Concrete placement to a ridge-top slab
Sixty-two skip cycles of concrete flown to a ridge-top slab a pump could not reach.
PA-2399 · Mount Nebo, west of Brisbane · 2022-06-21
The constraint
Why this lift needed a helicopter
The last 1.9 km of access was a single-lane track with switchbacks a truck-mounted pump could not negotiate.
The pour had to be continuous to avoid a cold joint in a structural slab.
Trucks could only reach a batching turnaround at the base of the ridge.
The lift
How it was flown
- Load weight
- 620 kg
- Aircraft
- AS350
- Line length
- 30 m
- Crew
- 6
- Exclusion zone
- 45 m
- Lift cycles
- 62
- A dedicated skip station was set at the turnaround with two agitators rotating.
- Skips were flown on a 30 m line on a fixed 4 minute cycle to hold the pour rate.
- Placement crews worked the slab continuously; the pour closed without a joint.
The numbers
Time, cost and disruption
- Helicopter time on site
- 4.4 hrs
- Flight time
- 3.2 hrs
- Crane alternative
- Pump not achievable · road upgrade $240,000
- Road closures
- 0
On site
Photos
Also filed
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