Piling Canada

Exceptional Use of Liebherr LRB 255 Piling and Drilling Rig in Quebec

In Montreal, a Liebherr LRB 255 piling and drilling rig is currently being used with a double rotary drive DBA 300 for the construction of an entry shaft for tunnel excavation. This application is relatively new in North America and is being executed for the first time in Quebec.
Written by Piling Canada
March 2015

In Montreal, a Liebherr LRB 255 piling and drilling rig is currently being used with a double rotary drive DBA 300 for the construction of an entry shaft for tunnel excavation. This application is relatively new in North America and is being executed for the first time in Quebec.

On the island of Montreal, near the intersection of Rue Notre-Dame Est and Rue Alphonse D Roy, a tunnel with a length of four kilometres and an internal diameter of 3.6 metres is planned. After completion, it will be used as a water main reaching from Montreal to the Rosemont Reservoir on Île de Montreal. The Rosemont Reservoir was shut down in 1978 and is now being put back into service in order to ensure the supply of sufficient drinking water to the city.

Secant pile wall construction
The entry shaft for the excavation of the tunnel has an interior diameter of 11 metres and is currently being constructed with the help of an LRB 255 piling and drilling rig, owned by Centurion Fondation Inc. The entry shaft is built using a compression secant pile wall made up of 74 intersecting piles, each with a diameter of 750 mm and a length of 22 metres.

The primary piles, used as filler, are installed first. Upon drilling of the secondary piles, the rebar cage is vibrated into the pile using an electric vibrator. The piles are drilled into a previously constructed template, ensuring their exact position. The soil consists of sandy clays and sandy tills with boulders and the piles are drilled approximately half a metre into the shale bedrock.

 Powerful Liebherr piling and drilling rig

This project is the first jobsite in Quebec where an LRB 255 equipped with a DBA 300 double rotary drive is used. This application – also known as “cased CFA drilling” – has been chosen by Centurion Fondation due to the high productivity in installing the piles, thus reducing construction time and increasing the efficiency of the project.

The 670 kW / 898 hp Liebherr diesel engine of the piling and drilling rig provides the power that is required to operate the DBA 300 while at the same time maintaining excellent fuel efficiency. The 20 tonnes (44,960 lbf) Kelly winch and 45 tonnes (101,164 lbs) crowd force ensure that the soil filled auger and casing are pulled out of the ground, while the concrete is being pumped through the hollow stem to underneath the auger. Thanks to this method, there is no cave-in and the quality of the piles is guaranteed.

The machine operator can monitor the process on the Liebherr process data recording system PDE® in the cabin. This system has a large display that shows the operator the constructed pile size on the screen and records all relevant pile parameters, such as concrete pressure, concrete volume, depth, etc.

Liebherr Canada Ltd.
Liebherr Canada Ltd., with its head office in Burlington, Ont., has represented the Liebherr Group’s products in Canada since 1973. In order to maintain a high level of parts availability and service for its customers, Liebherr Canada Ltd. has an additional ten locations across the country

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Category: Projects

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