50-metre-long pre-stressed concrete production lines for Geelen BetonHigh production pace with Hendriks precon solution

Geelen Beton has been a well-known name in the concrete industry since 1923. This family business specialises in floor systems and structural elements, Structural Walls and Structural Floors, and has branches in Posterholt and Wanssum in the Province of Limburg. Geelen Beton’s supply range includes floor slabs that, depending on the structure, are pre-stressed or equipped with traditional rebar. Hendriks precon recently supplied multiple lines for the production of the concrete slabs, including a 50-metre-long pre-stressed concrete production line.

One floor per week

Jan Cuppen of Geelen Beton on the choice of these production lines: “We were awarded a contract to supply the floor slabs for the Zalmhaven Residential Tower in Rotterdam. The new building is rising up at the rate of one floor per week. This is a solid pace and the supplier of the floor slabs must keep up with this pace.” These are pre-stressed floor slabs and 8 loads with these floor slabs are delivered every week. Each load weighs approximately 25 – 30 tonnes and is lifted up all at once.

Pre-stressed floor slabs

“The Zalmhaven floor slabs will keep us busy for about a year,” says Jan Cuppen as he explains the project in Rotterdam. “We use the Hendriks precon pre-stressed concrete production lines to produce pre-stressed floor slabs that are 3.5 metres wide and 9 metres long. The pre-stressed concrete production lines themselves consist of mould bottoms that are 4 metres wide and 50 metres long. The front side has a fixed 100-mm high edge; the thickness of the floor slab. The back side is equipped with a flap that allows the hardened floor slab to be removed. The ends contain tensioning plates into which the 17 pre-stressing wires are placed. These are tensioned using four cylinders with a tensioning capacity of approximately 270 tonnes.”

After the floor slabs are hardened, they are lifted out with two overhead cranes and placed on a semi-trailer. Next, they are placed on a pallet in the sequence in which they are going to be used, ready for transport to Rotterdam.

Close Cooperation

Geelen Beton worked closely together with Hendriks precon for the development of the pre-stressed concrete production lines. “On the basis of the required dimensions and the desired number of tensioning wires, Hendriks precon prepared all of the calculations for the pre-tensioning benches and the floors. Hendriks precon also engineered and supplied the heating installed below the production lines to allow the concrete to harden faster. The only thing we needed to do was to connect the heating system to the heating boiler,” says Jan Cuppen.

Aside from the two production lines, one with a 50-metre tensioning length, Hendriks precon also supplied two 30-metre production lines. Jan Cuppen: “The latter are used for producing various products, including structural floor elements that include a nose piece. This makes it possible to easily connect and finish all installations at the construction site.”