Concrete Bridges

Prestressed Concrete Bridges for Nad-alSheba Race Course Development Project,

Dubai- Lessons Learnt

AFCONS infrastructure Limited (which is the Infrastructure wing of M/s Shapoorji & Pallonji Group) recently executed its first bridge project in Dubai. It consisted of three prestressed concrete bridges at Nad-al-Sheba (horse and camel) Race Course, for Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) Dubai. During the execution, the team members faced various problems and creative solutions were devised. However, the project was completed in record time, fetching appreciation from the client. Various techniques adopted and other technical details of the project are presented in this paper.

Vivek G. Abhyankar,

Sr. Manger (Design), AFCONS Infrastructure limited, Mumbai

General
Dubai, one of the seven emirates was just a small fishermen colony, about fifty years ago (Fig.1a). But in the past 35 years, i.e. after the formation of United Arab Emirates (UAE), Dubai has developed by leaps and bounds. Dubai has become a hub for foreign Investors. Dubai is known for its modern structures, rapidly growing civilization, foreign-tourism and trade. It is one of the seven emirates of the UAE where maximum investment and

developments have taken place. Ambitious projects like Burj-Arab tower (Burj-Khallifa), Burj-Dubai, Palm-Island, World-Island and several other upcoming projects (See Fig.1b) challenged the entire engineering community. The local government authorities are coming up with projects that continuously challenge the engineer and modernize the habitat in Dubai. But since 2007, Dubai is experiencing very challenging situation because of the global slow-down.

Figure 1a: A scene of old Dubai

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roads and bridges was executed by Afcons. The overall work gave lots of learning to the organization and entire site team. The author of this paper is one of these team members. Hence the lively experience shared by him & presented in the paper would be of interest to all.

Briefs About the Project

Figure 1b: A few modern structures (existing / coming up) in Dubai

Afcons, being one of the pioneering construction companies of marine structures in India and getting diversified in other sectors of construction like Infrastructure, Nuclear and Industrial etc., was keen to participate in the international bid floated by RTA, for the development of Nad-Al-Sheba race course. As the tender was on International level, construction companies all over the world had participated in it. But finally RTA shortlisted Afcons, as the technical and financial bids were most competitive. Though it was not a new experience for the company to work on foreign soils, the responsibility to fulfill the expectations of RTA was a challenge before the project team. (Afcons already had a considerable experience in International projects at locations such as Mauritius, Madagascar (Africa), Ruwais (AbhuDabhi), Iraq etc., but mostly in the marine sector.) As RTA was considered as a strict client to work with, Afcons was alert during each phase of construction. RTA, formerly known as Dubai Municipal Corporation had stringent norms of construction. The entire project was monitored by experts from various parts of the world under the shed of M/s Africon and Al-Burj. Invariably the projects with RTA are not given the Time and Cost extension. The contractor

delaying on the projects may even get black-listed, and will not be allowed to perform any project in future in UAE. Officers from Britain, Switzerland, Sudan, Pakistan, Iraq, Sri Lanka were appointed by the company to execute the work. The client also had a team of competent engineers with focused scope. The overall project of Nad-alSheba race course development had four parts (packages) namely construction of roads and bridges, construction of water canal from sea till the race course (for navigation of visitors from other emirates), and construction of Main structures / stadium, and development of adjoining areas. Amongst these the first package of construction of

Nad-al-sheba race course (See Fig.1c) is located to the south of world famous Al-Burj-tower. Sea shore is also very close from the race course. The areas like Camel market, falcon house are very close from the project site. The scope of work for Afcons included construction of three approach Bridges (namely MDN-1A, MND-3D and the Main Bridge) to the race course and construction of main roads within the enter area (See Fig.19, showing entire alignment, scope of work), construction of canal, partly below the main bridge. The fourth bridge, approaching to the Race course building, called VIP bridge (No. 2c in Fig. 19) was a separate package in this tender. The tendering of VIP Bridge was done after processing first package. The VIP was constructed by M/s

Figure 1c: Nad-Al-Sheba Race course - birds eye view

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(b) Fish bone shape Steel frames (a) Night View on VIP Bridge used in the VIP bridge Figure 2: The VIP bridge (recently completed by Ms/ Dutco Balfour Beatty LLC)

Balfour Beatty (See Fig.2). Another package was to construct the approach water canal. The construction of canal was done by M/s Dutco. The construction of Stadium building was executed by M/s Mydan. For the roads and bridges in the scope of Afcons, the structural design was provided by M/s Al-Burg and the Project management consultant. For the VIP bridge the design was provided by a team consisting of M/s DNEC, together with Africon UAE, Dutco

Balfour Beatty LLC, and Petrofab Intl. FZC. In the present paper, the works executed by Afcons only are described in detail. The key details of all the three Bridges are described below. Link-1A, Link-1B were completely reduced from the current works because of financial crises. Later the South wing also reduced partially. Concrete grade used: Super structure M40

Substructure M40 Reinforcement Grade used: Fe500 Project Duration: 19 months Project cost: 498 M Dirham (after Revision of scope)

Piling
The piles were driven using Casagrande pile driving rigs. The freshly driven bores were stabilized using polymer solution instead of conventional bentonite slurry. This helped in maintaining a clean site. A steel liner was used to stabilize the top 10m of the freshly driven bore. The designed capacity of each pile below pier cap was 450 MT and 600 MT below the Abutments. As welding of rebars was not allowed, couplers were used for reinforcements in the piles, after approval from PMC, Client and testing lab. (Figs 3-15 show the project at various stages of construction). Table 1 shows quantities involved and the time cycle for construction of 18 m long piles in this project.

