Temporary Works
Shoring an Excavation in Loose Sand – Sydney
The Project
Shore Hire delivered an innovative shoring solution to safely excavate in loose running sands for a cast-in-situ manhole construction in Sydney.
Summary
Shore Hire combined 3.6m aluminium walers, hydraulic struts and trench sheets to create a four-sided safe working area, with Shore 400 modular props and ratchet straps supporting a crossing service. The customer installed the system using the dig and push method, and the ease of use and installation speed led them to adopt this approach over their previous slide rail system going forward.
Challenge
When it came time for a customer to excavate in loose running sands to construct a cast-in situ manhole, they ran into some problems. Initially, they tried using a slide rail system but had to stop work due to the presence of a crossing service.
That’s when they contacted Shore Hire to provide some expert advice and an innovative solution to their unique problem.
Solution
To solve the problem, we decided to use a combination of 3.6m long aluminium walers with hydraulic struts and trench sheets to create a 4 sided safe working area. The customer used the “dig and push” method to install the system, opting to utilize the drive cap to push in the trench sheets instead of an EMV.
To support the crossing service, we used Shore 400 modular props in conjunction with ratchet straps. One of the key advantages of this solution is that all of the equipment can be easily manhandled if necessary.
The customer was extremely pleased with the ease of use and installation speed of the system and has confirmed that they will be using it over the slide rail system moving forward, as the slide rails have a tendency to lock up at the post connection in loose sands.
Overall, this was a successful solution to a challenging excavation problem, and we were glad to be able to help the customer complete their project.