300kn anchors enable erection of 70m high tower crane

REQUIREMENT

A secure and reliable means of stabilising the 100 ton lifting frame was required when a huge crane, for lifting fabricated sections of ships, was to be erected in Dubai Drydocks.

While the 70m long horizontal section of the crane was raised 70m to the top of the A frame legs, the lifting beam had to be anchored to provide a reaction force to ensure that the legs remained stable.

The engineer for the project specified mechanical ground anchors as they were cost-effective, could be installed quickly and could withstand the required loadings in the sand and gravels.

SOLUTION

Using a machine mounted breaker, the 10 mechanical ground anchors were installed by Safina following training and on- site supervision from Anchor Systems.

The 6m long anchors with 32mm high yield bars were driven vertically into the weak sandy ground, terminated with specially fabricated lifting rings and shackled to turnbuckles on the lifting beam

Set to a proof loading of 300kN, the job was completed within the three day time period and the anchors provided the required reaction force to stabilise the legs of the massive tower crane while the huge cross beam was lifted into place.