Repair aircraft stand in Zürich Airport

Initial situation

At Zurich Airport five concrete slabs in a row had to be replaced on the taxiways between the runway and the India laircraft stands. As is customary for airport works, the renewal works had to take place at night to avoid the disruption of flight operations.

Solution and assessment

This was the first time in Switzerland that Concretum^® Q-FLASH 2/20 was poured with a slipform paver. The paver has an adequate paving width which allowed the 7 m wide and 35 m long surface unit to be poured in one piece. This degree of automation facilitates an increased paving performance. Thanks to rapid-hardening concrete Concretum^® Q-FLASH 2/20, even large surfaces could be reconstructed during the night without affecting flight operations.

After production in the plant, the concrete was transported to the construction site with dump trucks and continuously poured in front of the slipform paver.

It was then distributed with the diverter-plow at the front of the paver and then compacted in the vibrating chamber. Finally, the transversal screed ensured an even surface. The smoothing process was then carried out manually to provide an adequate structure for the subsequent broom finish. Post-treatment was carried out to protect the surface against fast drying.

Despite minor complications in the paving process, the know-how of those involved allowed a fast response so that the area was opened punctually in the morning for flight operations. The knowledge acquired in this process represents a milestone which means that in future, large quantities of Concretum^® Q-FLASH 2/20 can be poured using concrete slipform pavers.

Jobreport

ZRH-Jobreport