Cuxhaven
Factory for offshore wind turbines
Cuxhaven, Germany / 03.2016 - 06.2016
A production facility for the nacelles of offshore wind turbines was built near the harbour in Cuxhaven. The plant was constructed on a site covering approximately 130,000 m². PORR special civil engineering, working in a joint venture, was commissioned to carry out the deep foundations for the production halls.
Facts & Figures
Company
PORR Spezialtiefbau GmbH
Type
Foundations
Runtime
03.2016 - 06.2016
1,839 Simplex piles for the foundations of a production site in Cuxhaven
Production site at the mouth of the Elbe
The construction project is situated in the immediate vicinity of the mouth of the Elbe on reclaimed land. Extensive deep foundation works were required for the construction of the production halls in order to transfer the loads from the buildings and production facilities to load-bearing soil layers.
Geotechnical conditions
The site is situated in the tidal zone of the River Elbe. Soft layers of clay of varying thicknesses were encountered in the subsoil. Beneath these layers lie tidal flats and further load-bearing soil layers. The production hall was designed with a pile foundation so that the loads from the columns are transferred into the deeper load-bearing layers.
1,839 Simplex piles for the deep foundation
A total of 1,839 Simplex piles were manufactured for the foundation. The piles were produced with diameters of 46 cm, 51 cm and 61 cm and reached lengths of up to 25 m. PORR special civil engineering manufactured 1,056 of these Simplex piles. The remaining piles were produced by the consortium partner. The pile foundation transfers the load from the production halls and the associated structural elements.
Foundation works for the hall construction
The total foundation comprised around 520 t of reinforcing steel as well as approximately 12,000 m³ of pile concrete. Some of the piles were constructed as inclined piles to meet the structural requirements of specific areas of the building.
Load tests on the pile foundations
Three pile load tests were carried out prior to the start of series production. The load tests were conducted with test loads of up to 9,500 kN. The results served as the basis for the construction of the final pile foundations.
Foundation for the production facilities
The production of 1,839 Simplex piles laid the foundation for the construction of the production buildings. The deep foundations are essential for the load-bearing capacity of the halls and production facilities on the factory site in Cuxhaven.
