Coke fuel bunker #8 is the eighth bunker constructed in the Pointe-Noire sector of the port in Sept-Îles. The client, the Port of Sept-Îles, is using this facility to store coke, a necessary material for the production of aluminium. The Allouette aluminium plant operates these facilities for the manufacture of aluminium.
For this project, Pomerleau undertook two different works:
- The construction of bunker #8, which has an interior diameter of 28 m and a height of 57 m, with the assistance of a system of yielding formwork;
- Manufacture and installation of the roof of the bunker with a galvanized steel frame and a fibre concrete slab;
- Construction of various concrete foundations for buildings and mechanical equipment during construction of the bunker; and
- Provision of the steel framework for building BN-022 and the adjacent building.
For the formworks, Pomerleau used several different systems depending on the work to be undertaken. A conventional wood system that offered much flexibility was preferred for the bunker invert and numerous foundations on the site. A formwork system composed of modular panels was selected for the bunker's spring wall. The rapidity and ease with which the panels could be adjusted to the curved form of the wall was one of the reasons for choosing this system. Finally, for the bunker wall, a formwork system in modular steel was used for its rigidity and above all, for its durability, in order to achieve a quality finish throughout the continuous concrete casting. The yielding formwork system designed by the company Scanada was easily integrated and also allowed the mounting of the permanent roof structure at the same time as the concreting of the walls.
The expertise and know-how developed by Pomerleau personnel over the years, combined with tight management and coordination were major assets during the undertaking of ths complex formwork project, carried out in different phases. This allowed Pomerleau to errect the walls of bunker #8 in less than three months.
Special features
- Design-build project in fast-track mode.
- Rapid project start-up, very little time for the design of the bunker (two weeks for design, one week for verification).
- Very short schedule of 12 weeks to achieve the foundation, the installation of the roof and the continuous concrete casting of the bunker.
- Concrete casting for the walls done with a yielding formwork system, 24 hours per day for two weeks.
- Roof installed and mounted at the same time as the completion of the silo with the yielding formwork system.