As the deadline loomed for the Expo from June14 – September 14 (2008) – and with only three days in which to complete the job – a PLC-controlled Enerpac Synchronous lifting system was employed to delicately and precisely ease apart a 12.000 ton load to make space in the crown of the arch for the bridge’s final concrete casting.
Just as the Romans used advances in the technologies of concrete and hydraulics to build their aquaducts and triumphal arches, so construction company Dragados turned to the advanced Enerpac PLC-controlled hydraulic technology to perform the world record in the crown jacking of the arch of The Third Millennium Bridge (which has a total length of 270 m, a 216 m span, a 48 m wide deck and a total 68 m overall width, including 6 traffic lanes and 2 bicycle lanes. The entire structure is made of high-strength concrete).
`The most crucial operation of the construction process, was the jacking apart of the crown of the bowstring arch. This was done using the Enerpac synchronous hydraulic system with six double-acting lock nut cylinders, each with a lifting capacity of 2000 tons and with all six jacks monitored by a single PLC-control unit.
