Category: Casing Systems

LAYING THE FOUNDATION FOR THE TAMPERE TRAM

Posted on by Jari Silver

The city of Tampere is extending its tram routes to the western suburbs. Infrastructure construction and maintenance in this alliance project are provided by YIT. They have used a variety of foundation engineering methods to ensure solid results.

Tramway Section 1 (TAS 1) was implemented in six segments from 2017 to 2021. The first section included tram tracks and stops from Pyynikintori eastwards to Hervantajärvi and from the University Hospital to Sori Square. Service on the first section began in August 2023.

Tramway Section 2 (TAS 2) includes the section from Pyynikintori to Lentävänniemi in the west. Construction of the last part, Santalahti–Lentävänniemi, began in spring 2022. If all goes to plan, tram service to Lentävänniemi could begin at the start of 2025.

The total length of the Tampere tram network for sections 1 and 2 is approximately 24 kilometers. The planning phase for tramway section 3 is currently underway, with the city council expected to decide on its implementation by the end of 2024.

A wide variety of tasks
YIT’s role in the project has included foundation work, sewerage, cabling, bridges, retaining walls, rail installations, paving, roundabouts, sidewalks, 24 tram stops, and more. Due to the significant elevation differences along the route, 20 retaining walls were constructed. Nine new bridges were also built, including a 18-meter-high railway bridge, and the 250-meter Vacker Bridge.

YIT also constructed a modularly designed depot in Hervanta. Before its construction, 250,000 m3 of rock was excavated, some of which were used for the depot’s site embankments. The remaining quarried rock was used as aggregate elsewhere in the project.

Foundation work is key
The foundation work included varying types of ground reinforcement as well as the lower structure of the tram tracks.“We’ve made reinforcements for all sorts of foundations: clay, hard rock, several meters of peat, etc. We’ve done multiple kilometers of piling, especially for bridges, where we used piled slabs. Also, various retaining walls, mass replacements, lightweight fills, and preload embankments,” says Veetu Helkiö from YIT Infra, who worked as a supervisor for TAS 1 and a site engineer for TAS 2.

YIT has mainly used their own equipment in the foundation work. “We’ve used both drilled and driven piles extensively for reinforcements, with Robit supplying reamers for the piles and bits for drilling. Most reamers went directly to the pile supplier, which sped up the process. Some were also welded on-site. We had a good supply of drill bits the whole time, and Robit’s deliveries were timely, despite the global challenges with material flows. Domestic production is an asset, as was the short distance from Robit’s Lempäälä facilities to the tram construction site, which means deliveries were really quick from Robit’s warehouse,” Helkiö praises.

The foundation work for TAS 2 was completed late last year. “The project went well overall, and we met our schedules despite challenging times. This was a unique and interesting project, integrating many different work phases,” says Helkiö.

Robit DTH SR pilots and ring bits were widely used by YIT in the foundation works on the tramway project.

BUILDING A STRONGER OREGON CAPITOL

Posted on by Jari Silver

Last year saw a massive geotechnical operation at the Oregon State Capitol: the entire building had to be jacked up off the ground. Robit’s micropile casing systems played an important part in the process.

The Oregon State Capitol building has faced many misfortunes throughout its history. The first capitol burned down in 1855 – only a few months after its inauguration. The second capitol met the same fate in 1935.

However, fire is not the only force of nature that has put the state capitol in peril. Large parts of Oregon, including the capital city of Salem, sit on a tectonically active fault line called the Cascadia Subduction Zone.

In March 1993, a 5.6-magnitude earthquake – the largest in the Pacific Northwest in over a decade – cracked the cupola of the Capitol and created a massive bulge on its west end. Parts of the building remained closed for repairs for almost two years.

Over the following decades, the State of Oregon conducted several studies to determine how best to protect the historic building from further seismic events. After investigating various options, the review committee decided on seismic isolation. In other words, the foundation of the building would rest on so-called pendulum isolators and a seismic joint that allows the entire complex to move independently in any direction from the surrounding ground during an earthquake.

This would be no small task; it meant that the Capitol building would have to be lifted off the ground. This would be achieved by constructing a shoring tower structure on which the building would rest while the new isolation system was being built. As the Capitol had needed extra space for years, it was also decided that an additional basement level would be constructed.

The main contractorship for the geotechnical work was awarded to Pacific Foundation, a family business based in Vancouver, WA. The company started as a smallscale drilling operation in 2012; since then, it has grown into a large contractor capable of tackling complex geotechnical challenges.

Regarding challenges, the Oregon State Capitol project was far from a typical scenario where, slightly simplified, you arrive at the job site, drill the piles into the ground – and that’s it. Here, the first challenge was to gain access underneath the Capitol and excavate enough space for the drill rigs to fit in. This phase started in late 2022.

The work continued throughout 2023 and entailed drilling micropiles into the ground across the entire footprint of the building. At best, seven drill rigs worked simultaneously in narrow spaces with only a few inches of clearance above. Two-thirds of the micropiles were Robit casing systems, while one-third, the outside piles, were double rotary systems. The micropiles supported a total of 175 shoring towers upon which the jacked-up building would sit until the work was completed. The tower construction and the jacking operation were performed by trusted partners.

By Christmas 2023, the micropiles, totaling as many as 722, were installed. By late January 2024, the building was resting on the shoring tower structure, paving the way for the seismic isolation system and reconstruction efforts.

For Pacific Foundation, mission success has probably never been more critical. The project required massive amounts of structural engineering and careful planning and coordination by all participating parties to stay on schedule and maintain safety – not to mention that while the work was in progress, the state legislature was in session just a few feet above.

The construction work at the Capitol will continue into 2025. Once finished, the historic marble building should finally be able to stand firm against any future seismic events.

Shoring towers stretching across the entire footprint of the Capitol building.

