Civil engineering

Waterproofing ramps and stairs

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Staircase leading to the underpass at Torricella-Taverne station

Waterproofing of the new ramps and access stairs to the underpasses at the Taverne-Torricella and Balerna railway stations.

SBB has made five more railway stations south of the Alps more accessible by removing architectural barriers, modernising the furnishings and installing state-of-the-art passenger information systems.

Stairs and ramps were constructed using the Drytech Tank System: a structural approach to waterproofing concrete structures that guarantees long-term watertightness, thanks in part to its practical maintenance.

The existing underpasses have also been waterproofed.

In this case, with precise injections of expanding resin, which have repaired the concrete from infiltrations that had occurred over time.

Taverne-Torricella/
Structure: Comal Ingegneria, Lugano
Construction: Cons. Tato
Drytech Tank: 785 m2

Balerna/
Structure: Comal Ingegneria, Mendrisio
Construction: Cons. Casada+Reali
Drytech Tank: 640 m2

Waterproofing road underpass

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The pedestrian and cycle lane of the road underpass beneath the Treviglio-Cremona railway line.

Drytech waterproofed the new road underpass near Crema station with a total Drytech Tank (slab, walls and floor slab), designed to withstand both railway traffic vibrations and temperature variations while maintaining watertightness.

In addition to the vehicle lane, the underpass has a lane dedicated to bicycles and pedestrians. The structure was built with a reinforced concrete monolith 10.5 metres wide, 5.9 metres high and 21 metres long. Added to this are the two decks, upstream and downstream, measuring approximately 8 and 14 metres, for a total length of approximately 43 metres.

Client: Rete Ferroviaria Italiana, Milan

Structure: Ing. Carraro, Ing. Stella

Construction: Quadrio Gaetano Costruzioni, Morbegno

Waterproofing: Drytech Italy

Water tank waterproofing

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Drytech has built the new 5,600 m³ water tank, which will feed the cannons for artificial snow Close to the Carosello 3000 station in Livigno, with the Drytech White Tank Waterproofing.

Drytech built the new 5,600 m3 water tank, which will supply the snowmaking cannons at the Carosello 3000 resort in Livigno, with the Drytech Tank waterproofing system.

The work, built in 5 months with a 2’175 m² Drytech Tank, is completely underground to have no impact on the Alpine panorama.

The practicality of the construction of the Drytech Tank makes the construction of these structures faster.

Time is a decisive factor in any construction site, but it becomes even more important for applications conditioned by seasonality (the structure had to be ready in time for the opening of the ski season) and with a climate that reduces the useful building time to a few months.

Drytech Engineering has formulated a waterproof concrete suitable for environmental conditions, based on the characteristics of the aggregates present in the plant chosen by the Edil Dona company in Valdisotto, Sondrio.

The acrylic resin DRYflex, which waterproofs the details by pressure, is certified for use in structures in contact with drinking water, so it is safe for the environment and therefore perfectly suitable for use in a tank that feeds the guns of snow.

One of the main acceleration factors on the construction site is the control of shrinkage cracking.
In fact, the Drytech tank allows you to make continuous castings (the bed was cast in a single solution) because the cracks are induced by the Cracking Elements, which can also act as disposable formwork.

Client: Carosello 3000, Livigno

Project: Studio Associato DMP, Livigno

Structure: Ing. Piergiacomo Giuppani, Sondrio

Construction: EDIL DONA, Valdisotto

Drytech Tank: 2,175 m²

Waterproofing underground tunnel

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Cunicolo AIL Agno-Bioggio

Waterproofing with the Drytech Tank structure of an underground tunnel that runs alongside a river and at one point passes under the bed of a tributary.

The AIL Agno-Bioggio tunnel for high voltage systems runs alongside the Vedeggio river for 4 km and, in a central stretch, is also bordered by the Prati Maggiori canal. Precisely at this point the route of the structure crosses the Riale Roncaccio drainage canal.

To overcome it, the tunnel dives further below the riverbed up to -5 meters from the ground level. Due to the particularly delicate position exposed to multiple water pressures, this section of the tunnel was created with a total Drytech Tank: foundation, walls and slab.

The Drytech Tank structure of the AIL Agno-Bioggio tunnel has a thickness between 30 and 40 cm and the joints have been waterproofed with injections of DRYflex expanding resin.

By sealing the entire thickness of the joint, the resin also protects the reinforcing bars, because it keeps water completely outside the concrete. In the event of any infiltrations, the system provides practical and easily manageable maintenance from inside the structure, without interruptions to the service.

