Category: Micropiling and Underpinning

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.

MEGACITY GETS A NEW METRO LINE

Posted on by Jari Silver

Lima, the capital of Peru, is the second largest city in the Americas, with a population of just slightly under 10 million. Surprisingly, the megacity has only one metro line; the second line is now under construction. Once finished, it will make a huge impact on the city now troubled by congestion and pollution.

The project of building a metro network in Lima has been long and burdensome. The first plans were approved by the Peruvian government in 1974, but construction did not start until 1986. Due to various political disputes and economic issues, the project was stalled for several decades, until Line 1 finally started operations in 2012.

Plans for Metro Line 2 were initiated the same year. While Line 1 connects the northern and southern parts of the city, Line 2 will stretch from the eastern Ate district to the seaside city of Callao, Peru’s chief seaport, in the west. Construction work began in late 2014; it will include 27 stations and the excavation of some 27 km of tunnels.

Several of the stations will require some heavy foundation work. For stations 11 and 26, in the Breña district and Ate district respectively, the fortification work was awarded to Soletanche Bachy del Perú, a leading multinational company in civil and geotechnical engineering, and a strategic partner for Robit in Peru.

“We have worked from day one with Soletanche’s technical, commercial and engineering staff, advising on the different solution alternatives for carrying out the work”, says José Luis Cisneros, General Manager of Robit SAC.

“Since Soletanche has used our MU (Multi-use) Down the Hole systems in the past, we decided together to use Robit MU Tools for the project, including sizing equipment, pipes and accessories. Since early July 2022, we worked in close coordination with operations and logistics to meet the demanding deadlines.” Our DTH Sales Manager, Martín Rodríguez, played a key role in this coordination”.

Soletanche began micro-piling work for lateral support at Station 11 on July 20, using the Robit MU 114 system and Hyper 31 hammers.

“Supervised by Harold del Rosario, our Head of Geotechnical Assistance, we attended the operation to monitor the performance of our materials. We obtained excellent results in a very abrasive and challenging terrain”, José says.

August saw the beginning of micro-piling work for the structures of Station 11, with Robit pilots and ring bits from the MU 406 system and the HYPER 121 SD 12 hammer. Robit continued to provide assistance and monitor the performance and the drilling parameters. At the end of November, the fortification project of Station 11 of Lima Metro Line 2 was completed.

”Soletanche’s experience with our drilling tools has been very satisfactory, given the great performance of the MU 114 system, as well as the MU 406 system penetration rates achieved after the adjustments recommended by our drilling specialists. This project has further consolidated the relations between Robit and Soletanche for future projects”, José says.

As a whole, Lima Metro Line 2 is a gigantic, $5 billion project which will largely revolutionize mobility in the Lima Metropolitan area. Today, the typical trip from Ate to Callao is a two-hour ride; the metro line reduces the time to 45 minutes – a major improvement that will be enjoyed by more than 200 million passengers each year.

Picture: Harold Del Rosario (3rd from right) and the Soletanche team at Station 11.

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

HAKANIEMI: an indoor market completely remade

Posted on by Jari Silver

In June 1914, the people of Helsinki had reason to be proud. A new, grand, two-storey indoor market hall, praised as Europe’s largest and most modern, opened at the Hakaniemi square. Now, over a hundred years later, the venerable marketplace is undergoing the most thorough renovation of its history.

Hakaniemi Hall is one of the most massive renovation projects Stara (the City of Helsinki Construction Services) has ever undertaken. The building is protected, so the exteriors must remain unchanged, but on the inside, practically everything has been torn down. The building is now held together by metal buttresses reaching all the way up to the ceiling.

The project began with ground cleaning and reinforcement, as the land under the hall was found to be heavily contaminated. The old load-bearing wooden piles also proved to have weakened over time. They will be cut off and replaced with new metal piles.

In addition to renovation work, the project includes excavations for an underground connection to the Hakaniemi metro station and to a service yard. The sheet piling work required for the 5–10 metre deep interconnections is carried out by Fingeo Oy.

“In addition to sheet piling, we have driven individual piles in the hall to support the old structures,” says driller Arli Kolamets, Fingeo. Arli operates a DTH drill rig, with wear parts supplied by Robit.

“Robit delivers our drill bits, pilots, DTH hammers, ring bits and adapters, among others. Deliveries are really smooth and the products arrive at the site quickly. Robit’s technical support is also exemplary. I have been given advice on e.g. pile penetration rates and hammer air pressure. The workday often stretches far into the evening and it is great that Robit always picks up the phone. My special thanks to Sami Paavola for his competence and customer service attitude”, Arli says.

The sheet piling will be completed during summer 2019. A lot of work, however, remains to be done inside – and underneath – the walls of Hakaniemi Hall before it finally reopens, completely modernized, for business in 2021.

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.

Skanska and Robit kept a warehouse stable in Turku

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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.

Piling without disturbing the neighbours in Stockholm

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Overview

Solna Arenastaden right next to Solna railway station needed support piles for passage over railway between Arena and surrounding buildings. The urban site called for extra care and Robit products.

The work site needed some 150 piles (220/12.5) to be driven to overburden ground, which tends to ”suck the water” due to numerous fractions. What’s more, there was a large sewage passing near the worksite, let alone railway and buildings. In this environment, any pollution would be no-no as well.

Due to ground type, air drilling would almost surely cause problems to surroundings. The use of Wassara W150 ensured fast penetration and created less noise. The project was finished with minimum disturbance.