OULUN PORAKAIVOT THRIVES USING ROBIT’S WEAR PARTS

Posted on by Jari Silver

Kauno Määttä was a familiar name to Finnish wrestling fans in the 1960s and 70s: he won the Finnish Greco-Roman wrestling championship in his weight class several times. In his day job, however, Kauno did not make the headlines despite being a respected professional: he drilled wells.

Kauno’s career as a driller continued into retirement and was passed on to the next generations. In the late 1980s, Kauno’s primary school-age grandsons, Sami and Simo Manninen, got the spark when they got invited as helpers for a well-drilling job.

The spark ignited a lasting passion, and as a result, the brothers’ own company, Oulun Porakaivot, was finally born in 2012. It operates throughout Finland, and its core business is drilling geothermal energy fields for large properties. Oulun Porakaivot also handles the design and permitting of the energy fields and has a wide range of customers from the public sector to commercial properties and housing cooperatives. They also drill individual geothermal and water wells for detached houses and other small properties.

Oulun Porakaivot operates six drilling rigs and has long been Robit’s contract customer, using Robit products for all key consumables such as rods, ring bits, drill bits, and pilots. Panu Haulos, Design Engineer at Oulun Porakaivot, has noticed a welcome improvement in the quality of drilling tools.

“Reliability of consumables is critical in this sector. The wells are getting deeper – up to 450 meters – and the plots of land are often small: if the first hole falls short, there may not be enough room to drill a new one. In consumables, we have to look at the cost of a drill meter from an overall economic perspective: performance, drilling speed and fuel consumption. Robit’s products have been consistently reliable and have performed excellently in deep wells. And today’s hammers and bits are more durable than before,” says Panu.

For about a year, Robit has been developing a new four-inch DTH hammer, branded Robit H4, for well drilling. Testing in cooperation with customers is an integral part of product development. The H4 hammer was optimized and finalized as per customer feedback. Robit’s Sales Director Kimmo Kangas approached Oulun Porakaivot and offered them an opportunity to test the new hammer. A suitable test site was found in Helsinki, at a housing cooperative’s future energy field, where 23 wells will be drilled to a depth of 390 metres. Kimmo has followed the development of the H4 hammer from the beginning and has seen its potential.

“The functionality, reliability and penetration rate of the H4 are outstanding. However, the most significant improvement is fuel consumption, which is significantly lower than the competition. Typically, for example, in a 200-meter well, the compressor consumes about two litres of fuel per meter. On the H4 hammer, the consumption has been as low as one and a half litres. That’s a crucial difference,” says Kimmo.

Low fuel consumption is one of the key assets of the H4 hammer.

Panu Haulos confirms that the H4 has achieved very low fuel consumption figures at the drilling test site. The two companies have been in close cooperation for years.

“Robit’s domestic production is definitely a plus for us: we can get parts with a fast response time. They react quickly to our needs, around the clock if necessary. Robit has also been able to help in special cases where off-the-shelf products have not been available. For example, we had a project where the hole we were to drill had to be absolutely straight. Robit tailor-made us a special guiding rod that did the job,” says Panu.

In many sectors of the economy, growth indicators have recently taken a downward turn. This is not the case in the thermal well market, at least not for Oulun Porakaivot.

“The trend is upward, and demand is constantly growing and diversifying. Of course, this is partly due to technological advances that allow us to drill deeper wells. In Finland, the city of Helsinki, in particular, is a strong driver of progress in this field. The city, striving to move away from fossil-based district heating, has streamlined the permitting process for geothermal heat”, Panu says.

Picture from left: Ville Alanko, Simo Manninen, CEO Sami Manninen, Panu Haulos (Oulun Porakaivot); on the right Kimmo Kangas (Robit).

OCI: A POWERFUL PARTNER IN THE US MARKET

Posted on by Jari Silver

OCI, LLC, headquartered in Brookville, Pennsylvania, has been servicing the US drilling industry since 1997. Their core businesses include designing and building drilling tools and systems, equipment sales, rental and service, and consulting clients on methods and materials in their drilling projects.

OCI’s sales offering includes Down the Hole hammers and shock absorbers. UK-based Bulroc rose to prominence in the 1970s as a leading manufacturer of DTH hammers and related accessories. Jim Rupert, one of the founders of OCI, had been working with Bulroc hammers since the early 1980s, and it was only natural that when OCI was founded in the 1990s, they would partner with Bulroc.

The same successful partnership continues to this day with OCI and Robit, which acquired Bulroc in 2016. DTH hammers, along with piling tools, remain a key part of the Robit product line in OCI’s varied portfolio.

“We are a design and build manufacturing company that also mass produces micro piling casing and other industry products. We manufacture the micropile casing and the tooling used along with it. Our offerings include sub adapters, head adapters, swivels of various models, drill pipes of various types, drill string components, augers, core barrels, kelly equipment, and auxiliary equipment. We are not limited to a product line; we offer unique opportunities to manufacture specialized drilling and construction equipment “, says Dave Franklin, Technical Sales and Project Management at OCI.

The OCI–Robit partnership continues to serve the drilling industry across North America successfully.

“OCI feels we have a strong, healthy relationship with Robit, and we look forward to many opportunities in the near and distant future. Our clients have always been happy with Robit tools and the support we offer them as a team approach. Together, we provide a full scope of products and services,” Dave Franklin sums up.

Picture: The OCI headquarters in Brookville, PA.

FINGEO RELIES ON DOMESTIC WEAR PARTS IN DRILLING AND PILING

Posted on by Jari Silver

Fingeo is a Finnish drilling and piling contractor with solid experience. They also carry out more extensive projects, including civil engineering. For drilling consumables, the company relies on the quality, reliability, and competitive price of domestic Robit.

Founded in 2008, Fingeo Oy is now part of the E.M. Pekkinen Oy group.

