“The lengths varied slightly depending on the ground
conditions around the perimeter of the structure, averaging
about 70 feet,” said Thomson. “But in some places along the
outer wall, we were looking at 100 feet, making it very challenging
at times.”
And then there was the danger of the wind coming off
Lake Ontario catching a 100-foot sheet pile and turning it
into one very big sail.
“We had to plan our work each day according to wind and
weather forecasts,” said Thomson. “Environment Canada was
a big help, sending us specialized forecasts specific to the
Public Works project.” Large equipment barges provided by
McNally also played an important part in ensuring the stability
of the operation.
But what was beneath the water posed its own unique
challenge. As Thomson put it, “While we were driving the
sheet piles, we also had to consider disturbing the contaminated
lakebed as little as possible.”
The solution was to implement a floating template system
that would minimize the amount of falsework. Mounted on a
smaller sectional barge held in place by temporary spuds, the
falsework was moved along the wall as it was being installed.
But then that made it more difficult to brace against and stay
on location at the same time.
The workhorse cranes out there on the barges were a
Liebherr 895 and a Terex 165 Ton.
“The main tools we used to install the sheet piling were
large, high frequency vibratory hammers to set the two walls
and diesel impact hammers to make the final grade,” said
Thomson. “The B-5505 diesel hammers are Bermingham
designed, produced and sold by our manufacturing division.
And we developed a sheet pile adaptor that helped us drive
COVER STORY
“When it gets into challenging situations like this, not everything
works all the time. You have to stay on top of it, monitor and
adjust accordingly.”
– Jeff Thomson, Bermingham Foundation Solutions
CONTINUED ON PAGE 18
16 Q4 2017 www.pilingcanada.ca
/www.pilingcanada.ca