The real possibility of carrying out maintenance contributes to the main quality of waterproofing: which is to prevent water from entering for the entire life of the work, i.e. for 50 – 100 years in the case of civil engineering structures, as prescribed by SIA 272.

Structure: Comal Engineering, Lugano

Construction: Implenia, Bioggio oh the 

Waterproofing of a prefabricated monolith

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The railway underpass of Indipendenza street in Crema allows the passage of a road and a cycle path under the railway path.

The waterproofing of a prefabricated monolith made it possible to construct a road subway without interrupting the upper railway line.

The Drytech Tank made it possible to prefabricate the monolith near the tracks and push it to its final location with an excavation that gradually replaced it for the ground supporting the railway line.

The railway underpass of Indipendenza street in Crema allows the passage of a road and a cycle path under the railway path. The work was carried out without interrupting the overlying passage of the trains.

Once positioned in place, the monolith was waterproofed in its critical points (cracks and joints) with DRYflex expanding resin injections.

Made ex-post, the waterproofing did not risk being damaged during the launching operations.

The expansion joints f the railway underpass of Indipendenza street in Crema were prepared with DRYset injectable waterstop tapes.

Structure: Ing. Terzini, Crema

Construction: De Fabiani Spa, Cavenago d’Adda

Drytech Tank: 3’600 m²

Waterproofing a hydroelectric power station

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The new hydroelectric plant of Casale Monferrato

Waterproofing a hydroelectric power station built on the banks of the Po River with the Drytech Tank watertight structure.

Building for water can sometimes mean having to build underwater too. The new Casale Monferrato hydroelectric power plant was built below the left bank of the Po, and the river also completely flooded the construction site during the 18 months in which the work was carried out.

The natural flooding in the floodplain area where the construction site was opened did not represent a problem for the Drytech Tank, because the construction characteristics and materials of the system cannot be altered by the presence of water, not even during construction.

The same DRYflex resin, which is injected into the construction details to seal them, is effective in the presence of water, even under pressure.

Built by Allara SpA of Casale Monferrato, the system consists of a mobile weir in the riverbed, an intake structure upstream of the weir from which the diversion canal begins which conveys the water to the central building which houses the groups of energy production and, downstream of this, the return channel into the riverbed.
The work is completed by two access ladders – one on each bank – for the ichthyofauna and the ramp for the passage of canoes.

The mobile barrier crosspiece, made up of a tubular structure in water-inflatable rubberized fabric, guarantees the diversion of the water flow to the lateral intake work of the left bank.

When the water level upstream reaches the maximum authorized level, the crossbar is depressed under the pressure of the water that overcomes it, avoiding flooding.

With its 200 meters of longitudinal development, it is the largest flexible dam in the world built with this technology.

The production plant hosts four turbines that generate an average power of approximately 3000 kW, for an annual production of 21 GWh.

Access to the turbine room is guaranteed by an underground tunnel connected to an entrance hatch. The tunnel is also a full Drytech Tank (waterproof floor, walls and slab), connected to the main body by a movement joint which has been waterproofed with DRYset injectable Waterstop Tape.

Owner: Idropana, Turin

Technical direction: STA Engineering, Pinerolo

Structure: Eng. Gianluca Odetto – SERTECH, Loranzè

Construction: Allara SpA, Casale Monferrato

Drytech Tank: 1,200 m2

Waterproofing pump shafts inside the slab

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Drytech has designed a special waterproof pump shaft that allows companies to create pumping points inside the bed.

Drytech has developed a system for waterproofing pump shafts that allows contractors to position the bailing out points directly inside the slab.

The special waterproof wells are manufactured in the workshop in Bedano, Switzerland, and shipped to the construction site, wherever in the world they may be, where they are prepared by the Drytech technician.

This is the case of the construction site opened directly in the North Sea, where 36 pump wells were installed, subsequently sealed and incorporated into the bed.

Once its function is exhausted, the Drytech pump well is waterproofed both externally and internally.

Once the casting is complete, the joint between the well and the bed is injected with DRYflex expansive resin, which seals the element by pressure, wrapping around the entire thickness of the bed.

Any water flows inside the well are instead rendered harmless by the lid sealed with gaskets both on the circumference of the well and on each of the sealing bolts.

The use of the Drytech System resulted in a saving of several weeks on the time required for the construction of the waterproof basement.

Waterproofing: Drytech Italy

Waterproofing of Vira-Mezzovico aqueduct

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The main façade of the Vira-Mezzovico Aqueduct.