“Our goal has been to develop our operating methods and provide a high-quality overall service. Fingeo has traditionally been strong in drilling and piling contracting. In recent years, we have expanded our service offering to include extraction by wedging and blasting and rock reinforcement by shotcrete, grouting and bolting. “We now also offer comprehensive foundation work contracts, which makes it easier for the client as the same contractor takes responsibility for the work from start to finish. We have the flexibility to handle smaller projects as well as larger ones. Our extensive experience in soil and rock drilling, together with other civil engineering professionals, ensures an overall sustainable contract and smooth project management,” says Veli-Antti Pekkinen, Project Manager at Fingeo Oy.

Construction continues to be strong in the Helsinki region

While Fingeo’s operations mainly focus on the Helsinki metropolitan area, several projects, particularly demanding piling contracts for industrial and bridge projects, are carried out throughout the country.

“In the future, we will increasingly offer our services in different parts of the country, especially in challenging projects and large turnkey contracts. We have plenty of work for the rest of the year as construction in the capital region continues to be strong on the ongoing sites. As for new projects, the future is not quite as clear,” says supervisor Jukka Jääskeläinen.

Wide variety of work methods, skilled staff

For drilling and anchoring, Fingeo uses a large variety of methods and a wide range of special equipment.

“Our pipe piling projects range from a few piles to construction sites with several thousand piles. Tensile anchoring is used, for example, in trench shoring to absorb tensile forces. Our areas of expertise also include specialities like offshore drilling from a raft and combi walls for trench support.”

“The backbone of our equipment consists of pipe piling and anchoring machines and drill rigs, of which we have about a dozen units. While the machinery is state-of-the-art, our motivated and highly skilled staff is key to successful projects. Our team has an excellent working atmosphere. Our minimal turnover rate speaks for that,” says Kai Jaakkola, supervisor.

Robit – the trusted partner for consumables

Drilling and piling is a consumable-intensive business. Fingeo’s main supplier in these applications is Robit, with its products manufactured domestically in Lempäälä.

“At the moment, we get practically all our wear parts from Robit: for quarrying, that includes rods and bits; for piling, we use their reamers, pilot bits, and DTH hammers. We appreciate their domestic manufacture and great customer service that ranges from sales to delivery to problem-solving. Robit actively develops technically advanced products, and the manufacturing quality is high. Their consumables allow us to drill further, resulting in cost savings. And while Robit’s products are definitely at the top of the market, they are also competitively priced. It’s quite a rare equation,” Jääskeläinen and Jaakkola say.

BUILDING A NEW NEIGHBORHOOD IN STOCKHOLM

Posted on by Jari Silver

In the first half of the 20th century, the Norra Djurgårdsstaden district in Stockholm, Sweden, was a busy industrial center and port area with an oil port, a coal port, a free port, and even a seaplane base. Today, it is one of the largest urban development areas in Europe.

The Norra Djurgårdsstaden development project was kicked off in the early 2010s. The first 700 apartments were completed in 2012, and construction work is expected to continue well into the 2030s.

The overall plan includes construction work in five sub-areas in the district. One of them is Project Saltkajen in Södra Värtahamnen, where a new pier with an associated bridge will be constructed, and the existing quay will be rebuilt. The city of Stockholm signed the contract, worth SEK 610 million, with Skanska.

Foundation work for the project includes extensive pipe piling and sheet piling in demanding conditions: more than 500 SSAB RD pipe piles (711 mm and 508 mm) will be drilled and connected by welded interlocking sections, creating a continuous retaining wall against horizontal and vertical loads.

Skanska chose the Robit Steel Fist (SF) casing system to drill the RD piles. SF is a solid choice for all DTH applications where the casing is left in the ground. Skanska has successfully used it in previous projects, such as the Slussen reconstruction in Stockholm.

As construction continues, Norra Djurgårdsstaden is slowly transforming into a modern, environmentally friendly, sustainably built district with 12,000 homes and an estimated 35,000 new jobs. Värtahamnen will be home to some 5,000 people, and 20,000 will work there. With new walkways, shops, restaurants and nightlife, it will also be an inviting entry point for international visitors arriving in Stockholm by boat.

NEW TRAM LINE CONSUMES 100 KM OF STEEL PILES

Posted on by Jari Silver

A project is underway in Helsinki, Finland to build a completely new tram line, along with new municipal infrastructure and green spaces. The contractor Destia is using a wide range of Robit wear parts for soil and rock drilling in the project.

The alliance model project will involve the construction of approximately 4.5 kilometres of tramway and associated street areas and municipal engineering between Nihti and Pasila. The project will also include the renovation of street areas as well as improved pedestrian and cycling connections. Preconstruction started in Nihti in July 2021.

A massive groundwork project

An alliance group led by Destia is working in challenging street conditions in the middle of urban Kalasatama. The group’s share of the construction work on the new line comprises some three kilometres of road, the entire cross-section of which will be rebuilt in the course of the project.

“The section will be built on a pile slab structure, covering a total area of over 36,000 square meters, or about the size of five football pitches. During the project, about 100 kilometres of individual piles 15 to 20 meters in length will be used for road foundations,” says Alexei Kesonen, Project Manager for Foundation Engineering at Destia Oy.

At the same time, a ramp will be built for the possible future construction of a tunnel to Sörnäinen.

“The support structures of the ramp and tunnel walls combine three techniques: pipe pile wall, sheet pile wall and combi wall. Based on excavations, each was chosen to save time and, of course, to achieve a highquality result. The ground on the site varies widely from soft clay to hard rock to bouldery fill.”

“A wide variety of drilling equipment, sheet pile drivers and piling rigs are needed on site, allowing the choice of optimal working methods. With skilled workers, the right equipment and careful planning, even the largest projects can proceed on schedule,” says Kesonen.

Using domestic wear parts is an asset

Destia has a long history of solid cooperation with Robit on wear parts for soil and rock drilling.

