ALE Heavy Lift has used the revolutionary Mega Jack system for the first time in Europe as part of the Albert Kanaal Project in Belgium.
The Mega Jack system, engineered to push structures of staggering weights and sizes, was utilised to jack-up the main bridge of a bridge heightening project in Genk, Belgium.
Jacking-up the bridge sections was the first phase of the project. The main bridge, with a span of 180m and weight of 4,500t, along with the two side bridges, weighing 536t each, were jacked-up 2.9m in three consecutive days. This enabled the client to adjust the foundations and finish other civil works over the following three weeks, before ALE jacked-down the main and the two side bridges on the adjusted foundations. Eventually, the height allowance of the bridge for ships to pass under was increased with 2.4m.
Jos Baelemans, Project Engineer, said: “One of the challenges was to utilise a computerised jacking system with a jacking accuracy of +/- 0.3mm and a read-out accuracy of +/- 0.01mm. Furthermore, as the bridge foundations were located close to the quayside, a system was required with a high jacking capacity and a small footprint.”
