Channel Tunnel Folkestone Terminal
Pontardawe A notable feature that runs alongside the A4067 Swansea to Pontardawe road is one of Reinforced Earth’s first river training wall. The simplicity of build meant that these walls could be built in one season and thereby preventing any flood issues causing damage during the build time. The walls are standard precast panels, however whilst the maximum height is over 8m
in many places, much of the wall had scour protecting stones cover up to half of the precast wall height. The Reinforced Earth panels provide excellent protection for river training walls and with river flow rates and localised eddying effects at the joints, this can be minimised as in this instance using scour protection. In total over 4,500 m² were installed.
Part of the prestigious Channel Tunnel project, Reinforced Earth were asked to design and supply a unique feature finish wall that runs alongside the M20 and forms a retaining structure to support the embankment carrying the main continental arrival lines of the high-speed rail. With over 4,000m² and a maximum embankment height of 14m, the wall also had a unique facing, often referred to as a fan shape. At 550m long it’s a perfect example of ingenuity as it’s the first case in the UK of using Reinforced Earth to support a main line railway. In addition, special systems were put in place to monitor the long-term durability, the effects of train vibration and any effect of stray currents. All of these tests have proven to show no issues to Reinforced Earth walls in this situation.
Made with FlippingBook Annual report maker