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December 14, 2010

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Sign Up! One of the gantries in place on the bridge cable

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Fast forward
Published: December 01, 2010
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A contract to install a dehumidification system on the Humber Bridge cables
has just been completed, saving months on the original schedule. Helena
Search Russell went to see the installation work in progress

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Under the original contract to install a cable dehumidification system on the

UK’s Humber Bridge, contractor C Spencer would have just packed away for
the winter, with the prospect of several more months of work next spring and
summer.

But after making rapid progress this year, the contractor has just finished all
the weather-dependent work and as Bd&e went to press was getting ready for
commissioning of the new system. The airtight sleeve with its injection and
exhaust points was in position, plant rooms installed and the gantries which
were used for the cable work had been removed from the bridge. Final
preparations were being carried out for the start of the system commissioning
procedure, with completion of the work expected at the end of this month
(November).

The installation of the dehumidification system follows similar contracts on

other UK suspension bridges – first the Forth Road Bridge in Scotland, and
then the Severn Bridge between England and Wales. On both of these bridges
a large number of wire breaks was discovered but the cables on Humber were
found to be in a much better condition when they were opened up in 2009.
The installation of the system is largely precautionary, admits Humber Bridge
Board design & major projects manager John Cooper.
BACK ISSUES
2010 Internal inspection of the main cables took place last year, some 28 years
2009 after the bridge was completed and almost 30 years since the cables were
spun. In this regard the inspection coincided almost exactly with the
2008 recommendation in the US NCHRP Report 534 guidelines.
2007
2006 The inspection procedure was carried out by Flint & Neill Partnership in
2005 association with Amman & Whitney. Main contractor C Spencer provided
access and wedged the cables open for inspection, then compacted and
2004
rewrapped the cables after the inspection. Flint & Neill reported on the
2003 inspection results following extensive wire sampling and testing by Bridon and
2002 Corus laboratories.
2001
Although the inspection showed wire corrosion, as found on the UK’s other
2000
bridges, cable strength was virtually unaffected, says Cooper. But the Humber
1999 Bridge Board managers had already accepted that cable dehumidification is
1998 currently regarded as the best way of preventing further corrosion, and
decided to install the system when they received the inspection report.

The approximately US$9.6 million contract was let in January this year, again

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to contractor C Spencer; once the companies four specialist gantries had been
installed the following month, work started on site in March. Aecom is
employed as the client’s representative on the scheme and is responsible for
designing the system and overseeing the installation and commissioning
process.

The cable-wrapping process is being carried out from four separate gantries
designed and manufactured by C Spencer. Three of these have been used on
previous contracts, but the fourth had to be specially designed for the north
side of the Humber Bridge, where the side span is much shorter than on the
south side, and hence the main cables are not only steeper, they have a CALENDAR
larger diameter than those on the rest of the bridge.
December 13 -
14, 2010
The original schedule for the work ran on into 2011, with a break for the Conference on
winter period during which time no cable wrapping could be carried out. The structural marvels
cut-off for the winter period was the end of October 2010, but rather than just January 23 - 27,
mothballing the project till next spring, the site team has now packed away 2011
the wrapping equipment for good and is preparing for commissioning. The Transportation
schedule was based on C Spencer’s previous contracts at the Severn and Research Board 90th
Forth bridges but as site engineer Antony Goose explains, there are a number annual meeting
of reasons why the wrap up for the winter also signals the wrap up of the February 07 - 08,
contract. 2011
Roads, Tunnels and
One major reason for the rapid progress is simple – the weather has been Bridges Middle East
kind. Cable wrapping cannot be carried out in wet weather for obvious February 08 - 10,
reasons, the aim being to dry out the cables rather than allow additional 2011
moisture to penetrate them. The schedule included a certain percentage of SMAR 2011
time to allow for weather-related delays, but the team has not suffered February 23 - 24,
anywhere near the predicted amount of wet weather. 2011
Bridges Asia 2011
Each of the four gantries worked on one section of the main cable from tower March 17, 2011
to deck, with all four starting work on the east cable, after which they were all Bridges; funding the
moved onto the west cable. Work started at the highest point of each cable future
and moved down to the lowest point, to prevent water being trapped as the May 10 - 11,
wrapping progressed. At the top of each cable the gantries have to ‘dock’ as 2011
close as possible to the saddle on the tower top, which is covered by a Fourth Australian
shroud. This shroud forms part of the tower-top dehumidification system small bridges
which was installed in 2000 to protect the cables at the saddle. conference
Click here to see
As part of the contract, the top part of the shroud had to be split and raised all 21 Events.
Click here to submit
sufficiently to enable inspection of the condition of the cables inside it. Aecom
an event
site supervisor Dave Wilkinson says that the tower top wires were found to be
in very good condition
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Each gantry was designed to an appropriate length to allow a whole panel –
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“Once the gantry was in place between two cable bands, the first procedure new Indian bridge
was to remove any sharp points around the outside of the cable and clean out
the old sealant from the cable band grooves.”