The waterproofing of the new Vira-Mezzovico aqueduct basin was carried out with a complete Drytech Tank, including a waterproof slab.

The new water storage and supply basin is part of the General Plan of the Aqueduct of the Municipality of Vira-Mezzovico.

Set into the mountain slope to minimize its visual impact, the Drytech concrete structure is entirely waterproof, both to the water present in the ground and to that collected in the internal basins. Even the slabs, covered by the lawn, are in Drytech Tank, therefore also resistant to root development.

The perfect correspondence between structure and function of the Drytech Tank makes it not only a solid barrier to water (the waterproofing is as thick as the structure), but also a durable system, because it is predisposed to extraordinarily practical maintenance. To the point that, specifically, any intervention does not require emptying the reservoirs or even interrupting the service.

The modernization plan of Aqueduct of Vira-Mezzovico also affected the water network, renewed for flow and efficiency in all its twenty kilometers of underground pipes.

Drytech Engineering collaborated already in the design phase with Lucchini & Canepa Engineering, for all aspects relating to the waterproofing of the structure.

Structure: Lucchini & Canepa Engineering, Lugano

Construction: Implenia Switzerland, Bioggio

Waterproofing of the London sewage system

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The Lee Tunnel is one of the two pipelines that convey an average of 39 million tons per year of wastewater, coming from 35 sewer pipes, built in the Victorian era as part of the network that still serves London, after 150 years.

Drytech realised the waterproofing of one of the main pipes of the London sewage system with the Drytech Tank system.

The Lee Tunnel is one of the two pipelines that convey an average of 39 million tons per year of wastewater, coming from 35 sewer pipes, built in the Victorian era as part of the network that still serves London, after 150 years.

The works began in September 2010 at the Beckton treatment plant, with the construction of the first of the four 80-meter wells, waterproofed by laying DRYset channels in the joints, then sealed with DRYflex resin injections.

The sections of the 120-meter-long milling machine were then lowered through the shaft, which in 2012 began excavating the connection tunnels, with a diameter of 7 meters.

The infrastructure is part of the strategic plan to improve and ensure the health of the Thames waters. The system routes discharges from London’s largest surplus sewer to Mills Abbey Pumping Station in Stratford, which handles 40 per cent of the total waste.

The four miles of tunnel were built beneath the Borough of Newham, from Abbey Mills to Beckton. The new tunnel helps prevent more than 16 million tonnes of sewage mixed with rainwater from overflowing into the River Lee each year, capturing and transferring it to Beckton’s sewage treatment facilities, which are in turn being expanded by 60 per year. one hundred to cope with the increase in volumes handled.

This is the deepest tunnel ever built in London. This involved excavating in conditions of high groundwater pressures, along four miles of extraordinarily abrasive soil and without lateral vent pipes.

Owner: Thames Water Utilities, London

Structure: Engineer Emmanuel Costes, London 

Construction: Morgan Vinci Bachy JV, London

Waterproofing: Drytech UK, London

Waterproofing of the stage pit of the La Scala theatre

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As part of the renovation and expansion of the Teatro Alla Scala in Milan designed by architect Mario Botta, the waterproofing of the scenic pit was carried out, with 850 m² of stalls and 2,500 of walls.

Drytech carried out the waterproofing of the colossal stage pit of the La Scala theatre in Milan, reducing the Gantt diagram by 90 days compared to a traditional waterproofing system.

As part of the renovation and extension of the Teatro alla Scala in Milan designed by architect Mario Botta, the waterproofing of the stage pit was carried out, with a Drytech Tank of 850 m² of stalls and 2,500 m² of walls.

The Drytech Tank System was chosen because it made it possible to waterproof the tie rods of the unloaded floor.

It also saved about 90 days of work for the entire calendar of works because the waterproofing activities are independent and parallel to those of the construction site and are in fact removed from the Gantt chart.

A further saving of time and resources derives from the fact that the elevations of the Drytech tank are thrown directly against the micropiles, making the lining and the wall coincide.

The new stage tower rises 38 meters and the stage pit is 18 meters deep. The new structure behind the stage allows you to manage the sets of 3 shows at the same time.

Sophisticated stage machines allow you to completely change the show in just 6 minutes.

Client: Comune di Milano, Milano

Project: Mario Botta Architetto, Lugano

Structure: BMS Progetti, Milano

Construction: Consorzio Cooperative Costruzioni, Bologna

Drytech Tank: 3,350 m²