The grouting of the last of the 80 foundations of the offshore wind farm BARD Offshore 1 was recently completed by ITW Densit in the German Bight, North Sea.
The yellow column is one leg of the tripile turbine base.
This pioneering German wind farm built in German waters covers around 60 square kilometres and has a production capacity of 400 MW. That makes BARD Offshore 1 the largest offshore wind farm in Germany.
Based on its philosophy of avoiding dependency on a wide range of suppliers, BARD has mastered most of the operation including only a few external companies during the whole project, and ITW Densit was chosen as one of these companies. This was also the first case where the company entered into a frame agreement with a major offshore company.
Based on its philosophy of avoiding dependency on a wide range of suppliers, BARD has mastered most of the operation including only a few external companies during the whole project, and ITW Densit was chosen as one of these companies.
Throughout the project, the material manufacturer grouted 240 pile/sleeve connections for BARD’s patented tripile foundations, connecting the 3.35-m diameter piles and the connecting crosspieces according to the certified design. For this purpose ITW Densit has used its UHPC material Ducorit S5. Due to the high fatigue resistance properties of Ducorit and due to its ability to quickly develop strength and bond with steel, there was no need for using bolting and welding, the material’s connections are said to handle all stresses. Moreover, the fast installation and curing time of Ducorit let the installation vessel avoid waiting time.
Experienced supervisors from the material manufacturer carried out mixing and pumping operations with the use of state of the art equipment. Moreover, all the technical support and – activities connected with the German approval process in relation to grouting were also carried out in cooperation with ITW Densit’s professionals.
ITW Densit
www.densit.com
Filed Under: Construction, News, Offshore wind, Projects
