Concrete Piper Manufacturer Provides Precast Box Culverts for Mine Project
Hanson Pipe & Precast was selected to provide precast concrete box culverts for the Turlington Mine located near Fairfield, Texas between the Trinity River and Fairfield Lake. Hanson provided more than 2,560 linear ft of 10-ft by 9-ft reinforced precast concrete box culverts for the expansion project. The project was designed to allow groundwater to flow naturally while supporting the heavy dragline excavators frequenting the mine area.
The manufacturer was selected by Chasco Constructors to provide the drainage structures for the expansion because of both the economical benefits of precast concrete as well as its ease of installation. Additional advantages included reducing the extra labor and time required by forming and pouring culverts at the project site, and the need for extra expansion joints used with multi-barrel culverts.
“Hanson’s Houston facility was the best choice for this project because of its convenient distance from the project site as well as its ease of rapid production,” said Mark Carpenter of Hanson Pipe & Precast. “Our Houston facility was able to produce approximately 400 reinforced precast concrete boxes in only 37 days.”
The 2,566 linear ft of precast concrete consisted of two separate culverts: a single barrel culvert with 256 linear ft of 10-ft by 9-ft reinforced concrete box, and a 21 barrel culvert with a final length of 110 linear ft of 10-ft by 9-ft reinforced concrete box culvert per barrel. Hanson’s pre-fabricated reinforced concrete box culverts were designed specifically for the loads encountered on the project, which included a dragline excavator weighing nearly 1,470 tons. Concrete compressive strengths up to 6,750 psi were used in order to economically fabricate precast box selections with much thinner walls and slabs, reducing the amount of concrete used on the project by nearly 30,000 cu yd.
“We were met with several challenges along the way,” said Carpenter. “For example, state highway requirements allowed only one section of the product to be delivered per truck load, as the weight of each section was 18.29 tons. Still, we were able to work together to develop a plan and complete all deliveries well ahead of schedule.”
Source: Hanson Pipe & Precast