Tutt Bryant Heavy Lift and Shift (TBHL & S) recently completed a series of heavy lifts on Brisbane’s Cross River Rail Project. Projects & Heavy Lifting Manager of East Coast TBHL & S Scott De La Rue discusses the project and the Sany cranes involved.
With an estimated capital cost of $6.3 billion, the Cross River Rail project is expected to be the largest transport project ever built in Queensland.
The new shared pedestrian and cycle bridge will link the Ecosciences Precinct of Brisbane’s Dutton Park, and the newly upgraded Park Road station over and across the rail corridor to the Princess Alexandra Hospital precinct and South-East Busway.
The bridge will provide much-needed connectivity and allow for easier movement on foot, by bike or scooter, or to connect with public transport.
The new pedestrian and cycling bridge is an architecturally designed cable stay bridge approximately 480m long with a cable stay spire approximately 45m high.
The main span of the bridge will consist of five steel girders weighing up to 133t each. They will be lifted into place by crane to form the main deck.
Construction of the bridge is expected to be complete in late 2023, weather and construction conditions permitting.
“The scope of our element of the project is the installation of a cycling and walking bridge which connects Boggo Road to the Princess Alexandra Hospital. It’s probably the most iconic part of the job that’s above ground and our scope is to install the bridge from end to end,” Scott said.
“There’s definitely some heavy lifting involved with the project, and we’ve mobilised our Sany SCC8000A 800t capacity lattice boom crawler crane for the major lifts – along with our Sany SCC2500TB 250t capacity telescopic crawler crane as an assist crane to the 800t and 2 SCC400TB 40t capacity crawler cranes for general site assistance during the project. One of the 250t’s first job was to build the SCC8000A.
“The cranes were set up on one side of the rail corridor where they carried out a series of lifts including the first two large girders and main pylon in February and March. We then demobilised the cranes to the other side of the rail for some larger capacity lifts. For these lifts we built the Sany SCC8000A with a fully dressed Superlift tray.
“For the superlifts the SCC8000A was lifting a total of 166t at a radius of 55m which meant the crane was operating at high-capacity utilisation – that’s a big lift for the crane. The second lift is much heavier at 292t but with a much shorter radius of 28m. Crane is dressed with 78m of heavy main boom, 80t of body weights, 230t of rear counterweights and 390t of superlift, the total dead weight in this configuration is over 1200t.
“We are onsite for 10 weeks and the 800t will complete 25 significant lifts. There are four of the big girders that go up, but then there’s approach girders as well. So, I’d say 25 lifts for the 800,” said Scott.
The SCC8000A features 99 metres of main boom in standard crane, 111 metres of main boom with superlift attached, 123 metres of mixed (heavy and light) main boom in standard crane, 147 metres of mixed main boom and full superlift.
The SCC8000A also comes with 168 metres of power boom, including 3.5 metre sections fitted into the boom, and a super power boom. This is made up of two booms side by side for a certain portion of the main boom. TBHL&S has also purchased the crane with a short fixed – wind jib which can be used to install wind turbines over 100t at a hook height of 175m. It has a full luffing fly of 96 metres as well which can lift up to 68t at 194m hook height.
“We bought every option for the crane. We have the Superlift and the power boom which provides an increase to the torsional strength of the boom at increased heights, it also features the wind turbine short fly and the large luffing fly. This crane has greater capacities than anything else on the East Coast market right now,” Scott said.
“The Sany SCC8000A is perfect for the heavy work and lifts in large infrastructure projects. It is ideal for large and heavy bridge builds or removals such as the one we completed recently. The Sany SCC8000A is also very suitable for work on the next generation of wind turbines. No other crane on the East Coast market has the capabilities for heavy lifting at a large radius or extreme heights,” he said.
The Sany SCC2500TB 250 was used to assemble the 800t SCC8000A and was the perfect crane for that job. TBHL&S then used the crawler to tail the pylons, which was the first lift in the scope. The 250 was then lifted out with the SCC8000A, and demobilised to the other side of the project, ready for when the larger crane is moved into position.
With the strongest lifting capacity and the longest boom in its class, the Sany SCC2500TB is an extremely versatile crane ideally suited for working in industry sectors such as construction and infrastructure, mining and resources, as well as energy and renewables.
The Sany SCC2500TB’s 75.4m boom is made of high-strength steel structure with a U-shaped section area. It features seven sections with the basic boom at 14.4m and the maximum boom length at 75.4m. The boom has full power with a single cylinder and plug for telescoping. The fixed jib measures 43m in length and can be installed at angles including 0°, 15° and 30°.
Safe operation is at the heart of the control systems for the SCC2500TB and this includes the Smart Integrated Load Moment Indicator (LMI).
The Integrated LMI System is provided as standard, offering high safety, efficiency, and calibration of the crane’s control. Based on lifting mechanics mode, the LMI computing system enables precision loading and the protection of loading operations. If an overload situation occurs an alarm system alerts the operator.
The LMI system can automatically detect the suspended load weight, the working radius of the crane, and the angle of boom, and compares rated load weight with the actual load. Under normal operating conditions, the system makes intelligent decisions and will automatically cut off the crane’s actions if they are over extending the crane’s capabilities. It also features a black box function to record overload information.
