FS GIRDER LAUNCHER | Foundation Specialists, Inc.

FS GIRDER LAUNCHER, was the first of its kind, in the Philippines, when FS Purchased it directly from the Manufacturer, COMTEC TCS of Italy, a Pioneer and Industry Leader in the design and construction of special equipment for Bridges. Viaducts, Skyways and Elevated Railway System. Foundation Specialists, Inc. purchased the Girder Launcher when awarded by MTD the contract for the construction of the Bridges along the South Luzon Expressway “SLEX” in 2008, and in particular the demolition of the 2 bridges and replacement of it with 3 bridges Spanning Hundreds of meters 30 miters above the water of the San Juan Water Reservoir of Calamba City, THE PICTURE SHOWS THE LAUNCHING OF A 40 METERS LONG, POST-TENSIONED AASHTO GIRDER, (Precast and Post-Tensioned by FS), BEING INSTALLED BY FS GIRDER LAUNCHER ON THE NEWLY CONSTRUTED PIERS OF THE THREE COMPONENTS SAN JUAN BRIDGE OF THE SOUTH LUZON EXPRESSWAY.

By Contract Foundation Specialists, Inc [FS] had to remove all the old steel girders (50 lm long each and 3.5m high) spanning over the water reservoir, and deliver the girder, without damages, to a Philippine National Construction Corp. [PNCC] Yard located along SLEX. The old girders removal was planned to be done using FS Girder Launcher. The old Bridge Slabs were cut by Diamong cutters in strips of manageable dimensions loaded on trailers and removed from site. The old girders were all braced to each other by steel members. In order to lift and remove the steel girders it was necessary to first remove the steel bracings which linked the girders together. Each Steel Girder was first suspended from each extremity to the Hoists of FS Girder Launcher, then the bracings linking it to the next girder were removed. As soon as the bracings of the first girders were removed , the girder started deflecting, elastically, arching sideways under its own weight, and was only prevented from falling into the water reservoir underneath the bridge, by having been secured at both ends to the Girder Launcher. After observing that the girders, because of their high flexibility, could not be removed singly as it had been planned, FS immediately provided an intermediate temporary support to the girder already disconnected from the other girders. For that purpse FS used the Launcher. After adding the additional support, the girder was repositioned on the copings next to the second girder and, still supporting the girder by the Girder Launcher, FS braced together the two girders. This last bracing was done before removing the old bracings linking the second and third girders. Once braced together, the first and second girders became a stable rigid frame and were lifted thru the Girder Launcher’s hoists which then moved the two girders to the road, to the waiting trailer and dolly. The operation was repeated until all steel girders were removed and brought to final destination and there unloaded by two mobile crane sent ahead by FS.

FS GIRDER LAUNCHER SLEX SAN JUAN BRIDGES & VIADUCT