each covers nearly 24,000 m2 (258,000 sq. ft.). For additional background information about this project and the first dome (Bocamina North), please see the following links.