ECOBUST Al Fatah Highway Oman – Removal of Hard Granite Rock
ECOBUST enables demolition without jackhammering or explosives.
Al Fatah Highway Oman – A stretch of highway running through very hard rock in the mountains of central Oman needs to pass close to a concrete water tank structure. The use of explosives around that area is not permitted to prevent damages to the concrete water tank.
The contractor was using a chisel machine, but the chisels were blunt within a day and had to be retooled constantly. The progress using chisels was very slow and it would take to long to finish the job.
Concrete Water Tank in The Background
Area Where Rock Must be Removed
ECOBUST Solution
For the stretch of the highway close to the tank ECOBUST was considered because:
- It could remove the rock without blast or vibration
- Easy to install
- Size of the break-off boulders could be determined by adjusting the drilling pattern of the holes
ECOBUST Methodology
To test the efficacy of the and to determine the optimal spacing between the holes, a demo trial was set up.
In the areas where explosives were used, the explosives were inserted in holes with a diameter of 75 mm. There was a 75mm drill rig available on site.
For this project, the large-hole diameter ECOBUST was chosen so the drill rig available could be used to drill the cracking holes.
The Drill Rig That Was Available on Site
Holes were positioned 30cm and 50cm apart.
Holes were drilled about 1.5 meter deep. The ECOBUST was mixed (15kg bag of ECOBUST with 1.5 liters of clean water) and poured into the holes.
The Rock Mass Was Cracked Within About 36 Hours
The Rock Mass Was Crack Within About 36 Hours
Cracking of The Rock After 36 Hours
ECOBUST
Need to demolish rock or concrete without explosives?
ECOBUST enables demolition without jackhammering or explosives, with a simple 3 step application.
Working as an expansive agent, ECOBUST produces 20,000 PSI during expansion, reaching 4x its original size within hours.
The result is controlled and effective demolition… without noise, vibration, dust or flying rock.
Visit our product page for more information on ECOBUST or complete the contact form below.