Project Technical Details

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Figure 3a: (Left) Rebar cage for piles getting ready, (right) final rebar cage for typical pile

Figure 3b: (Left) Pile Driving in progress, (Right) Pile-cap formwork by M/s RMD Kwikform

(i) Pile cutting device, to obtain desired pile-cutoff level

(ii) Freshly cut pile before finishing Figure 3c: Pile cutting

(iii) Cut pile just after finishing

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Figure 3d: Reinforcements of the Piers are fitted by dedicated Rebar team and View of Pier immediately after de-shuttering

Figure 3e: Typical View of Pier Formwork supplied by M/s Anvem

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Figure 4, 5: RMDK formwork / staging for the bridge deck and Densely reinforced Prestressed concrete section

Figure 6. 7: Workers engaged in placing the Reinforcements and cable ducts at place and Typical View of Inner Bridge Formwork (M/s RMD Kwikform type)

Figure 8, 9: Bridge Expansion Joints and Bearings

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Figure 10, 11: Concreting of the bridge structure and Bitumen Road in progress

Figure 12: MDN-1A- view of portion of completed bridge (note the white epoxy coating)

Figure 13: Large width deck slab ( <60m ) of Main bridge

Figure 14: Due to summer heat, concreting of the Large deck was done during night

Figure 15: Main Bridge deck just completed (before applying epoxy coating) Note the high Quality of concrete finish

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Construction Hurdles
When Afcons received a work order for this project in August 2009, it was a very pleasant moment. Immediately the organization started initial mobilization of resources (man, material and machinery), considering the importance of this work. Here it is worth mentioning that all the major works associated with Infrastructure growth in UAE are directly monitored by the Ministry. Soon after acquiring the site, the site team noticed the clouds of Recession in all the trades in Dubai, including the construction projects. The team noticed that most of the Megaprojects were on the verge of getting Hold tag. The big projects like Lagoons were already closed. This created an unstable feeling within the project team members. After two months of initial mobilization, the Project team started working at site (Oct-Nov 2008). In UAE the Project offices usually open at 6:30am / 7:00am and close down the work at around 4:00pm, due to extreme heat. This was a time of rainy season in UAE. The rains imposed constraints in the road construction and underground works. This time was utilized by the technical team members, to minutely study the

Construction drawings, prepare action plans, study the methods followed in close by projects by other International construction companies, etc. During this study, the team noticed various missing information / errors at a few places. The same was discussed with PMC, and queries were raised in the form of RFI. The clients were soon got flooded with many RFIs. Hence consultant had to appoint dedicated engineer to sort all the RFI. Considering the fast tack nature of project, Afcons team raised query / request to client (RTA) to pay attention to this matter. On this RTA instructed the contractor and consultant both to solve the matter at the earliest without affecting the time and cost estimate. Soon the consultant informed the contractor that there are certain changes expected to take place in the engineering details, under reengineering. In Dubai it is mandatory for any party executing the works to have Approval with Dubai municipal Corp. To avoid any further delays in approval (leading to wastage of time) the organization decided to appoint an approved agency for construction of piling activity. Various approved companies were scrutinized and M/s Swiss Bore was

finalized to start the work. As per original contract, the bored cast-insitu pile of 1000 mm diameter and 32 m depth were to be constructed. Immediately after constructing the first pile, the same was asked to be load tested (using the Kentledge method) by the PMC (see Fig.16). The 32m pile showed very high capacity during the test hence PMC and client asked to perform one more of 24m deep pile (the 24m depth was estimated by interpolation, though it was not an exact approach, it was fairly logical for friction piles in uniform strata as exists in places like Dubai). Soon the 24m pile was driven and tested. The 24m also passed the required load and settlement criteria. The site team was asked to proceed ahead with the piling of bridge MDN-1A with 24m depth. Soon the PMC started pressurizing the contractor to further reduce the length of the pile to 18m. The site team wanted to recheck the same with the tender provisions and the soil investigation data provided by the client. Finally with the reduced scope, the 18m pile was driven and tested at second bridge MDN3D. The same also passed the requirements. The consultant asked the site team to proceed ahead with 18m length of pile for the

Figure 16: Pile Load test (left) kentledge, (right) Jacks and Load cells on Pile head