“You can always trust the quality of Robit’s products and their service level as a domestic manufacturer. Speed of delivery is also excellent, which is an absolute must, as the schedules are tight, and work cannot stop because of missing parts. Robit supplies us with drilling consumables directly from their factory in Lempäälä. Of course, we also store them onsite, which ensures there is no downtime.”

“The pipe piles are installed using Robit’s 18″ DTH hammers, 508 mm SR XL2 ring bits, 508 mm SR pilots and L-model impact shoes, which arrive on site pre-welded to the pile ends. For the installation of combi wall piles, Robit Prime ring bits and pilots are used. For the supporting wall anchors, we are using Robit’s DT (Drill Through) technology, which allows us to drill the pilots into the rock through the ring bit assembly,” Kesonen says.

Construction of the new tramway line started in the summer of 2021. If all goes according to plan, the line will be operational by the end of 2024, greatly streamlining cross-town traffic: you can get from Kalasatama to Pasila by tram in 15 minutes. The route will also conveniently link trams to trains and the metro at several transport hubs.

Picture: Construction Engineer Alexey Selivonchyk of Destia presenting the Robit SR pilot.

ROTOTEC ACCELERATES THE GREEN TRANSITION

Posted on by Jari Silver

Carbon neutrality is a globally accepted goal to minimise the negative effects of climate change, in which energy production plays a key role. The current military crisis in Europe is a reminder that nations should also strive for maximal energy self-sufficiency. Geothermal energy provides one promising, cost-effective path toward achieving both goals.

In Finland, the growth of geo-energy has been rapid in recent years. One of the key actors in the sector is Rototec, Europe’s largest geo-energy company with more than 60,000 energy wells drilled. Founded in 2007, Rototec has grown strongly in Finland and operates also in Sweden and Norway.

While geothermal energy has long been a popular energy source for single-family houses, Rototec is focusing more on supplying geo-energy for large properties such as hospitals, shopping centres, and factories.

A geothermal system requires one or more bore wells, drilled to a depth of 150–250 metres, depending on the amount of energy required. Robit has been supplying Rototec with drilling tools since the early years of the company.

“Robit, as a big domestic manufacturer, was a natural choice for us. 99% of the holes we drill are four-inch wells and Robit has a comprehensive line of tools for that. Currently, all our drill bits are from Robit,” says Hannu Puolitaival, Technical Director at Rototec.

The fruitful, mutually beneficial cooperation spans back more than a decade and focuses on customer-oriented service.

“Over the years, we have worked closely together to develop drill bits to better meet our needs. We test the products, and share our experience and comments with Robit for further development. One of Robit’s assets is their agility: after our feedback, they can produce new, improved prototypes at a fast pace for testing. Of course, the fact that they have domestic manufacturing helps too,” Hannu says.

“Another strength is that Robit can make small batches. If we’d need, say, five units of a particular new drill bit for testing, that poses no problem. Not all manufacturers can do this,” says Hannu, and adds one more thing: “I have especially liked the fact that Robit has a dedicated person managing all communication with us. It makes our cooperation seamless and straightforward.”

 

Read more new stories in the latest Bulletin!

SMOOTH DRILLING ON LAKE ONTARIO

Posted on by Jari Silver

Wolfe Island sits at the north-eastern end of Lake Ontario, at the entrance to the Saint Lawrence River. The Canada–US border runs immediately to the south of the island, leaving it on the Canadian side. A ferry connects the island to the city of Kingston, Ontario.

A popular destination for nature lovers, Wolfe Island’s resident population tends to double or triple in the summer. For years, the ferry has been running near or even over capacity during the busy seasons. That’s why the Ontario Ministry of Transportation launched a major improvement project in 2020. Its goal is to replace the old ferry with a new, larger one, which requires significant upgrades at both ends of the ferry line: Kingston Dock on the mainland and Marysville Dock on Wolfe Island.

The General Contractor for the Marysville Dock project is Facca Inc. from Lakeshore, Ontario. A family business now in the fourth generation, Facca has built a reputation as one of the premier civil construction contractors in Ontario over several decades. They perform all the foundation work, and most of all other work on the Marysville Dock project with their own forces.

“We have been doing our own deep foundation work – piled foundations and sheet piling, some drilled shafts in earth – for about 15 years now. However, this job is only the second for which we’ve performed hard rock drilling of this scope, and the first we’ve done completely with our own forces”, says P.Eng. Steven Gardonio of Facca.

On their Down the Hole hammers for the project, Facca has used both the Robit DTH Prime system and the Robit Steel Fist system, supplied by Pinnacle, Robit´s Canadian distributor. Through their extensive piling expertise, Pinnacle’s Mitch Yorston and Jim McPhail have also provided valuable technical support for Facca.

“We’re putting in about 1,800 m of caisson with the Primes through a mixture of clay, sand, and till, with 250-ish meters of that socketed into the very strong (approaching 200 MPa UCS) limestone bedrock.” “There are a total of 87 caissons on the contract, some more than 27 meters in length. Nine were first installed on a dolphin from our barge with technical assistance from Pinnacle. This work went so well that we decided to purchase from Pinnacle the drill setup required – Down the Hole hammers and associated – and the remaining caissons were installed at the main ferry dock”, Steven explains.

“With the Steel Fist, we’ve been drilling some of the more difficult of the approximately 220 toe pins embedded 2.4 m into the bedrock.”

“We’ve been extremely happy with the performance of our equipment from Pinnacle and Robit bits. All drilling is full RC, and the process of drilling overburden – soft to hard clay and dense glacial till – from inside of the pre-driven pipe piles and locking into the ring bit at depth has not been an issue at all.

“Often, we can lock into the rings without halting rotation, very smooth, as was the drill-through process. Same for the Steel Fist, we’ve managed to drill material out from piles without rotation so as to not engage the wings and lock into the shoulder at depth, saving us significant time. We realize this is unorthodox, but it’s been working for us”, Steven says.

