Casting On A Curve

Constructing a concrete lined canal which has a curved alignment calls for some specialist equipment and main contractor Mota Engil Ehgenharia turned to Gomaco to help it meet this challenge in Portugal. Plans to build an irrigation channel through the Beira Interior region of Portugal to distribute water from reservoirs on the Meimoa and Sabugal Rivers were first developed over 50 years ago. But construction of part of the project's primary channel - the Monte do Bispo Canal - and a reservoir near Belmonte by Mota has only just got underway.

“The trapezoidal section of the canal was designed to carry up to 7407 m3/s of water,”said Mota mechanical engineer and equipment director Jorge Balsemao. “The 1,5:1 wall slope was designed to ensure slope stability and allow mechanical placing of the concrete.”

But the concrete not only had to be placed on a steep slope, the paver also had to navigate the curved alignment of the canal. Mota used a Gomaco track mounted CP-650-S canal paver with a Spanit work bridge and an RC Conveyor to successfully cast the sloped sides and base of the concrete channel in one pass. Mota has recently won a contract to carry out the next phase of the scheme and is planning to use another Gomaco paver to complete the work.