The load indicator light has three colours: green, yellow and red, and the real time load status is presented on the display. When the load is less than 90 per cent of the rated load, the green light will be on. When the load is greater than 90 per cent but less than 100 per cent, the yellow light will be on, the alarm light flashes, and the system emits intermittent sirens. If the load reaches 100 per cent of rated load, the red light will be on, the alarm light flashes and it sends out continuous sirens. When the load reaches 102 per cent the system will automatically cut off the crane’s operation.
Electrical Control System
The SYIC-II integrated control system has been independently researched and developed by Sany. The system features a high level of integration and controls the power system to the crane, the engine system, the main control system, LMI, auxiliary system and safety monitoring system. Data communication between the controller, display, and engine is conducted by CAN bus technology.
The SYIC-II integrated control system displays the engine rotating speed, fuel volume, engine oil pressure, servo pressure, wind speed, engine working time, load weight, boom angle and other working parameters and working conditions.
Cab, control and operator comfort
The ergonomically-designed Sany cab features the latest interfaces between the operator and the crane. The integrated 26.5cm touchscreen is programmable with ‘smart buttons’ to ensure the interaction between the operator and the machine are perfect.
The cab has been designed to offer as much full vision of the work site as possible. The finger-tip controls and buttons are designed to enable more comfortable operations. The cab is modelled with large areas of glass windows and additional features include the beam headlamp and rear-view mirror. It is also installed with air conditioning and a radio.
The armrest box features an operations handle and electrical switch. An emergency stop switch and ignition switch are installed on the left and right armrest boxes. The armrest box is designed to adjust with the operator’s seat.
The operator’s seat is a suspension type multi-mode, multi-level regulated seat that is fitted with an unloading switch. The air conditioning system manages the cooling and heating of the cab’s air.
Multiple cameras can be fixed to the crane and in various positions to monitor the performance of the wire rope on each winch in real time, for example, as well as the conditions behind the counterweight and those surrounding the machine.
The counterweights and trays ‘pile up’, which enables them to be easily self-assembled and self-disassembled. This facilitates greater ease of transport and quicker mobilsation and de-mobilisation. The rear counterweight weighs 60t and features self-assembly and self-disassembly functions. The carbody counterweight is fitted at the front and rear of the carbody and weighs 10t.
The crane’s super structure features high tensile steel and the layout of key components is designed to provide convenient access for technicians for maintenance and service purposes.
The traveling speed can be switched between high speed and low speed with a high speed of up to 2km/h.
The telescopic crawler’s reducer also features a concealed wet-brake and spring-loaded, fin engaged brake with spring force braking, which is oil pressure released. Pressure of 25MPa is generated by an auxiliary system that pushes the cylinder to realise the extension and retraction of the crawler tracks. The crawlers are extended when they get to site and retracted for transportation purposes.
The jack pushes the guiding wheel and insert shims to adjust the tension in the crawler tracks. The track steering system manages single track turning and pivot turning and high-strength alloy milled steel prolongs the service life of track shoes, which are 1,100mm wide.
The crawler tracks feature a maintenance-free track roller, and an outrigger cylinder facilitates the track frame disassembly during jobsite transfer. Its main components include a monitor, controller, length and angle sensor, pressure sensor, etc.
When the crane gets to site, it can be put into assembly mode, which means certain safety devices are disabled to facilitate crane assembly. In work mode all safety limiting devices are activated to protect the operation of the crane.
In an emergency situation, the emergency stop button will cut the power supply of the whole machine and all actions stop.
Over-hoist protection of the main and auxiliary load hoist
A height limiter is equipped on the boom/jib tip and this prevents the hook lifting too much. When the hook is lifted to the limited height, the limit switch activates, and an alarm pops up on the monitor. If the lift continues, alarms are sent from the control panel, a failure indicator light starts to flash, and the hook hoisting action is cut off automatically.
Over-release protection of the main and auxiliary load hoist
A three-wrap protector is installed on the main and auxiliary load hoist to prevent over-release of wire rope. When the rope is paid out close to the last three wraps, the limit switch activates, and the system emits an alarm and displays the alarm on the monitor, automatically cutting off the winch action.
All of these features make the Sany SCC2500TB a highly competitive product in the telescopic crawler market. With the longest boom and highest lifting capacity in its class, the Sany crawler is a highly versatile and durable crane, ideally suited for applications in the construction and infrastructure sectors, mining and resources and the renewable energy sector. It is class-leading in any applications where a heavy lift telescopic crawler is required.
Scott is impressed with the performance of the cranes on this project and with Sany product in general.
“The Sany SCC250TBs are awesome –
I have been really impressed with the Sany products. The new 250s, are stronger than any other telescopic crawler crane. My team and I love them. I jumped in and had a drive the other night and it’s as good as anything else and the operators like working with them.
“Another thing worth mentioning, is that TBHL&S took delivery of the first three SCC2500TBs produced by the factory anywhere in the world. There were a few minor issues we wanted to change, like the positioning of the screen, so I took a Sany engineer out to have a look. They had a solution designed within six hours, and the parts were immediately sent. Sany is quick and responsive to anything we want done with the cranes and I don’t think you will find that from the European OEMs,” said Scott.
“With this project we’ll be on site for about 10 weeks and there are some significant lifts. There are four of the big girders that go up and then there’s approach girders as well. There will be 25 lifts for the 800 tonner and we will be putting it through its paces, that is for sure,” he said.