The Thyssenkrupp facility in Calvert, Alabama includes a Hot Strip Mill which will process slabs from the TK plant in Brazil. The facility will have an annual capacity of 4.1 million metric tons of carbon steel end products.
BHATE Geosciences’ scope of services included:
- Site excavation and dewatering consultation
- Earthwork testing services
- Since several areas of the steel mill included deep pits and require excavations up to 40 deep, evaluation and design recommendations were provided by BHATE for proper and safe excavation of these pits including methods for excavation protection and dewatering.
- Establish a fully equipped and calibrated laboratory onsite for materials testing and quality assurance activities
- Materials testing of 750,000 cubic yards of concrete and 20,000 test cylinders
- By testing concrete in our onsite laboratory, we were able to provide reports to the interested parties almost immediately upon testing. This helped tremendously enhance the contractor’s construction schedule since they did not have to wait on the results to schedule subsequent work.
- Thermal monitoring of concrete
- Structural inspections of reinforcing steel
- Forensic investigation using GPR structure scanning to detect concrete voids and verify steel placement location
During the peak construction period, BHATE engineering and technical staff at the site consisted of the following:
- Up to 8 technicians and engineers on a full-time basis during peak periods and often during two shifts.
- Total engineering and testing man hours on the job approached 20,000 technical hours.
- A fully equipped and certified materials testing laboratory capable of curing, processing and testing of up to 200 test cylinders per day in compliance with ASTM standards and project specifications.
- Certified IBC Special Inspectors at the project site to conduct the required reinforcing and concrete placement inspections.
- Nondestructive testing equipment such as Structure Scan available at the site to solve contractor steel or void location issues.
- Thermocouples installed on all major and mass concrete pours to monitor concrete heat of hydration and maturity.
- During the entire project duration, BHATE personnel had 0 days of lost time due to jobsite injury or downtime. Our operations met all the safety requirements and inspections related to our work conducted by TK Construction Managers and inspectors.
- We worked closely with several contractors to facilitate their completion of the projects on time and on budget.
The Hot Strip Mill was the first major piece of the $5 billion complex and BHATE was proud to be an important part of this major project in Alabama. The completed Hot Strip Mill will eventually employ about 2,700 employees.