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Buckner Heavy Lift Going the Distance

Feb2015   contributed by: Buckner Companies


The planning phase for Buckner Heavy Lift’s project to install a new heat exchanger with Burkes Mechanical began September 2014. Buckner planned and performed multiple site visits in order to ensure the successful and safe installation. The team had to weigh out different options concerning crawler crane size and placement. The heat exchanger weighed 127k and was to be set 170 feet over several process lines inside a running paper mill. The final weight and dimensions were submitted to Buckner Heavy Lift’s planner who then drew up the final lift and install plans. The assembly process of the Liebherr LR 1400/2 configured with 250 feet of main boom and super lift attachment began on January 19, 2015.

Buckner Heavy Lift assembled the derrick and 14m of cantilevered boom above a 40 foot structure containing live process lines. The team then preassembled 170 feet of main boom on ground to be lifted and flown into place and pinned into boom sections. The remaining boom was hoisted into place, in the horizontal position, with two assist crane until the bottom pins could be connected. They then hoisted it into position until the top pins were connected. Careful attention and constant communication was necessary to ensure the main crawler crane was not overloaded in its cantilevered position.

Once the derrick was rolled into the working position, the main crane was able to support the weight of the boom and removed load from the assist crane. The team worked consistently in order to safely get the job done, working anywhere between 70-130 feet in elevation. All the work had to be performed in a live plant, over existing process pipe-racks, carrying caustic chemicals and process electrical, which fed the complete operation of the plant. The paper mill plant fully relied on the Buckner Heavy Lift team to safely assemble and perform their strategic plans in order to maintain active business during the heat exchanger installation. Buckner Heavy Lift understood that a well thought out and engineered lift plan was critical to the safe operation of the assembly.

Buckner’s engineered lift planning department performed ground bearing calculations, protected underground utilities, calculated the necessary sizing for the appropriate crawler crane and boom configuration, and assessed the rigging requirements for not only the lift but the critical assembly and disassembly process of theLiebherr LR1400. The most difficult part of the process was putting together a 440 ton machine in a confined space, which also happened to be an active paper mill over process lines. Bucker Heavy Lift worked as a team in order to safely and successfully complete the awarded project, one of the many examples Buckner Companies can prove their problem solving abilities in “Going the Distance” for their customers.

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