Repair of concrete surfaces at Frankfurt Airport

Initial situation

During repairs at Frankfurt Airport, the concrete surface of a roadway used by vehicles and crossed by aircrafts had to be renovated. The area to be renovated was located at the heart of the Airport at Terminal 1, between piers A and B. For this reason, it was very difficult to set up a barrier for the construction works. Only very short windows were available for repairs at the airport, because of the need to maintain daily operations. Repair works could only be carried out therefore, during night closures between 23:00 and 05:00.  Since vehicles would have to drive on the area a short time afterwards, a concept for the construction work, with a fast turnaround, had to be designed.

Solution and assessment

The use of the rapid-hardening concrete, Concretum^® Q-FLASH 2/20, guaranteed installation within the night closure times. Just one hour after the concrete began to set it reached a compressive strength of 20 N/mm2. This fast hardening process develops with an atypical low hydration heat. As a result of the low shrinkage of the concrete, the risk of cracks affecting durability is kept to a minimum, and for this reason the repaired roadway’s durability is guaranteed.

The support service from Concretum AG adapted the consistency and processing time to optimise the concrete for the specific requirements of the construction site. Concrete production was continuous to enable the roadway to be installed step by step. Following the cutting of the joints, the road was then opened for airport traffic just a short time afterwards.

Jobreport

FRA-Jobreport