Two Liebherr mobile cranes have been deployed by Autokrane Schares to complete eight separate tandem lifts on a bridge in Wuppertal, Germany.
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Due to damage on the Wupper Bridge in Heckinghausen, the German crane hire company was contracted to lift eight reinforced concrete girders into place that measured up to 32m long and weighed in at 85 tonnes each. The bridge, constructed in 1965, had restrictions imposed on it such as a speed limit of 30km per hour and a ban of vehicles weighing over 30 tonnes, hence the need to replace the turnoff.
To complete the lift the prefabricated girders onto the bridge’s new abutments, Schares utilised its LTM 1650-8.1, an LTM 1450-8.1 supplied by neighbouring company Dornseiff Autokrane & Schwertransporte, as well as an LTM 1100-4.1 rigged with a safety cage for riggers to connect loads where necessary. According to Schares Project Manager, Eric Reichmann, there was “simply not enough space” to use a larger crawler crane – or even mobile crane – that could handle the load capacities, hence the decision to use the 650-tonne and 450-tonne machines.
“We had to use both banks of the river,” he said. “The tandem lift solution required a 160-tonne triangular cross beam and an additional mobile crane with a safety cage.”
With the LTM 1650-8.1 initially bearing the load of the 85-tonne girder, the crane slewed over the river to its lifting capacity, where the technicians in the safety cage connected the hook of the LTM 1450-8.1 to the suspended load. From that point, the two cranes worked in tandem to place the girders onto the abutments on the opposite side of the river. Because the LTM 1650-8.1 was lifting from a lower point, Schares utilised different cable lengths on its Liebherr mobile cranes to factor in the inclination of the divergent abutment heights, allowing for an easier installation process.
Autokrane Schares, based in Germany, employs over 125 people at four locations across the country, specialising in structural engineering, wind turbine maintenance, and tower crane assembly.
READ MORE:
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