A special machine mounted on the gantry was used to wrap the cable with the
flexible elastomeric Cableguard product supplied by DS Brown. Once the wrap
was in place, a heat blanket was applied to fuse the overlaps of the wrap and
create an airtight tube around the cable.

“It took about half a shift for the wrapping team to wrap the cable and heat-
seal it, as well as putting new sealant in at the point where the wrapping met
the cable bands,” Wilkinson says.

Wilkinson then went back to inspect the wrap – this is a visual and tactile
process, with the inspector looking and feeling for any point where the layers
have not effectively fused together. This is not the last time that the wrap will
be inspected in this contract – once the system is fully installed and
operational, Wilkinson will walk the entire length of the cables. With simple

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but effective equipment consisting of a soap solution spray and a mirror on a

stick, he will check for any signs of air escaping from the wrap.

The rate of progress on the cable wrapping was also related to the complexity
of the panel; when a panel included an injection or exhaust sleeve, the
process took longer. There are a total of 14 injection points and 20 exhaust
points across the system; eight injection points and ten exhaust points on the
main-span cables, four injection and six exhausts on the south side-span
cables and just two injection points and four exhausts on the shorter north
side-span cables.

Once the wrapping had been applied across the full length of a panel which
included an injection or exhaust point, a section was cut out and prepared to
enable the installation of the sleeve.

The wire wrap around the cable was removed across this section, and the lead
paint cleaned off, which naturally required special precautions. Once the wire
and paint had been removed, permanent zinc wedges each approximately
150mm long were driven in to the wires at eight points around the
circumference to enable the air to penetrate or exit from the centre of the
cable. Two sets of eight wedges were driven in for each sleeve.

The injection/exhaust sleeve comes in two parts and was fitted around the
cable, after which a combination of epoxies and mastic was applied to make
the connection between the two parts of the sleeve airtight, and an extra-
flexible wrap was applied between the sleeve and the main cable wrap for the
same reason.

A heat blanket is used to seal the wrap

All four gantries began work on the east cable, and then were moved to the
west cable, and the process of relocation was on the critical path. Originally
the team had scheduled to carry out the relocation of each gantry separately,
but decided instead that they would move all four at the same time. The first
gantry was erected on 22 March and by 13 July, all four gantries had finished
work on the east cable and were taken down from it.

Moving each gantry required a tandem crane lift, so it made sense to get the
cranes in and lift all four gantries off the east cable in a day. The following day
all four were lifted into position on the west cable and by 19 July the wrapping
process had begun again.

While in use, each cable wrapping gantry had a ‘feeder cradle’ which gave
vertical access to the gantry platform for personnel and materials. Specialist
subcontractor Access, Lifting Pulling & Safety supplied these powered cradles
which were used by staff to reach the main gantries throughout the contract.

When the gantries were at their highest point, next to the tower top, it took
some 20 minutes for the cradle to travel from the bridge deck to the gantry.
All of C Spencer’s staff were trained in rope access rescue to ensure that they
could come to the aid of each other if necessary.

Alps was first involved at the Humber Bridge when the initial inspection of the
cables was carried out. The company installed the large inspection platforms
using its specialist rope access rigging team working with four 3,000kg
traction hoists and back-up safety devices. Alps remained on site for the
duration of the initial inspection works managing the lifting and repositioning
of the platforms as work progressed.