The CA$70M ferry dock project is still very much in progress. If everything goes as anticipated, Wolfe Islander IV, the new state-of-the-art, fully electric, zero-emission ferry – first of its kind in Canada – will start operating between the new Kingston and Wolfe Island docks in November 2023.

 

Read more new stories in the latest Bulletin!

USING ROBIT TOOLS TO UPKEEP BRIDGES AND WILDLIFE IN THE NORTHEAST U.S.A.

Posted on by Jari Silver

Replacing and repairing bridges improves mobility and can increase quality of life in communities. In the Northeast U.S.A., M.A. Bongiovanni, a General Contractor out of Syracuse, NY, is helping to maintain our beautiful roads by providing the foundation for safe, resilient and reliable infrastructure.

M.A. Bongiovanni specializes in the Water/Wastewater industry and in geotechnical work, including driven and sheet piles, retaining walls, piers and drilled shafts. When they were chosen to replace a bridge on New York State Route 8, they turned to OCI Division of Global Drilling Suppliers for drill tooling. As often occurs in geotechnical drilling, ground conditions require special accommodations. This job was no exception with piles needing to be placed in overburden consisting of cobbles and boulders. Drilling of overburden without casings could result in collapsed holes and tool loss.

Of Course, drilling in these environments calls for the right equipment. The job required the installation of 22 centerline soldier piles, 24” diameter, through 33’ of overburden and 7’ of rock as well as 11 wingwall soldier piles through 30’ of overburden and 9’ of rock. The Robit® Steel Fist wing bit system was the clear choice.

OCI Division of Global Drilling Suppliers is a manufacture of drill tools, drilling accessories, and design-built drilling equipment. As a distributor of Robit products, they assisted M.A. Bongiovanni with their first Steel Fist concentric overburden drilling system. The drilling process utilized the Robit® DTH SF (Steel Fist) and Robit® Hyper 181 18” hammer with a single rotary head duplex drilling operation. Robit was able to manufacture and deliver the Steel Fist pilot through OCI within the job’s 6 week window before drilling started. Drill tools utilized by M.A. Bongiovanni, manufactured by OCI Division of Global Drilling Suppliers were:

  • Dual Swivel having high-pressure air inlet and discharge to enable drilled spoils containment includes a J-slot driver for driving 24” OD casing.
  • Canister style drill rods, 20” OD
  • Vibration dampening equipment
  • Over the hammer stabilizer, 20” OD
  • Inline oil injection equipment
  • Inline water injection equipment

OCI Division’s onsite field consultant was present while tooling up and during initial drilling, and is pleased to report all expectations were met and exceeded with the Steel Fist’s performance. The solid construction of the wings held up very good with no carbide loss or trouble with opening or closing during loading or unloading of casing material
Speed to finish a project is very important when replacing a bridge, as the structure being repaired typically restricts traffic during the work. Using the Robit® Hyper 181 down-the-hole hammer with the Robit® DTH SF XL2 for use with 24” OD x.500 wall casing material all holes were successfully drilled on schedule and under budget.

Record-breaking piling project in Helsinki

Posted on by Jari Silver

In the late 19th century, Helsinki was growing and industrialising rapidly. This was particularly evident in the seaside district of Sörnäinen, which became the largest industrial area in the city after the construction of a cargo port and a railroad track. Now the port and factories are history, but the neighbourhood – now called Kalasatama or “Fish Port” – will remain an integral part of the Helsinki maritime cityscape in the future. That future is now being built in Verkkosaari, at the northern end of Kalasatama.

While the southern Kalasatama has been under reconstruction for years, Verkkosaari was sitting idly for a long time. Its 13 hectares are now zoned for a residential area for 3,600 people, a large daycare centre, and a marina. To start with, more than 200,000 tonnes of contaminated soil had to be removed. Before construction work can begin, the soil needs to be reinforced. New land is also being built on top of the sea, where some of the buildings will arise.

At this moment, work at Verkkosaari is in full swing with excavations, earthfilling, pile drilling, and other groundwork. Drilling contractor Fingeo is drilling micropiles for road base support, in cooperation with the main contractor GRK Infra. The jobsite is demanding.

”Most of the challenges are caused by the old structures, concrete piles, wooden piles and other materials buried in the soil. It’s former seabed that had been gradually filled since the early 1900s”, says Tuomas Perkiö, supervisor for Fingeo.

The jobsite is also exceptional in scope. “This is the largest micropiling project ever in Finland. We have a drilling contract for 6,000 piles, 110 km altogether”, Tuomas recounts.

Fingeo started the pile drilling work at the beginning of 2020 with one drill rig. By November they were operating five drill units and had laid down some 3,800 piles, which equals to 63 kilometres. The remaining 2,200 piles will be drilled by autumn 2021.

Fingeo uses Robit’s pilot bits and reamers in the drilling work, which has progressed without a hitch. ”Robit’s pilots and reamers are doing a great job. At best, we have drilled more than 8 kilometers with a single bit. Cooperation with our Robit contact Sami Paavola has also been excellent: deliveries run smoothly, and Robit reacts quickly to our requests and provides support whenever needed”, says Tuomas Perkiö.

From left: Matti Tikkanen (Fingeo), pilot bit after drilling 8 km, a brand new pilot bit, Sami Paavola (Robit). Photo: Tuomas Perkiö

The remaining infrastructure works in Verkkosaari are scheduled to be completed in 2022, allowing the actual construction phase to begin. Kalasatama as a whole is one of the largest construction areas in Helsinki, and it will keep taking shape well into the 2030s.

The piling project in Verkkosaari continues into the second half of 2021. Photo on the top: Matti Tikkanen, Fingeo

Gigantic dry dock rising on the Kola Bay

Posted on by Jari Silver

In the coming years, the use of liquified natural gas (LNG) in transport and industry is expected to grow significantly. That is a key reason why earlier this year, a Robit Steel Fist pilot bit started to penetrate granite rock in the Kola peninsula.

