Tillegem CastleBrugge

What was the customer’s request?

To stabilise the historic abutment of the Tillegem Castle bridge, consisting of a gravity wall. Stabilising had to be done with both micro piles and ground anchors through the existing foundation mass.

What technical challenges did the project pose?

The fact that the site is located on the provincial domain Tillegem, involved the necessary boundary conditions regarding the protection of the existing infrastructure.

Moreover, both the micro piles (vertical bearing capacity) and the ground anchors (horizontal bearing capacity) had to be executed through the existing abutment. The big challenge proved to be drilling the ground anchors in a safe manner, both for the personnel and for the temporary stability of the abutment, as well as to avoid any contact between the cement mortar and water from the castle moat.

How did CVR tackle it?

In order to provide maximum protection to the existing infrastructure during the supply and removal of the machine, among other things wooden blocks, steel ramps and professional use of the machine came into play.

The work was carried out in three phases. In the first phase, the necessary core drillings were carried out through the existing abutment. In the second phase, the micro piles were drilled through the massif from the top of the abutment. Once the micro piles had hardened and the abutment was partly restored, in the third phase the ground anchors were implemented by means of a special drilling mast and a man basket.

To drill the ground anchors, in collaboration with the main contractor, a trough was constructed around the abutment in order to dispose of the grout mortar in a controlled manner.

What was the end result?

The foundations for the existing abutment were deepened to the required foundation wall level, using micro piles and ground anchors, thus guaranteeing the future vertical and horizontal bearing capacity of the abutment.