The main cable gantries used in the follow-on contract were fitted with Alps
winching, rope storage and back-up safety systems which were used to propel
the platforms up and down the gradient. X3000 traction hoists, control
systems, cable storage winders and back-up over-speed safety devices used
to protect the lifting and hauling equipment were supplied by Alps.

Four plant rooms have been installed inside the box girder deck as part of the

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contract – one at the mid-point of each side span, and two on the main span,
roughly at third-points of the span. As part of this work, access into the box
girder itself had to be improved by increasing the size of the access holes and
installing new steps inside the box girder. Even so, the plant rooms still had to
be put together inside the box. In addition a new power supply had to be fed
on to the bridge for the plant rooms, as the existing supply was not sufficient.

Braided pipes made of stainless steel rather than welded plastic pipes are
used in strategic locations where they are expected to experience high levels
of vibration – they are more durable than the plastic pipes which can suffer
fatigue under such conditions. The impact of vibrations from heavy traffic is
also a consideration – anti-vibration measures such as springs mounts are
installed below the machinery. The whole intention is to make the system as
robust as possible, says Aecom project manager Mark Bulmer

The plant for the dehumidification system must be designed for two main
conditions; initially the desire is to have a powerful system that can reduce
humidity in the cables as rapidly as possible, but once this has stabilised, the
system needs to be able to operate efficiently over the long term.

Bulmer identifies the design of the plant and monitoring system as one of the
aspects of the system that is continuing to evolve. He says it is essential to
spend quite a lot of time establishing exactly what the client requires, and
ensuring that the system is flexible enough to supply this.

“It’s important to make the system adjustable – for example we want to dry
out the cables as quickly as possible. But when the cables are dry, we need to
ensure that the system will be efficient in the long-term so we have to design
a system that has enough capacity and flexibility in the control system to do
this.”

Other aspects of the system design such as the theory of establishing the
optimum distance between injection and exhaust points have been proven by
previous projects, says Bulmer, although again this is a question of balancing
the desired length against the plant required to service this. Specifications for
the plant system focus tightly on performance of the equipment, to ensure
that efficiency is a central consideration for suppliers rather than just price.

As well as long-term performance of the plant, Bulmer says that it is

important to establish what alarms the client needs on the system, what kind
of lighting in and around the plant room, and even what they want the
website to look like.

Sensors will monitor the air flow and humidity of the exhaust gas, so that the
progress of the dehumidification process can be tracked. C Spencer will
continue to monitor the cables for 24 months after the contract is finished.

“Spencer's work on site has progressed exceptionally well,” Cooper

acknowledges. “The original programme showed a shut-down over the winter
of 2010, with a return in spring for completion in the summer of 2011,” he
says. But the relatively dry and still weather conditions since work began on
site and excellent working relationships between the Humber Bridge Board,
the design/supervision consultant Aecom, and the contractor and
subcontractors have enabled Spencer to finish all the weather-sensitive cable
work months ahead of programme. A winter shut-down and return to site in
2011 will not now be necessary.

“As a result, the Humber Bridge Board is now in a position to bring work on
the toll plaza, parapets and the bridge's support and articulation mechanisms
forward to 2011,” says Cooper - work which would otherwise have waited
until 2012.

Open book

Contractor C Spencer’s web-based data management system Spencer Online

System has been central to the firm’s internal and external communication on
the Humber Bridge project.

SOS was the brainchild of the company’s chairman Charlie Spencer, and was
developed specially for the company after Spencer realised that no off-the-
shelf product met the company’s requirements.

Information availability and transparency was the driving force for Spencer’s
data management system, and the integration of the email system was vital,
to prevent crucial data from being scattered by the fact that much of it was
held on individual laptops.

Spencer Online System has integrated webmail and collates documents from

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all organisations working on a project without the need for outside parties to
interact with the system. However it has been built with the facility to offer
complete ‘open book’ access to clients and other invited parties.

The system saves documents in easy-to-search areas devoted to each project,

and allows documents to be revised by employees anywhere in the country,
providing a full audit trail of distributions and amendments with access to all
previous revisions.

Using SOS, Spencer says clients are only a mouse-click away from any
document relating to their project, including not just drawings and photos but
also emails and forms.

Internally, the system works as a virtual Filofax, including features such as a

calendar/meeting booking system, task system and a contact management
system providing all names, numbers and addresses of everyone Spencer has
worked with.

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