Barnhart and PSC Crane & Rigging Win SC&RA Rigging Job of the Year Awards

June 8, 2006 — The Specialized Carriers & Rigging Association (SC&RA) recently the winners of the Rigging Job of the Year Awards during its annual conference held in Hilton Head Island, S.C., in late April. Following are more details on the winning jobs.

 

Over $750,000: Barnhart Lifts NASA's Shuttle Launch Pads to Enable Repairs

In the spring of 2005, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) contracted with Barnhart to lift and secure Space Shuttle Launch Pad A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida so that other contractors could work underneath the structure to reinforce it with additional steel and complete corrosion treatment. The structure is approximately 170 feet high with a radius of over 80 feet. Afterward, Barnhart would return to lower and secure the facility back to its launch pad. Among the complicating factors during planning were that the structure had never been weighed and that engineered lift points had never been identified. Each of the six jacking locations chosen by NASA presented a different engineering challenge.

 

After devising a way to transfer the load of the structure to the Barnhart jacks, the engineering team had to determine how to spread the load to the launch pad foundation. However, NASA was uncertain about the amount of load the foundation could withstand. Still another challenge was deciding how to erect the lifting structure beneath the launch structure, which also can rotate around the launch pad. This would mean that the lifting towers would require two elevations, one at 124 feet and one at 103 feet • a 21-foot difference between jacking points. Barnhart used modular lift towers and hydraulic jacks to lift and secure the structure while taking advantage of the launch pad's rotational ability for positioning purposes.

 

Already concerned about the maze of duct work, piping, and steel, Barnhart crews also had to worry about high winds and lightning prevalent in the spring. On several occasions, the job was shut down at the first sight of lightning because nobody involved wanted to take chances with such an expensive, highly technical apparatus. After successfully completing the project, Barnhart and NASA concluded the launch structure weighed about 5 million pounds — of which Barnhart lifted about 2.5 million pounds.

 

$150,000-$750,000: Barnhart Replaces Feedwater Heaters in Coal-Fired Power Plant

Barnhart was called upon to extract two old feedwater heaters and replace them at a coal-fired power plant in Sioux City, Iowa. Weighing approximately 80 tons each, the new feedwater heaters were 40 feet long and 6 feet in diameter. The old heaters that needed to be extracted from the building were slightly heavier and shorter. The heaters were originally placed in the building during its construction, when the roof was off; however, for several reasons, the roof could not be opened up for the replacement.

 

The customer's original plan required a high-capacity crane that would have driven up the cost of the job. Barnhart proposed a less expensive alternative that used its 800-ton capacity Demag TC 3000 lattice boom truck crane. Both the extraction of the old heaters and the installation of the new ones required movement along a circuitous path through the building to and from a hole in an exterior wall more than 100 feet above grade. Clearances were are tight as 2 inches.

 

To adjust to inconsistencies in flooring throughout the building, Barnhart engineers developed a system to spread the load. Movement inside the building was facilitated through the use of air-casters and a light-slide system. Barnhart President Alan Barnhart characterized the plan as less expensive but more tedious than alternative plans. Through its innovative strategy, Barnhart completed the scope of its work in three days, reducing the originally planned plant evacuation time by 75 percent.

 

Under $150,000: PSC Crane and Rigging's Move and Installation of a Diesel Generator Package

Last winter, PSC Crane & Rigging successfully completed a very complex rigging job that began with off-loading and transferring an 8 megawatt Wartsila generator from a rail car onto a nine-line Goldhofer trailer. PSC then hauled the 332,000-pound generator • which measured 44 feet long, 10'10” wide and 14'2” high • a mile to the Indian Power Plant near Rensselaer, Ohio.

 

The existing opening in the building's brick façade, which measured a little more than 10 feet wide, had to be enlarged before the generator could pass through. PSC used a 500-ton J&R Lift-NLock gantry system equipped with a 400-ton J&R Power Rotator to complete the job. After the generator was suspended from the gantry with a spreader bar arrangement using wire rope slings, it was rotated 90 degrees, set on a hydraulic slide rail system, and slid into the building. Once it cleared the building, the generator was jacked up to remove the slide rail system and to install vibration mounts.

 

The rigging equipment selection simplified the rigging tasks and lessened the impact of the snowy and icy conditions prevalent during the project. The project required 578 man hours, including approximately 80 hours of project management and 20 hours of engineer designed lift and rigging planning.