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Structural Consultant of the bridge had to intervene, asking to check the minimum pile length to resist the lateral loads, yet PMC got the approval from client to get the 12m pile checked. Dubais soil stratum is a typical example of fine sandy strata with week empty soil-pockets formed during soil-storms. The same was experienced while driving 12m deep pile, where the bore suddenly got collapsed inwards. Figure 17: Details of Cyclic Pile Load Test-2 Because of this, the clients instructed to stop further reremaining work at MDN-1A and all engineering and proceed ahead piles of MDN-3D. This iteration with the 16m deep piles. consumed lot of time. Unfortunately, the tendered quantity A typical load-settlement curve had got almost half. Though the of pile loading test is shown in PMC and the consultants, agreed Fig. 17. with 16m depth of the pile, the When the piling work of bridge second step of re-engineering was MDN-1A was about to get over, and started to reduce the number of piling work of MDN-3D was just piles itself. But as the final pile of started, the PMC asked contactor to 16m was just meeting the test a 16m deep pile and test the requirement, the number could not same at last bridge. The 16 m be reduced drastically. Details of deep pile was tested and found to pass the load-settlement requirements. The client and PMC both were very happy on this cost saving. The PMC wanted to now check the 12m deep pile. Here, the

completion of piles are shown in Table 2. The third step of re-engineering was in the reduction of bridge length in MDN-3D. Such reduction was required because during the planning stage the minimum ground clearance for the bearings was not followed by the Planner / Consultants. Thus the initial few months time (four to five moths after initial mobilization period of two months) was critical. The organization could appoint a Project Manager from Dubai, who can speak the local language (Arabic), and could communicate with the clients and PMC in a better way, and to keep an eye on the project time loss. Then the organization decided to work on 24 x 7 basis. Three shifts in full swing were started. All these delays, trials, iteration in first five / six months gave lots of learning, which was used to trouble shoot all further hurdles / issues. The challenge was to maintain quality, without losing time, money and yet to give safe construction. Now the organization geared-up to do the work on time. Many other problems faced by the team, as listed below, were carefully addressed with sound engineering solutions, to meet the target. 1) Delayed payments 2) Alteration / reduction in scope of

(left) Canal cross section (right) Excavation of canal in progress Figure 18: Canal passing below the main bridge

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Outcome of This Project

The initial period of a few months was difficult for the contactor. Both the parties were new to each other. But once they understood the working style and the project requirements in Dubai / RTA (client), the team members could jointly overcome all the hurdles. Finally the finished quality of output (as seen in various photographs) was obtained. The credit also goes to the various vendors, suppliers and the subcontractors, as each one did their job the best.

Conclusion
Very limited numbers of contactors from India take a challenge to participate and construct international projects. However, such contacts give lots of knowledge, understanding about the International construction practices, legal and contractual provisions. Also such projects help the organization to earn lot of respect in the International construction industry, in addition to the financial gains. Its worth mentioning here that after completion of this project, Afcons earned a place in the list of a few preferred contactors to do jobs in Dubai.

Acknowledgment & References.

The author is thankful to the Afcons Infrastructure Limited and entire site team for making all the relevant data available for this paper. More information of this project may be found in the following papers:1. Abhyankar V.G., Nad-al-Sheba Race Course Development Project: Construction of three Bridges, Quarterly journal of Indian Society of Structural Engineers (ISSE), Mumbai, Vol-13/2, April-MayJune2011 2. Karnik, M. D., M.R Birhade, and P.S. Bansod, Experiences in Construction of Bored cast-in-situ piles in calcareous soil Strata at Nad Al Sheba Race Course, Dubai to be published in Proceedings of Indian Geotechnical Conference, December 15-17, 2011,RTA Dubai (Paper No. Q-199.) List of various Vendors / Suppliers / Sub-contactors involved in the project : Pile-driving M/s Swiss Boring Formwork o Superstructure (M/s RMD Kwikform), o Piers (M/s Anvem Steel) Reinforcement cutting bending, BBSM/s Ulmost, and partly done in house Prestressing system M/s Nasa Structures (sister co. of M/s VSL) Bearings, Expansion Joints M/s Alga bearings and Exp. Jts RE walls and Geo textiles M/s Freyssinet Concrete and other construction Chemicals : M/s BASF

work under re-engineering 3) Delay in acceptance to RFI by PMC, action taken on RFI 4) Construction workers issues 5) Idling of construction resources (machine / men) in absence of approval / drawings 6) Administrative issues (pressure from other agencies / contactors on client) 7) Relocation of utilities 8) High magnitude of pre-stressing 9) Incompatible values of Stressing mentioned in drawings, especially at cable coupler locations At the Nad-Al-Sheba race course, a water canal was planned to carry the passengers from sea shore and other locations to the Race course building. The main contractor for the construction of Water Canal was M/s Dutko. But the construction of part of the canal passing below the main bridge was the responsibility of Afcons.

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