Delivery of MBL 1300 for the Sheikh Zayed Bridge in Abu Dhabi
In 2010, MOOG delivered a bucket unit MBL 1300T to Abu Dhabi. The unit was custom ordered and designed for the Sheikh Zayed Bridge. Due to delays while constructing the bridge, the unit was just successfully commissioned to our customer in December 2012. The commissioning of the unit took place during the 6-day training on site at the completed bridge. The bridge is one of three bridges connecting the city Abu Dhabi with the mainland. Due to its impressive architectural design, the bridge is easily recognized by bridge construction engineers the world over. The two four-lane roads are covered by S-shaped arches. The total length of the bridge is 842 m.
The special challenge for MOOG was to design and produce a unit that was able to reach all areas of the bridge, even the tilted street lamps with a height of 15 m as well as the angled areas under the bridge. The MBL 1300 was supplied with all requested technical features and is customized to meet all the unique requirements of this bridge.
The unit has a maximum horizontal range of 13 m under the bridge and a maximum over-bridging of the sidewalk of 3.9 m. With a working height of 20 m and a lowering depth of 16.5 m the unit is designed to reach all areas of the bridge both above and below the road deck.
Due to the small placement requirement of only one road lane on the bridge deck, the traffic will only see a minimal effect during use. To defend the unit from weather conditions and corrosion because of the salty sea air in Abu Dhabi, the unit components were treated to withstand the tropical conditions. In addition to a protective paint film, all screwed connections and threads of the hoses installed were in a high-grade steel design.
The unit was mounted on a Mercedes Actros and has a total weight of 22 tons.
