Page 28 - MetalForming November 2019

FABRICATION
Restoring and Building Bridges via
Waterjet Cutting
Two projects posed cutting challenges. Among them: aesthetics, precision, safety and material volume. Waterjet cutting proved to be the right choice.
BY JOE JANCSURAK, ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Inherent in all cutting technologies are characteristics that make them suitable to specific applications. For Cutlass Mechanical Engineering (CME), a Plympton, United Kingdom- based provider of engineering, welding and fabricating services for a range of sectors, two enormous bridge projects calling for continuous precision cutting without any heat-affected zones led it to abrasive waterjet cutting.
“Five years ago, we became familiar with the benefits of waterjet cutting through our work on the Royal Albert railway-bridge restoration project,” says Adam Tanner, managing director at CME. The 2188-ft., 172.-ft.-high bridge, owned by Network Rail, dates back to 1859 and spans the River Tamar, connecting Plymouth and Saltash, Eng- land. The complete restoration of the landmark was a 3-yr., $12-million proj- ect involving installation of 300 tons of S355 J2+N mild structural steel used for plates with an average size of 27.5 by 27.5 in., and ranging in thickness from 0.4 to 1.25 in. Also: 250,000 cut holes for tension-control bolts.
Top to bottom: A WardJet cutting machine with dual cutting heads was used to com- plete two huge United Kingdom projects: restoration of the historic Royal Albert (rail) Bridge and the Tintagel Castle (foot) bridge.
26 MetalForming/November 2019
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