Yang Mei

    yangmei_szdaily@163.com

    WHILE thousands upon thousands of Chinese families were getting reunited for the Chinese New Year, 1,500 people from different parts of the country worked around the clock for the demolition of the Huangmugang Flyover in Futian District.

    Within nine days they managed to dismantle the complex flyover consisting of five bridges with a total length of 1,544 meters and made of 14,619 cubic meters of concrete, which added a new chapter to the “Shenzhen Speed” legend, according to Wang Lianglei, head of the publicity department of the Huangmugang Project Management Department under the China Railway Tunnel Group (CRTG).

    Sha Pingping, head of the Electrical and Mechanical Services Section of the Project Department of CRTG, told the Shenzhen Daily that the construction work started Jan. 29 and was completed Feb. 6, while projects of the same scale would usually take six months. Sha added that although it only took nine days to dismantle the flyover, the success of the project is the result of rigorous and meticulous preparation work that lasted for one and a half months with the participation of 20 or so technicians.

    Wang said that before the dismantling officially started, the technicians and professionals used the technology of BIM (Building Information Modeling) to simulate the actual process of the project. BIM is an intelligent 3-D model-based process that gives architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) professionals the insight and tools to more efficiently plan, design, construct, and manage buildings and infrastructure.

    “We set up a modeling on the computer for the simulation, in which every part of the flyover is numbered and the routes for the vehicles at the site are specified so that the cranes will not disturb or collide with one another in time and space, which will guarantee that the actual work goes smoothly and precisely. The professionals carried out four rounds of scenario planning on the table,” Wang said.

    Sha told the Shenzhen Daily that a total of 2,340 vehicles and equipment including 30 or so cranes of different tonnage were employed, among them the highlight was the self-propelled modular transporters (SPMTs), or motorized vehicles that move at walking speed and are capable of carrying large structures, such as bridges, from offsite locations, positioning them precisely into their final position.

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