IDEALLY ANCHORED – DR. HUG GEOCONSULT

“In addition, our client always expects both a technically feasible and an economic plan,” says Rainer Massat. According to the engineer, such a calculation presupposes the optimum calculation, because only this can result in a correspondingly favorable design later. Economic dimensioning of the shoring near the Bockenheimer Landstraße with the complex underground pipe system beneath the earth meant the task was not at all easy. In addition, there was the soil condition – only a few meters of the upper soil consist of of backfills and quaternary gravel. Below this are tertiary clays, typical for Frankfurt am Main. “To optimize the bonding length of the shoring, our team had to try out various alternative anchorings and compare them,” adds foundation engineering specialist Melanie Löcker. Various questions, for example, whether one or two anchoring positions were advantageous, what was the ideal anchor inclination and other parameter alternatives were compared at Dr. Hug Geoconsult internally, with the goal of presenting the client later with an optimized shoring – above all, from the economic perspective.

“The program RTwalls helps us to produce a technically realizable and at the same time efficient solution for our client,” the two specialist engineers say. Because the necessary alternative studies are relatively easy to create with the software. In this way, system sizes can be altered with only a few mouse clicks and new construction states created. The fact that the entered excavation sections are immediately graphically visible also makes the work pleasant for the engineers

Rainer Massat, former civil engineer at Ed. Züblin AG, has known the RIBTEC programs for foundation construction for many years. This also includes the software system PINWALL, which makes the complex task of calculating underpinnings easier for the team at Hug Geoconsult. After all, in this field of applications too, only an ideal combination of verifiably and practically realizable solutions is the key to optimum customer satisfaction. “Geometric entry is very easy to do in PINWALL,” Massat adds. “Points can be clicked on with the mouse and moved around very easily over the graphical interactive interface.”

“The engineers at Dr. Hug Geoconsult look back on positive experiences with the Stuttgart technology company’s dimensioning and calculation software. Test engineers, according to the Oberursel company, have no issues with measures calculated using RIBTEC programs.

“The programs are very complex and not all functionalities of the systems are needed in practice for every task,” Massat concludes. “At first glance, getting used to it is rather complex. But especially for tricky tasks in foundation engineering, the versatility of the software solutions offers us the comprehensive support we need.”

Alongside diverse programs from the RIBTEC portfolio, the Hesse-based engineering office also relies on the AVA and project controlling system ARRIBA Planen by RIB. Because Massat and his colleagues value working with solutions that are the standard among leading construction companies in Germany.

Note: The structural engineers from Ruffert & Partner involved in the project also used the software solutions from RIB for the dimensioning of the rising structural parts.