What we were asked to do
As part of recent maintenance and redevelopment works, Greenpipe provided solutions capable of ensuring proper water runoff and drainage, in one of the rainiest areas of the continent.
The hydraulic requirements had already been defined by the client who, however, requested assistance in identifying the right solution to ensure proper installation of the channels, taking into account the decidedly “out of the ordinary” boundary conditions. Since these were “Type M” channels to be installed at the runway edge, it was necessary to find the right compromise between the need to guarantee the required load class and the planned design conditions (ground stratigraphy, different types of road sections to the right and left of the channel).
The context
The airport covers an area of 350 hectares and is located 5 km from the city of Ostend. We are in West Flanders, in the Flemish region of Belgium, close to the coast, approximately 25 km from Bruges.
Equipped with a runway 3,210 meters long and 45 meters wide built in the 1970s, the airport primarily performs cargo transport functions thanks to its extensive warehouses (25,000 square meters), including the new “Aerofresh Perishable” center which extends over an area of 7,000 square meters and is capable of handling 300 tons of perishable goods mainly from Africa.
Over the years, the airport has increasingly assumed particular importance for passenger flights as well, mainly charter and holiday flights. Since 1992, ownership of the airport has belonged to the Flemish Region, which entered into an agreement with EGIS Group to manage it, starting from 2014, for a duration of 25 years.
Today the airport is undergoing modernization and runway reconstruction works.
The project
Greenpipe’s intervention was specifically characterized in two areas:
- finding the best solution for installing the drainage channels;
- customizing the discharge and inspection manholes taking into account the construction site characteristics, the morphology of the drainage line layout, and the “hydraulic” requirements of the work.
Greenpipe's solution: SMART PRO and BIG47
After evaluating the “hydraulic” requirements imposed by the client and assessing their needs regarding the operating loads to be addressed, we defined the appropriate internal section and opted for the following channel models:
- Smart Pro 200H375 (internal section 200×300) with ductile iron gratings Smart 200D400, equipped with 78 discharge/inspection manholes Smart Pro 200 complete with ductile iron grating Smart 200D400 and debris basket,
- 634 meters of channel BIG47 200H395 (internal section 200×300) with ductile iron gratings BIG47 200F900, equipped with six discharge/inspection manholes BIG47 200 complete with ductile iron grating BIG47 200F900 and debris basket.
To complete the work, 4,500 meters of channel Smart Pro 200H375 with D400 gratings and 78 manholes Smart Pro 200 with their D400 grating, 634 meters of channel BIG47 200H395 with F900 gratings and 6 manholes BIG47 200 with their F900 grating and debris basket were supplied.
The installation procedures were defined as shown in the drawings above and are the result of the constant dialogue that Greenpipe maintained with the client.
The SMART PRO and BIG47 channels are equipped with reinforcement profiles, in galvanized steel in the first case and in cast iron in the second, perfectly anchored to the concrete body so that detachment is prevented during the operating phase. The gratings can be screwed directly to the profiles using four screws per grating in the Smart Pro model and four screws plus four nuts in the BIG47 model.
All channels were supplied with gratings already mounted which, in addition to allowing precise quality control to guarantee a finished product free from defects, ensured the client rapid installation of the products
