The following data refer to the model of the floor slab.
Length: ~ 72 ft | Width: ~ 43 ft | Height: ~ 3 ft | Weight: ~ 125 t
Number of Surfaces: 3 | Finite Elements: 7,522
In nearly three months, Bresser from 's-Gravendeel, Netherlands, completed the project of moving the house over both land and water to its final destination at the Hoogerlust estate.
UNESCO World Heritage Site
The "Vechthoeve" is a part of the "Defense Line of Amsterdam" (UNESCO World Heritage Site). Due to its great cultural and historical value, the Dutch Ministry of Public Works decided that the monument would be relocated to a new location and be given a new function.
Consequently, transporting the house over water was the only option, in which two dikes had to be passed. The relatively weak dikes were crossed by two temporary bridges and a set of sheet piles.
In order to adequately support the building during the transportation phase, a completely new foundation was made. Additionally, seventeen steel foundation piles were installed inside the building. The same amount of jacks were used to lift the complete structure 8.86 ft off the ground. Finally, a set of SPMTs (Self-Propelled Modular Transporters) were moved underneath the 11 13⁄16-inch-thick concrete foundation slab.
Concrete Foundation Slab Design
In RFEM 5, a set of three models were made:
- Permanent situation
- Transportation
- Jacking up
The model consists of several concrete surfaces loaded by line loads (the jacks) and dead load. The jacks were modeled as flexible supports with different stiffnesses in each direction. The required reinforcement in the slab was designed with the use of the RF‑CONCRETE Surfaces module.
