RTA Completes Viaduct Precast Works of Dubai Metro

RTA Completes Viaduct Precast Works of Dubai Metro

Dubai (UAE): The Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) announced the completion of Dubai Metro viaduct precast works in the beginning of last December at Jebel Ali Precast Yard; which is considered the biggest precast yard in the Middle East. It contains two yards; viaduct deck segments casting yard, and pier cap shells casting yard.

Adnan Al Hammadi, Director of Rail Construction Projects at RTA Rail Agency, said: “Jebel Ali Precast Yard, which is one of the biggest precast concrete yards of viaduct segments, covers an area of 55 hectares and contains 10 gantry cranes with a capacity of 70-90 metric tons, 7 tower cranes, and 800 Labours. 63 moulds were used to produce 16,479 segments for the Red and Green Lines. Maximum daily production reached 47 segments /day, the daily concrete consumption at peak time was around 800 m3 /day, and the consumption of fabricated steel at peak time was 200 ton /day. Concrete consumption reached 345,172 m3 of which 256,940 m3 were for the Red Line and 88,232 m3 for Green Line. Total Re-bars reinforcement reached 75,400 mt of which 55,800 mt were for the Red Line & 19,600 mt for the Green Line.

“The storage capacity of the yard reaches 3,000 segments and it was increased with the addition of a temporary storage yard at Al Warqa to raise the overall storage capacity to 4000 segments. The storage areas are served by a fleet of 22 specialized transporter trailers working on shift basis 24 hours a day to lift the segments to various installation sites.

“Works at Pier Cap Shells Casting Yard at Jebel Ali have been completed by the first week of December including 12 moulds and the total concrete consumption reached 38,125m3 (28,700 m3 for the Red Line and 9,425 m3 for the Green line). Total rebar reinforcement was 17,020 mt (12,800 m3 for the Red Line and 4,220 m3 for the Green line).

“Viaduct works are progressing according to schedule and the number of precast viaduct spans for the Red line reached 1249 spans erected at end of July 2008, with a completion rate of 100%. The number of precast viaduct spans for the Green Line is 447 spans and erection works are still in progress posting around 60% completion rate, and so far 260 spans have already been installed in viaduct of the Green line.

Among the key aspects in designing Dubai Metro Viaduct is tailoring the constructive method to the prevailing conditions & constraints at site. This requires establishing the construction method before embarking on designs. Therefore viaduct spans have been constructed using various construction methods depending on the nature of the site, such as precast segment method using gantry cranes, and the balanced cantilever method.