Innovation allows deeper cover for Dur-A-Span. |
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Recently, when a road alignment change increased a culvert's cover depth after the project was awarded, an AIL team's innovative thinking helped our Dur-A-Span Aluminum Structural Plate become even stronger.
The Campbell's Creek crossing, on Route 8, near Marysville, NB, was originally specified with 6 m of cover over a 4.4 m round pipe, but the road profile changed and the required cover increased to 8.4 m. This created a problem as the project required an all-aluminum solution and we could not switch to use stronger steel bolts to get the added seam strength needed for the new cover depth. The Department of Transportation was considering changing the product to a more-costly, less-favourable solution using twin 3 m concrete round pipes. We needed to quickly design and develop a stronger seam using only aluminum bolts and nuts.
Our talented in-house team quickly found a solution. By reconfiguring the components to add an extra row of aluminum bolts on the longitudinal seams, we gained the needed strength to meet the new requirements. Testing was done at Halifax's Dalhousie University and the results were positive. We were able to go back and with a modified design on the project and supply this product. Plus, we then used the same of solution on a similar project at the Kitchen Brook crossing on Route 2, near Fredericton, NB.
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