As far as fossil fuels go, LNG is by far the most environmentally friendly – it has the lowest CO2 emissions per unit of energy while also having the highest heating value. Thus, it has big potential as a future transport fuel alongside biofuels, hydrogen and electric mobility, and most major fossil fuel companies have begun investing in it.

Treasure hidden beneath the permafrost

Russia has the largest natural gas reserves in the world. The bulk of those reserves is sitting under the permafrost in northwest Siberia, in the Yamal Peninsula and its offshore areas. Recent years in the region have seen a massive investment in the so-called Yamal project, a joint venture between Russian, French and Chinese companies, which includes a huge LNG plant, in operation since 2017.

The Yamal project is now being followed by the Arctic LNG-2, another major international joint venture, located in the neighbouring Gyda peninsula. It has an ambitious plan to cut the production costs by placing the LNG production plants offshore in the Gulf of Ob on so-called gravitybased structures (GBS). These reinforced concrete structures are built on a shipyard, towed to the intended location, and then sunk onto the seabed.

Arctic village transformed

Until recently, Belokamenka was a small village just north of Murmansk in the northwest corner of Russia. In 2017 it was chosen as the location for the new shipyard where the GBSs are to be built. This means a massive transformation in the area, covering more than 150 hectares. The shipyard will have two dry docks, each 400 x 175 m, the largest in Russia. Currently the construction site employs some 4,000 people.

The construction of pipe pile walls for the dry docks is performed by NK-Teplokhimmontazh and the drilling contractor Spetsfundament Plus. It involves the drilling of no less than a thousand piles, up to 32 metres deep, through sand and loam into the granite bedrock. Their tool of choice for this Down-the-Hole job is the large diameter Robit Steel Fist Casing System. Drilling work on dry dock #1 is now completed and will continue into 2020 on dry dock #2.

In 2022, the first GBS built in Belokamenka is expected to start its 1,600 km voyage, with the help of a powerful tugboat fleet, across the Barents Sea to its destination in the Gulf of Ob.

Billion-euro Tripla project to transform Pasila

Posted on by Jari Silver

The Pasila area holds a major role in the vision for a future Helsinki: there are plans for it to be the new heart of Helsinki. One of the key words for the plan is ‘Tripla’. Upon completion, the billion-euro construction project, massive on Finland’s scale, will connect East and West Pasila. Offices, flats, a shopping centre, a public transportation hub, hotels and other services will emerge within a three-block area. Tripla’s developer is YIT.

Completing Tripla will naturally require comprehensive foundation engineering work. The lowest level of the block will be a parking facility on which the foundation work was begun in April 2015. It was decided that the surrounding retaining wall would be implemented as an RD-pile wall because it can tolerate loads, allows relatively rapid installation and has accurate dimensions even in challenging soil conditions. The difficulty is ensuring the watertightness of the RD-pile wall and significant amounts of slurry can accumulate during the drilling phase.

Strict demands, challenging conditions

It was known from the very beginning that the project was going to be challenging. Developers were faced with backfill full of boulders, combined with construction waste. Much of the backfill was saturated with badly polluted liquids. The nearby busy railway yard posed restrictions of its own.

The quality criteria were also strict. The design age of the structures, including factors such as corrosion resistance and watertightness, were specified to be 200 years instead of the more usual 100 years. The location and incline demands on the RD-pile wall were also relatively strict.

A three-company consortium was responsible for the construction of the retaining wall on behalf of the main contractor YIT. The main contract for the piling was carried out by Keski-Suomen Betonirakenne, the drilling by the Estonian subcontractor Fort Ehitus, with Ilmi Solutions functioning as the consultant. Robit supplied the drill bits for all of the drilling. YIT also uses Robit’s Top Hammer equipment at the worksite.

Inside the bedrock in three phases

There were three main phases in building the retaining wall. During the first phase, the piles were vibrated through the loose clay and sandy soil into the hard ground moraine. During the second phase, the vertically installed piles were emptied with an auger, from the clay layer all the way to the tip of the pile. In the third phase, the piles were drilled through hard or extremely hard moraine into the bedrock to a maximum depth of 1.5 m. Robit’s opening winged bit was selected for down-the-hole drilling. Senior Specialist Kari Juntunen was onsite to supervise on behalf of Robit.

“The alternative for the winged bit would have been a traditional ring bit. The subcontractor took a bit of a risk when selecting the winged bit because there were some tricky spots in the bedrock. We at Robit were still making further improvements to the bit during the project based on tips given to us by the subcontractor. Everything turned out all right in the end and the costs for the customer were lower than they would have been with a ring bit,” says Juntunen.

Trust and seamless collaboration

“The job was completed on schedule with excellent results. I have to take off my hat to the Fort Ehitus guys. We had a strong trust in them to begin with: I had worked with them before on a piling project and became impressed by their expertise,” says Juntunen. According to Jouko Pasanen from Ilmi Solutions, which oversaw the worksite, the co-operation was seamless.

“Despite the challenging worksite we barely ran into any problems. Once my phone rang at nine in the evening. A subcontractor told me that a bit had broken, what should they do? We had agreed that there should always be spare bits available. I promised to be there at six the next morning with a new bit. And I was. The subcontractor thanked me and said that no other supplier could have done it,” says Juntunen with satisfaction.

The retaining wall was completed on time before the new year. The work at Tripla is still far from finished, however. The first cars will not be able to park in the garage set off by the retaining wall until 2019.

Drilling of Tripla’s retaining wall
• RD700 pile elements
• D711 x 14.2 RM/RF interlocked piles, 746 pcs
• Robit DTH SF 711/16 winged pilot bit
• Length of piles 5.5–33.5 m
• Altogether 16,335 m of piles
• Drill rig with a 40-m mast

Deep in the heart of the Iron Range

Posted on by Jari Silver

U.S. Route 53 traverses the state of Minnesota, from Duluth at the southwest end of Lake Superior, ending 240 km later at the Canadian border. On its way it crosses the socalled Iron Range, an area rich in iron ore, which has served the raw material needs of the American steel industry since the 19th century.

