Thursday, March 7, 2013

News: Atkins' design put on ice

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Rotherham design engineers have played a major part in Britain's latest Antarctic Research Station becoming fully operational.

And the design is truly groundbreaking, although groundbreaking is not a phrase you want to hear too often if you are a scientist working in an area where land is calved off into the sea as a vast icebergs at irregular intervals.

Halley VI is a series of modules built on the floating Brunt Ice Shelf, 10,000 miles from the UK, which is set to become an icon for British science, architecture and engineering.

In 2007, Whiston-based M G Bennett and Associates (since acquired by Atkins, Europe's largest design and engineering consultancy) were responsible for designing the hydraulic leg jacking system for each module and producing detailed designs for the structure.

The legs were designed to resist the harsh Antarctic environment including temperatures as low as –50°C, as well as the high structural and wind loads that they will experience.

Added to that, the main problems of constructing a research station in the region are the build up of wind blown snow over time, as well as the gradual flow of the ice out to sea. The design means that Halley VI can be moved vertically and even relocated – a world first.

Once a year, the legs can be lifted up and snow piled underneath the feet to enable the level of the entire station to be raised. Previous stations became buried by snow and ice over time and were crushed by the weight and had to be abandoned.

The legs are also mounted on skis so that in the future it will be possible to pull individual modules to a new location on the ice shelf and re-assemble them into a station, avoiding the possibility that it could float out to sea on an iceberg.

The legs were designed in a modular form to make their fitting on site as easy and simple as possible. This was necessary as the legs were one of the first parts of the modules to be assembled and were carried out in Antarctic conditions.

The modules are permanently sitting on hydraulic cylinders which meant that specialist hydraulic valves, as well as a continuous monitoring system, were also developed by Atkins.

No building like this has ever been attempted before so Atkins engineers worked with the British Antarctic Survey during the onsite commissioning to tailor the system to their exact requirements.

Speaking at an event in London to celebrate the opening of the new station, David Willetts, Minister for Universities and Science, said: "The new Halley Research Station is a triumph of British design, innovation and engineering.

"The UK's world-class polar science community now has a unique, cutting edge suite of laboratories on the ice. The legacy of Captain Scott, together with our strong track record of scientific discovery in Antarctica, is set to continue in this excellent new facility."

The research station was designed by Hugh Broughton Architects and AECOM. It was constructed by Galliford Try.

Atkins website

Images: Hugh Broughton Architects / AECOM

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