Enerpac Integrated Hydraulic Solution for IRR Bangkok project

Movement of the world’s largest movable scaffolding system

The IRR industrial ring road project in Bangkok’s main industrial area with 13 km road connected by two 172 meters high bridges.

An industrial ring road is constructed to relieve the traffic congestion in Bangkok’s main industrial areas. This large Bangkok IRR project includes two 700 meters long, 172 meters high cable stayed bridges connecting 13 kilometers of ring road. Hydraulic systems are designed to move the heaviest 1200 tons formwork travelers in South East Asia.

For allowing ships access to Bangkok’s harbour, the bridge deck of the intersection between the two cabled stayed bridges over the Chao Phraya River will be 50 m high.

THAILAND - the land of smiles, located in southeast Asia near the Andaman sea, home to 64 million Thai people. 11 million of those people live in the capital of Bangkok. With that many commuting and traveling everyday the traffic is chaotic and nightmarish for most.

There are many reasons for the environmental stress generated by modern urbanization. Around 400 – 600 vehicles are added to the streets of Bangkok everyday causing an ever increasing volume of traffic. This causes enormous traffic jams and subsequently a great deal of social and economic difficulties. Consequently the average travel speed in central Bangkok during peak hours is a mere 12 km/hr!

Therefore to make it easier for local residents and visitors alike to travel inside Bangkok, the infrastructure promised by the government of Thailand has to be fully developed to deal with the increasing number of people. Though it would not seem plausible to many, in fact Bangkok was the first Southeast Asian city to propose plans to introduce a system for the reduction of traffic congestion. Incidentally, Thailand was only the third Asian country, after Japan and Hong Kong to propose such a system. There are already in place various ways that are meant to reduce traffic congestion. Many bridges exist both within the city and its outlying suburbs. In place there is also the sky train which services the city center. 2004 saw the MRTA’s Bangkok subway system start operating for the first time. In an effort to tackle Bangkok’s perpetual traffic problems the government has also committed to expanding the road and railway system through massive expenditure in the coming decade.

Bridge sections of the IRR-Bangkok project under construction.

The idea for an industrial ring road system was originally put forward by his Majesty the King, in order to relieve the traffic congestion for the areas of Bangkok Port, Poochao Saming Phrai Road and Suksawat Road which are the main industrial areas. The details and logistics involved in carrying out a project of this size in the city has been laid out including the purchase of land and property, demolition of 881 residences and factories, the construction of bridges and roads through swampy and river flooded areas and the re-routing of river ferry services and industrial traffic. The project involves two cable stayed bridges. The bridges are 702m long and 172m high and 582m long and 162m high respectively on concrete pylons. There are 3500 meters of approach bridges, 500 meters of high-level road and 9,1 km of graded road. For this mega project the worlds largest Movable Scaffolding System (MSS) has been commissioned. The contractors for the construction of the bridge for the industrial Ring Road area of which 20% is done, are TNNS joint venture (Tai Sei + Nishimatsu + NKK + Sino Thai) and KTU consortium ( Kajima – Tokyo – Unique Engineering).

More impressive still is that this unique double bridge complex is built with and uses engineering solution unseen anywhere else in the world! For allowing ships access to Bangkok’s Klong Toey harbour coming up from the Chao Phraya River, the bridge will be 50 m high. Also due to the snaking course of the river on its way to the gulf of Thailand, the bridge will cross the Chao Phraya River not once but twice without touching the ground. Finally in mid air a full 50 meters up, an intersection between the two bridges will be built. This will allow motorists to go north without crossing the second bridge! The reason for this design is because the strip of land between parts of the river is incredibly narrow, making it impossible to construct a normal intersection.

Construction of the in situ decking of Bangkok’s industrial ring road

Pile caps and columns of the IRR mega-bridge project under construction.

Construction of this section of the project has just become underway and when finished will be part of the Industrial Ring Road connecting Samut Prakarn from the rivers east side to Phra Pradaeng on the rivers west side. Not including the cost of acquiring land, the projects construction will cost the Public Works Department a total of approximately 6 Billion Baht or $145 million U.S. dollars. Of this vast figure 60 percent is financed from Japan as a loan, while the remaining 40 percent is from local government funds.

This project is owned by the Public Works Department (PWD). The sections are divided into 3 contracts which are being worked on by two different contractor groups.

Both contracts number 1 and number 2 are for the Northern and Southern bridges and are being done by TNNS joint ventures. (Taisei / NKK Corporation / Nishimatsu and Sino Thai Construction)

While contract number 3 for the Western elevated interchange entrance and exits is being done by KTU joint ventures. (Tokyo Construction / Kajima and Unique Engineering)

In situ decking and movable scaffolding systems. The form for the V-part alone weighs over 60 tons.

Behind the movement of such huge steel structures safely and efficiently high overhead, plus steering and positioning; possibly the heaviest 1200 tons Formwork Traveler in South East Asia, heavy-duty hydraulics had to be engaged.

With a proven track record for safety and reliability, Enerpac was chosen by main contractor, Taisei to design and supply the hydraulic systems to be integrated in the movable scaffolding system. The typical formwork arrangement requires 2 custom-built 7,5 kW low pressure hydraulic power units to actuate 24 pieces of 100 tons horizontal and 60 pieces vertical cylinders complete with clevis eye and mounting attachments to allow formwork pushing and pulling operations. On the 700 bar high pressure side, 4 pieces of specially designed Enerpac – CLL-25010, 250 tons capacity lock-nut jacks coupled with 2 units of standard RRH-6010 Hollow center jacks provide lifting, lowering and tensioning forces respectively on the main support of the formwork.

While on the(MSS) Movable Scaffolding System, a large quantity of different sets and sizes of integrated high and low pressure hydraulic pumps & cylinders provided solutions for various applications such as vertical nose adjustment, longitudinal & side launching as well as bottom slab folding plus rolling wagon operations. Just to name a few of its applications within it's intricate system. In one instance alone, 72 units of 50 tons low-pressure cylinders are used on the External formwork's vertical adjustment.

Being a global company, Enerpac hydraulics exercised close collaboration between its Japan, Singapore & Thailand offices, thus displaying great expertise in its system supply and commissioning.

Fostering good business relationships and regular follow-ups with all its major contractors at site also boosted confidence and reinforced the strong brand name that ENERPAC is recognized as a popular worldwide name.