The Italian company, Pilosio, nailed down a major contract for the supply of temporary structures directly from the yard to the South African branch of CMC, Ravenna (Italy). The project involves the construction of a major motorway junction in the north of the city of Durban, which includes two of the longest viaducts in the country.

In Durban, in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, that the Pilosio formwork arrived , to be exact in the area north of the African metropolis, to supply the CMC company of Ravenna (Italy) for the construction of the a major motorway junction, the N2-M41 Mount Edgecombe Interchange.

The Pilosio solutions, of which 70 percent are custom-made, will be used for the construction of two major viaducts made with the launching bridge system, thereby not interfering with the traffic below. With dimensions of 26 meters in height by 947 meters in length, and 18 meters by 443. the first, in particular, when completed, will be the longest viaduct in the entire country.

Equipments, Pilosio supplied:

• 200 square meters of standard P300 formwork for foundations and piers.
• 500 square meters of special steel formwork , divided into five sets for the construction of the viaduct piers and 350 square meters of additional special steel formwork made up of three sets for the construction of pier cups.
• Two sets of formwork model, MAXIMIX, and custom-made products for a total of 940 square meters for the casting of the bridge decks.
• The OMNIMODE system integrated with customized solutions for the construction of suspended working platforms during the launching phase of the decks,
• Climbing system.

Thanks to technical skills acquired over the years, Pilosio was able to offer the best solution in terms of speed of work, site safety, optimization of equipment and, why not, also of aesthetics thanks to continuous on-site service. On this site, about 70% of the total equipment is custom-made according to the clients needs. The Pilosio technical department responded quickly and expertly to the various criteria of the project, such as rapid supply times, coordination with the various organizations involved in the project, the need to design a formwork system for the piers adaptable to two different sizes and a scaffolding system optimized for the launching bridge system.

As foundations showed no significant issues, it was decided to use the standard formwork model P300.
For the casting of piers and pier cups, the modularity of the P300 system would certainly have permitted the casting of octagonal piers, but given the particular characteristics of the project, the times would be more dilated giving less accurate aesthetic results than with a system of customized formwork. With its experience in infrastructure, Pilosio therefore studied and created special steel formwork to guarantee quicker application, a better aesthetic finish, and above all allow the realization of casting to 5 m height at a time to piers of up to 23m in height, as required by the company. The climbing system guaranteed fast feedspeed of jets and high safety for operators. Moreover, these custom formworks leave neat visible holes in the concrete, as the bars are sized and positioned necessary to the hold, but in an "orderly" manner. Finally, having 26 stacks of identical sections, the cost of the equipment would be softened by the highspeed work of the casting. In fact, with the equipment once delivered, the company could cast three piers simultaneously. For casting the pier cups, the CMC company asked for custom made formwork to cast 3 + 3 m in height. The piers are supported by towers in MP with safety access stairs.

The most complex part of the viaduct concerned the casting of the decks of the bridge done onsite with the launching bridge system. For the onsite casting of decks, approximately 20 m in length each, a mixed formwork system is used consisting of the OMNIMODE system for the base and exterior of the ashlar, with major beams in steel and secondary beams in wood to form the outer shape of the MAXIMIX beam. The second phase of the casting of the upper horizontal decking is made with SIMPLEX support towers, which are modular and extremely fast to assemble and handle.

Resource: Pilosio