BGU construction in numbers and comparisons

Extensive work on excavating a pit for the shipping lock and spillway dam is nearing completion as part of the Bagaevsky hydroelectric complex construction project. Cofferdam backfilling is being carried out around the entire pit perimeter along with cut-off curtain installation. We will try to compare the scale of construction with other well-known structures.

Over 488.5 thousand cubic metres of soil were excavated to backfill the main pit’s cofferdam designed with two service ramps. This is 5% more than the entire construction scope of the new Platov International Airport. You can use such volume of soil to backfill the area of ​​​​one of the world’s largest buildings – Bloemenveiling Aalsmeer in the Dutch city of Aalsmeer. The resulting soil blanket will be almost metre deep. The cofferdam’s crest length exceeds the length of Voroshilovsky Avenue – one of the central avenues of Rostov-on-Don – and is almost 2.5 km. The cofferdam’s height is more than two floors – 7.3 meters as per the BSV (Baltic Elevation System).

To construct a cut-off curtain with the use of a vibratory pile driver, it is planned to install 2,235 welded pipe piles. Almost 70% is completed. To date, 1,547 pieces have been driven, which is more than seven thousand tons. Apartment building 5/6 on Serafimovich Street in Moscow which was moved during the construction of the Bolshoy Kamenny Bridge in the 30s of the last century weighed a little less.

Materials for construction arrive at the site daily. First of all, there are Larsen 5UM sheet piles for installation of the lock’s approach walls – special structures ensuring trouble-free entry of ships. The Larsen sheet piling work has already begun. Inert materials are supplied for concrete plants: crushed stone, sand and cement.

Project background:
The Bagayevsky Hydroelectric Complex is the most important infrastructure project not only for the Rostov region, but also for the whole country. The hydroelectric complex under construction will be composed of a shipping lock with a central control room, upper and lower approach channels with mooring-guiding structures, a spillway and earth fill dam, a meandering fish bypass and spawning channel and a fish passage lock, industrial, service, engineering and auxiliary facilities, and housing for operating personnel. To ensure the navigation safety, channel-regulating dams are being constructed, as well as shore protection dams that will prevent the development of bank erosion processes (washout and collapse), protect from the impact of ship waves and reduce the negative impact of waters on the population living in these areas. In order to ensure guaranteed waterway dimensions (depth – 4 m, width – 80 m, bending radius – 500 m) in the section from the Kochetovsky Hydroelectric Complex site at km 3004.5 of the waterway of the Integrated Deep Water System (IDWS) to the Bagaevsky Hydroelectric Complex site at km 3089 of the IDWS waterway, dredging and river cut-off are envisaged.