D-Drill called in by Carillion Rail
Diamond drilling experts spent several weekends working on the London Paddington approach line to remove 5.5 tonnes of concrete.
The London office of D-Drill, which has branches across the UK, was called in by main contractor Carillion Rail to remove a section of reinforced capping beam that was 10m x 1m x 550mm at a siding near Kensal Green to allow for the erection of a new gantry.
However, the capping beam covered metal sheet piles and, therefore, it was imperative that no damage was done to them. It was crucial that there was little or no vibration and that the team knew the location of the sheet piles before they started the work.
As well as expertise in diamond drilling and concrete sawing, D-Drill also offers a scanning service and the team used the D-Scan 3D concrete scanning equipment to locate the sheet piles within the capping beam.
D-Scan provides a full pictorial analysis of steel reinforcement within concrete structures to avoid concealed objects, rebar and services when drilling or sawing. The concrete scanning and imaging service can be used on a variety of applications including floors, slabs and balconies as well as in structures such as bridges, tunnels and buildings.
Once the scanner had located the sheet piles it gave the team a guide and meant they could begin the process of cutting into the concrete without risking damage to them.
The D-Drill team, led by branch manager Jimmy Smith, track-sawed two cuts along the beam each side of the sheet piles leaving 10mm of concrete covering and reduce the width of the beam leaving the concrete encased sheet piles exposed.
D-Drill was then able to cut the remaining concrete from the piles using a combination of ring sawing and diamond drilling to follow the profile of the piles and allow the main contractor to lift out the remaining concrete using a lifting eye to leave the sheet piles exposed.
Jimmy said: “We had to do the work out of hours and it took us a number of weekends to complete the job.
“The customer was extremely happy because we could precisely 3D concrete scan the piles so that they and the engineer could see what was in the structure in real time view while on site and before we did any cutting.
“We completed the task quickly, efficiently and without any damage to the sheet piles, which was important.
“There could be no vibration and no disturbance and, thanks to the expertise of the team and the specialist equipment we use throughout the process – from scanning through to drilling and sawing – we achieved exactly with the client had asked.”
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