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Concrete Construction Article PDF - The Shotcrete Gunning Crew
Concrete Construction Article PDF - The Shotcrete Gunning Crew
Nozzleman
• Ensures that the nozzle is in first-class working order,
have served an apprenticeship of at least six months
the liner is secure and unworn, the water jets are clear
and have had experience on jobs of a similar nature to
and unblocked, the hoses are clear of scale and cor-
the one on which he is engaged.
rectly laid, and the hose connections are properly
The experience of the nozzleman must be demon-
made.
strated by testing his ability to coat test panels as part of
a pre-construction testing program (dealt with in Chap-
• Ensures that the surface to receive the shotcrete is
ter 7 of the book Gunite—a handbook for engineers).
clean, free of dust, laitance and grease (with the excep-
The crew should consist of:
tion of formwork coated with form oil).
• nozzleman
• blowpipe operator (nozzleman’s apprentice) • Ensures that the mix stream is applied in a regular flow
at the correct, uniform pressure required.
• gunman (operates the mechanical feeder or gun*)
• mixer operator • Regulates the water control to ensure adequate com-
paction of the shotcrete, low rebound percentage and
• foreman
absence of sag.
• s e ve ral laborers to assist with such jobs as hose
moving, scaffolding and mixing • Holds the nozzle in such a way that the shotcrete im-
pinges as directly onto the surface as conditions per-
* Not to be confused with the discharge nozzle, the gun is the equipment that mit, thus ensuring adequate compaction and low re-
delivers the shotcrete mixture (sand-cement in the dry process) under pres-
sure through the hose to the nozzle. bound percentage.
Figure 1. Nozzleman’s signals. † Numbers in parentheses refer to metric equivalents listed with this article.
Gunman
• Ensures that the gun is in first-class working order.
• Blows out all material hoses after work stops and emp-
ties the gun if the stoppage is for more than one hour.
Mixer operator
• Ensures that the mixer is clean and in first-class me-
chanical condition—it must be cleaned daily.