What we were asked to do
Greenpipe, as a specialist in the linear drainage sector, was contacted by the technicians of the Tiliaventum consortium in April 2017 for the design and production of 6 km of drainage channels that met the following specifications:
- prefabricated rectangular concrete channel with internal dimensions of 35×35 cm, complete with D400 class cast iron gratings for surface water collection, CE marked
- prefabricated rectangular concrete channel with internal dimensions of 35×35 cm with “draining” side inserts, complete with D400 class cast iron gratings for surface water collection, CE marked
with a clear preponderance of the second model.
In addition to these technical specifications, it was necessary to design a product that fell within the project costs.
The context
The A4 “Turin-Trieste” motorway is certainly among the most strategic and important road axes in Italy. Its route is approximately 530 km long in total, managed by various companies. Autovie Venete manages the Venice-Trieste section, characterized by these figures:
189 km in length
Transit of 130,000
light vehicles per day
Transit of 40,000
heavy vehicles per day
The project
In 2005, the project for the upgrade to a third lane of the A4 motorway from Quarto d’Altino (VE) to Villesse (GO) was approved—a complex project divided into various phases, lots, and sub-lots.
Work on the third lot and part of the fourth, from Alvisopoli (VE) to Gonars (UD), began on January 9, 2017, with the laying of the first stone in the presence of, among others, the Minister of Infrastructure Graziano Delrio and the presidents of the Veneto Region, Luca Zaia, and the Friuli-Venezia Giulia Region, Debora Serracchiani.
The work awarded to Tiliaventum, a consortium company formed by two of the main Italian construction firms, involved a massive commitment and features very significant figures:
- 400 million euros
- 26 km of new motorway lane
- 11 municipalities affected
- 8 overpasses rebuilt
- 11 underpasses rebuilt
- 2 bridges rebuilt with a length of over 100 meters (over the Stella river and the Cormor canal)
- 1 bridge rebuilt over the Tagliamento river (1,500 meters long)
The Greenpipe solution: SMART PRO 350
We immediately set to work to design the channel and the spheroidal graphite cast iron grating, along with the relevant equipment for their production, to meet all the requirements:
- hydraulic: a section of the required dimensions is not commonly used in the drainage channel sector, and today Greenpipe can say it is the only one to feature a section of this type in its catalogue;
- load-bearing capacity: an essential element for CE marking;
- performance: although the draining insert had already been used by Greenpipe at other sites, in this case, it could have represented a slowdown in the production phase, as we had been informed by the site that the material would be required in large batches and with very fast delivery times.
Our solution was the SMART PRO 350H440 vibro-compressed concrete channel with galvanized steel profiles, with or without draining inserts, which was paired with D400 spheroidal graphite cast iron gratings.
On December 15, 2017, the mold—a versatile piece of equipment capable of producing both the standard version and the one with “draining side holes” by operating a simple command on the machine—was successfully tested.
At the same time, the spheroidal graphite cast iron grating was also designed, which was also subjected to parametric simulations using specific software that pre-determined its compliance with load class D400 according to the European standard EN 1433.
On January 23, 2018, the products were tested at our internal laboratory recognized by the Ministry of Economic Development, and thus CE marked. Finally, it was possible to issue the Declarations of Performance (DoP).
Project figures
On April 11, 2018, the first 120 meters of SMART PRO 350H440 DRAINING channels with steel profiles and D400 class spheroidal graphite cast iron gratings were delivered to the site; on November 11, 2019, after 19 months, the final 60 meters were delivered.
In total, Greenpipe supplied:
These are the figures that Greenpipe deployed to meet Tiliaventum’s requests: a job that allowed for the realization of a major work, important not only for the North-East but also for “the modernization and development of the country.”
