Reliability, safety and efficiency
are more important than ever for the pumping of ready-mixed concrete. Especially for deadline- bound projects, conveying pipes must not fail. Single-layer ST52 pipes will wear out within very short periods of time. This results in high costs for service providers in the ready-mixed concrete industry because of downtime due to repairs, service / maintenance work or the replacement of components.
Taichan have developed and produced conveying pipes, elbows and special delivery line parts for truck-mounted concrete pumps, truck mixers concrete pumps or concrete distributing booms. The two-layer TWIN PIPES achieve a service life, which is significantly longer than ST52 pipes.
Our pipes are checked for their pressure resistance at regular intervals. The hardness of TWIN PIPE pipes is constant over the entire pipe length so that service intervals can be scheduled more easily. All of our products are manufactured subject to the pump manu- facturers’ specifications.
The special hardening process and high-quality welding process ensure that Taichan pipes achieve a service life, which is many times longer than that of commonly available ST52 pipes with the same wall thickness. Boom pipes shall not exceed the specified weight in order to ensure that the stability of the machine is not endangered. All Taichan pipes are manufactured in accordance with the weight specifications by concrete pump manufacturers. Conveying pipes for booms are available in two different quality levels. We recommend that you use the Taichan 900 XL pipe where you get extreme wear e.g. behind an 10-45° elbow. Those pipes have an extended inlet weld collar to compensate the wear.
Concrete pumps are incredibly useful, eliminating a lot of time that is otherwise spent moving heavy loads back and forth to different areas of construction sites. The large numbers in which concrete pumping services are used is testament to the efficacy and efficiency of the systems. As all construction projects are different, there are a few different types of concrete pump available to cater for the varying characteristics and obstacles of a construction site, and we’re going to look at what they are.
Boom pumps are the saviours of construction projects where concrete is required in difficult to reach areas. Without boom pumps, transporting concrete to these areas would require numerous, tedious and tiring trips back and forth with wheelbarrows loaded with concrete, but most concrete companies now provide boom pumps to eliminate this inconvenience.
ACI defines pumped concrete as concrete that is transport-ed through hose or pipe by means of a pump. Pumping con- crete through metal pipelines by piston pumps was introduced in the United States in Milwaukee in 1933. This concrete pump used mechanical linkages to operate the pump and usually pumped through pipelines 6 in. or larger in diameter.
Many new developments have since been made in the con- crete pumping field. These include new and improved pumps, truck-mounted and stationary placing booms, and pipeline and hose that withstand higher pumping pressures. As a result of these innovations, concrete placement by pumps has become one of the most widely used practices of the construction industry. Pumping may be used for most concrete construction, but is especially useful where space for construction equipment is limited. Concrete pumping frees hoists and cranes to de- liver the other materials of construction concurrently with concrete placing. Also, other crafts can work unhampered by concrete operations.
A steady supply of pumpable concrete is necessary for sat- isfactory pumping.1 A pumpable concrete, like conventional concrete, requires good quality control, i.e., uniform, properly graded aggregate, materials uniformly batched and mixed thoroughly.2 Concrete pumps are available with maximum output capacities ranging from 15 to 250 yd3/hr. Maximum volume output and maximum pressure on the concrete cannot be achieved simultaneously from most con-crete pumps because this combination requires too much
power. Each foot of vertical rise reduces the horizontal pumping distance about 3 to 4 ft because three to four times more pressure is required per foot of vertical rise than is necessary per foot of horizontal movement
Pumped concrete moves as a cylinder riding on a thin lu-bricant film of grout or mortar on the inside diameter of thepipeline.3-5 Before pumping begins, the pipeline interior diameter should be coated with grout. Depending on the nature of material used, this initial pipeline coating mixture may or may not be used in the concrete placement. Once concrete flow through the pipeline is established, the lubrication will be maintained as long as pumping continues with a properly proportioned and consistent mixture.
Pumping is a very efficient and reliable means of placing concrete, which makes it a very economical method as well. Sometimes, a pump is the only way of placing concrete in a certain location. Such as a high rise building, or large slabs where the chutes of the concrete truck can’t reach where the concrete is needed. Other times, the ease and speed of pumping concrete makes it the most economical method of concrete placement. Placement of concrete in inaccessible areas has necessitated the use of pumps in today’s construction. Especially with the growth of ready mixed concrete across India, the need for pumping has increased manifold. While the ease of pumping depends on the type of pump available, the distance over which concrete is to be pumped, and the properties of the concrete, a number of finer aspects can affect the operation.
The technique of pumping concrete has been in general and continuous use of over sixty years. Considerable progress which has been achieved in the past decade has undoubtedly made concrete transportation and placing using the concrete pump, potentially one of the most economical and attractive methods available. Pumping of concrete is necessary when:
a) For high speed placing or when large volumes have to be poured in limited time.
b) When concrete needs to be placed in inaccessible positions or there are no other means available at the time.
c) When accuracy and control are vital.
d) When good concrete finishes are called for.
e) To reduce plant requirements or release existing plant for other work. This also reduce capital requirements.