Today, the ore deposits in the Iron Range are far from depleted. On the contrary, just south of the city of Virginia, a mining company is in the process of expanding an old mine pit. As it happens, Route 53 currently runs right on top of the planned expansion and needs to be relocated. The main element of the relocation project is a new bridge across the neighbouring Rouchleau Mine Pit.

Minnesota’s highest bridge

Abandoned in 1977, the Rouchleau Pit has since served as a tourist attraction. The new bridge will be 335 metres (1,100 ft) long with an elevation of 61 metres (200 ft), making it the highest bridge in elevation in Minnesota.

The construction of the foundations of the bridge started in December 2015 with the installation of 30-inch piles. Drilling deep piles into very hard ground with a high iron content is quite a challenge. Due to strength requirements the holes need to be drilled 12 metres into hard rock – way deeper than at a typical bridge construction site.

Veit USA took the challenge of the drilling work. For the casing advancing system, Veit considered two suppliers.

Tight time schedule

– Veit had heard about Robit through the industry grapevine. They contacted us and presented their two challenges: deep piles in a mine site and a very tight delivery time, says David Delorme, General Manager of Robit Inc.

– We were selected because we were able to supply on a very short notice. We designed a system for the conditions Veit described, and delivered in six weeks – exactly as promised. What about the drilling work itself – how has it been coming along?

– This is the biggest piling job for Robit Inc so far. Despite the technical challenges posed by the rock and the length of the piles, we haven’t faced any major problems, and we are well within schedule, David says.

The installation of the 30-inch piles is set to be completed by mid-March, 2016. Work on the site continues at a swift pace though. The new bridge spanning the Rouchleau Pit should be open to traffic in late 2017 – offering a magnificent new lookout spot for travellers on Route 53.

Bridge construction for Route 53 relocation, Virginia, Minnesota
• 5 x 762 mm (30”) QL200s pilot bit
• 35 x 762/12,7 (30”) mm DTH RoX+ HD (Heavy Duty) ring bit
• Bermingham Reverse Circulation (RC) drill tube system
• Bermingham 50 m lead
• 4 x 25 bar compressor + oiler
• Drill hole depth: 53 m, into hard rock 12 m

Munch Museum rises from the sea

Posted on by Jari Silver

Edvard Munch was an incredibly prolific artist. He willed 28,000 of his works – paintings, sculptures, and photographs – to the city of Oslo. It had long been clear that the old Munch Museum was too small to house the collection. A new one is now being built on water in Bjørvika bay in downtown Oslo.

There was a long and heated debate about where the new Munch museum should be built and what it should look like. In 2008 the city of Oslo announced an architectural competition, and the following year a proposal called Lambda, by the Spanish architect Juan Herreros, was declared the winner.

Initial controversy

As is often the case with contemporary architecture, Lambda’s bold design and size met with some resistance. It was considered strange shaped and too tall for its surroundings. After years of a political tug-ofwar, the construction work finally started in 2016.

The job site was not the easiest possible either: Lambda was designed to rise directly from the sea. That meant a massive piling project for the contractor Hallingdal Bergboring. Robit, having been in close cooperation with Hallingdal for years, was selected as the provider of drilling tools for the project.

Custom-made drill bits

Old seaports are often challenging for piling jobs. The bottom of Bjørvika was filled with silt, large boulders, wooden piles from old dock, et cetera. The bedrock underneath them, on the other hand, was very hard. For these reasons Robit and Hallingdal designed the optimal drill bits in cooperation.

Location in the city centre was another challenge. The famous Oslo Opera House sits right next to the job site; one had to make sure that its foundations remained unharmed while drilling up to 12 metres into the bedrock. This was achieved by using Robit’s DTH-RoX+ FC (Flow Control) pilot bits.

16 kilometres of piles

For the foundations of the Munch Museum, some 16 kilometres of piles were drilled, 311 piles altogether, the thickest being 711 mm in diameter. Some were drilled on solid ground; others from a drilling platform floating on the bay. In these circumstances, drilling work takes a lot of skill.

– When you’re on the platform, controlling a machine that’s thumping on the rock 50 metres below you, you need to keep your eyes, ears, and touch on full alert, says Hallingdal’s operations manager Sverre Bjella.

Despite the difficult conditions, no major surprises or problems were encountered. The piling project was finished on time in October 2016. In addition to Hallingdal, Robit’s Senior Specialist Kari Juntunen extends his thanks to other parties involved.

– Our agent Norsk Pumpeservice was responsible for the storing and technical service of the drilling equipment, and did a great job. There wasn’t a single gap in the supply of consumables on the job site, Kari says with content.

In October 2016, Princess Mette-Marit laid the ceremonial foundation stone for Lambda. The imposing, glass-faced 12-story building is set to open its doors to the public in 2020.

A new Goliath rising up in Turku

Posted on by Jari Silver

The Finnish shipyard industry has wind in its sails. This is evident at Meyer’s Turku shipyard whose order books are full well into the 2020s. To ensure additional capacity, a new gantry crane – the largest in the Nordic countries – is being erected at the shipyard.

Shipbuilding in Turku began at the mouth of Aurajoki river almost 300 years ago. The newest shipyard was built in Perno in the 1970s, and since then a long line of tankers, cargo vessels and, above all, passenger ships and luxurious cruise ships have left the shipyard to sail the world’s seas.

Right from the start, the shipyard’s skyline has been dominated by a 600-tonne gantry crane rising to 105 metres. It is used to lift the ship sections, the size of small blocks of flats, manufactured at the shipyard into the basin to be joined together.

