en.Wedoany.com Reported - China Energy Engineering Corporation Anhui Electric Power Construction Second Company has completed the first herringbone column pouring during the construction of the No. 1 cooling tower at the Zhaoyuan Nuclear Power Project in Shandong. This marks the first application of a herringbone column structure in China's nuclear power sector, signifying that the cooling tower project has entered the upper structure construction phase.
The No. 1 cooling tower of the Zhaoyuan Nuclear Power Project is designed with 48 pairs of herringbone column components, each with a diameter of 2 meters and a total length of 14.87 meters. The columns are made of C60W12F300 high-strength, frost-resistant, and impermeable concrete, with a single component requiring approximately 46.7 cubic meters of concrete. For such large-volume, ultra-high-strength inclined load-bearing components, there is no mature experience or established process in domestic nuclear power cooling tower construction, necessitating exploration from scratch and specialized breakthroughs for the project.
This construction overcame two major technical challenges in the industry. The first was the deformation and inaccurate positioning of large-sized steel cages during hoisting. The herringbone column steel cages have a total length of nearly 15 meters, and traditional hoisting methods are prone to skeleton deformation due to uneven stress, with angle calibration and positioning relying on manual experience. After multiple rounds of scheme validation, simulation exercises, and on-site tests, the technical team independently developed a dedicated hoisting fixture and optimized an adjustable pulley block lifting device, establishing a complete set of specialized hoisting tooling systems. This achieved integrated control over the entire process of steel cage lifting, aerial flipping, angle fine-tuning, and precise positioning, ensuring the structural integrity and installation accuracy of the skeleton.
The second challenge was the common industry issue of inadequate concrete compaction in inclined components. The herringbone columns have an inclined structure, making it impossible for conventional vibrating equipment to insert vertically, often resulting in insufficient vibration and uneven concrete density. The project team used steel wire ropes to lay fixed tracks for vibrating rods, precisely preset vibration points and operation paths along the axis of the herringbone column structure, and standardized the insertion depth, movement speed, and lifting trajectory of the vibrating rods through track control. This enabled layered concrete pouring, layered vibration, and gradual compaction, solving the vibration blind spot problem for inclined high-strength concrete components.
The Zhaoyuan Nuclear Power Project is a key national energy project under China's 14th Five-Year Plan. The successful pouring of the herringbone columns represents another breakthrough for China Energy Engineering Corporation Anhui Electric Power Construction Second Company in the field of nuclear power cooling towers. Following the world's first ultra-large high-level water collection seawater cooling tower at the Guangdong Lianjiang Nuclear Power Project, this achievement once again advances domestic nuclear power construction technology for special-shaped structures.
The project team plans to continue promoting digital and intelligent construction processes, along with refined quality and safety management throughout the entire workflow.
