Wind turbine test facility reaches milestone with massive concrete pour
May 9, 2012
N. CHARLESTON, SC – May 9, 2012 – With enough concrete to fill the trunks of morethan 1,000 Chevy Impalas, construction of Clemson University’s WindTurbine Drivetrain Testing Facility reaches a milestone Thursday whenthe foundation for the smaller test rig is poured.
Beginning late Thursday, engineers with Choate Construction will pour750 cubic yards of concrete into a channel 25 feet wide by 86 feet longby 10 feet deep, all resting on 75 steel piles, to form the7.5-megawatt test rig foundation.
That’s enough concrete to cover a road about 1.5 miles long or fillabout 1.2 million pint glasses. Nearly 100 trucks will carry enoughconcrete to fill about one-third the cargo space of a Boeing 747 freightjetliner.
The massive pour will last through the night to take advantage ofgenerally calmer weather conditions and minimize traffic congestion. Theoperation is expected to finish by about 7 a.m. Friday.
Click here to view a streaming webcam of the testing facility construction site.
Meticulous planning and preparation are the keys to any successfulpour of this magnitude, said Matt Hartig, senior project manager atChoate Construction. It has taken several months and thousands ofman-hours of preparation and field work to ready for this last step.
“You only get one shot to get such a massive pour right,” Hartigsaid. “We have to consider environmental conditions, influence fromlocal traffic and any other outside factors that could cause aninconsistent flow of concrete.”
Pictured: Beginning late Thursday, engineers with Choate Constructionwill pour 750 cubic yards of concrete into a channel 25 feet wide by 86feet long by 10 feet deep, all resting on 75 steel piles, to form the7.5 megawatt test rig foundation. image by: Multivista
The final stages of preparation involve the logistics for the pour,which includes contingency plans to mitigate possible interruptionsto the continuous placement of the concrete, Hartig said.
The pour marks a milestone for the massive construction project.After breaking ground in October 2010, construction began the followingyear. The project involves completely redeveloping an 82,000-square-footwarehouse on the former Navy base. Engineering design was performed byAEC Engineering in Minneapolis.
In November 2009, Clemson and its partners were awarded a $45 milliongrant from the U.S. Department of Energy, which was combined with $53million of matching funds, to build and operate the large-scale testingfacility for next-generation wind turbine drivetrains.
When complete at the beginning of next year, the facility at theClemson University Restoration Institute will have the capability forfull-scale highly accelerated testing of advanced drivetrain systems forwind turbines in the 5-megawatt to 15-megawatt range.
It also will have 50 hertz and 60 hertz testing capability, whichmeans it can accommodate test specimens destined for anywhere in theworld.
Jim Tuten, Clemson project manager for the testing facility, saidsuch a major construction event emphasizes the strong workingrelationship necessary from everyone involved in the project to properlyplan and execute the pour.
Design of the facility had to take into account poor soil conditions,seismic considerations, hurricane resistance and many other factorsthat come with the design and construction of a one-of-a-kind facility.
“The mere scale of this project means we’re breaking new ground on aregular basis,” Tuten said. “We keep the lines of communication flowingfreely, and as such we expect the concrete Thursday night and earlyFriday morning to flow just as freely.”