Lifting capacity doubled

As the shipyard saw its order book fill up and the ships growing in size, the need for additional capacity became apparent. That is why the construction of a new, even sturdier crane is now being planned. It will have a lifting capacity of 1,200 tonnes, i.e. twice that of the old crane. The new crane will be 122 metres high, thus also increasing the lifting height by more than 10 metres.

Three DTH hammers have been busy at the shipyard before the crane construction begins. In the past, the plates coming from the steel mill were stored outdoors; now a hall is being built specifically for them. Hundreds of piles measuring 170 and 220 mm have been drilled for its foundations in demanding conditions.

– We chose the suitable methods in collaboration with the contractor to make sure that everything goes as planned. And we succeeded: the piling proceeded within schedule and the deliveries arrived on time, says Robit’s Senior Specialist Kari Juntunen.

Old and new work side by side

In summer 2017, the piling work for the foundations of the new gantry crane has been started, and the erection of the crane will begin at the turn of the year. The old crane will not be scrapped – it will just be moved a little further backwards on the rails. As of summer 2018, the skyline of the Turku shipyard will be dominated by not just one but two Goliaths.

Marina gets overhaul in Britanny

Posted on by Jari Silver

In the late 18th century, France’s revolutionary government was in its prime. Napoleon’s star was rising and his armies swept through Europe. Napoleon himself knew that “armies march on their stomachs”. The government offered a 12,000-franc prize for the invention of a method of preserving food during long military campaigns. This would later have far-reaching impacts on the small Brittany village of Quiberon.

After years of experimentation, Parisian confectioner Nicolas Appert discovered that the combination of heat and air-tight packaging prevents food from getting spoiled. And so canning was invented – and Appert pocketed a nice sum of 12,000 francs.

Not long after, it was discovered in Brittany that tin cans were also a convenient way of preserving sardines. In the 19th century, Quiberon became the leading harbour for sardine fishing and the production of canned sardines in France.

Quiberon’s canned sardines can still be bought today, even online, but sardine fishing as a livelihood gave way to tourism a long time ago. Nowadays, the charming Port Haliguen is an important marina for recreational boaters, with more than 1,100 moorings and 11,000 overnight stays a year. Next to the marina lies a long stretch of beautiful sandy beach.

Originally built for fishing boats, the port was being stretched to its limit in terms of growth. The port’s infrastructure and installations are past their prime, and natural silting has made the harbour basins too low for larger boats.

A massive renovation project is currently under way in Port Haliguen: Its two harbour basins are being dredged deeper, the quays and pontoons are being completely redesigned, and additional moorings will be installed. In the first phase, the goal is to remove more than 50,000 cubic metres of clay from the basins. The clay will be used as filler in a new parking area that is to be built.

The contractors on the project are VINCI Construction Maritime et Fluvial and Eiffage TMF. The harbour foundations are constructed as a combi-wall structure, where steel piles are drilled into the seabed as load-bearing structures and steel sheets are installed in between them to form a wall. Robit was in charge of the technical solutions for the combi wall, under the leadership of Senior Specialist Kari Juntunen and Distributor Business Manager Taha Laissaoui. “Together with VINCI, we came up with the best overall solution, including equipment and operating methods. And it proved to be a winner: the piling was a great success,” recounts Taha.

A total of 460 piles with an average length of 15–18 metres were drilled. Some of the piles were delivered by the Finnish company SSAB. Robit’s delivery included casing systems (DTH-ROX SR 863/23), a robust 24-inch hammer and shock absorbers.

The port modernisation project is massive, and for the time being, the screeching of the seagulls is drowned out by the rumbling of excavators and drills. Port Haliguen should be ready to welcome travellers in all its renewed splendour in 2020.

TGB and Robit made the “impossible” sheet piling possible

Posted on by admin

Overview

A Swedish company TGB had major difficulties in sheet piling through rocky boulders. With Robit’s pilot technology, the impossible was made possible.

The rocky terrain proved to be so challenging, that the company decided to pre-drill the holes with Robit® Multi-Use casing system and retrieve the casing (406.4/12.5; L=6000 mm) afterwards. In the same project some piles were permanent and with the Robit® DTH-RoX 3-1, the same pilot was used to complete the drilling with Eco-rings.

TGB was able to complete the project on time with controlled investment. Christer Wretman, our distributor in Sweden, says: “Impossible project was turned to success with Robit Casing System”.

Skanska and Robit kept a warehouse stable in Turku

Posted on by admin

Overview

To meet the demands from the contractor, Skanska needed new drill technology for reinforcing the foundations of a famous warehouse with underpinning.

A long-time landmark in the center of Turku, Sokos Wiklund warehouse building, needed a total of 200 holes to be drilled with casing in the underground parking hall. Additional corrosion reinforcement and concrete were then installed inside the 219.1/12.5 Ruukki casing tube. Due to space restrictions set by the site, a small drilling unit was used. Drilling with a ring bit casing system was the only alternative.

With Robit Casing System, the drilling was completed in a very short time. With such an impressive outcome, it was decided to introduce the system to several similar projects in the region.

Robit and Sotkamon Porakaivo anchored a paperi mill to the bedrock

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Overview

A paper mill in Finland needed altogether 58 holes for foundation reinforcement with depth varying from 12 to 16 meters. The terrain over bedrock was difficult, but Robit Casing System handled it fine.

Sotkamon Porakaivo had a challenge with the job of casing drilling to the bedrock and then drilling one meter into the bedrock itself. The first six meters of the formation consisted of sand and gravel. Blocks of granite and grillage (wood, clay and gravel) had also to be dealt with.

Robit® Casing System was the preferred technology due to its ability to drill difficult formations. Casing tube of 139.7/5.6; L=3000 mm was used. A 90 mm diameter steel bar was inserted and grouted to each hole. The end result was that the drilling went smoothly despite the difficult drilling conditions.