Mega project: Eastern North-South Expressway in Vietnam

• Name

  MC's tunnelling expertise at Eastern North-South Expressway Vietnam

• Country

  Vietnam, 2024

• Fields of Expertise

  Tunnelling

• Categories

  Admixtures & Additives
  Grouts

• Products

  MC-PowerFlow 2237-3
  MC-PowerFlow 2250
  MC-PowerFlow 2237
  MC-PowerFlow 2240

The second construction phase of the Eastern North-South Expressway comprises twelve sub-projects. The largest of these has an investment volume totalling the equivalent of 750 million euros and stretches over 88 km through the coastal provinces of Quang Ngai and Binh Đinh in central Vietnam. This section is considered particularly challenging. Along the route, 45 bridges have to be built, as well as two shorter tunnels with a length of 610 and 698 m respectively and a third tunnel, which at 3.2 km is the longest tunnel on the entire North-South Expressway.

Major tunnel construction challenges

The Vietnamese Ministry of Transport and the private investor Phuoc Viet Development Investment Company Limited commissioned the Deo Ca Group, based in Hồ Chí Minh City, which had already worked successfully with MC-BIFI Bauchemie JSC on previous projects, as the general contractor. After thorough initial tests, the Vietnamese MC subsidiary was officially selected as a supplier of concrete admixtures and other construction chemical products.

 

The region is characterised by harsh weather conditions. Natural disasters such as storms, floods, landslides, heat waves, droughts, etc. occur particularly frequently throughout the year. In addition, contrary to the original forecasts, the workers encountered unstable geological formations in the longest of the three tunnels, which made the construction phases considerably more difficult and threatened to jeopardise adherence to the schedule.

MC solutions ensure construction progress

The tunnelling experts at MC recommended MC-PowerFlow 2257R for shotcrete as a quick and efficient solution for stabilising the rock layers inside the tunnel. The concrete admixture is characterised by its high early strength and workability of up to three hours, even at high temperatures. In order to increase the adhesion of the shotcrete to the surfaces of the tunnel walls, MC-Shortcrete SH100 was used as a strength-enhancing, liquid shotcrete additive, which ensured low rebound and high strength of the concrete.

 

The high-performance superplasticiser MC-PowerFlow 2252 was used for the concretes of the bored piles, bridge piers, bridge abutments, wing walls, cross girders and bridge decks, as well as for the anchor concrete, and also ensured long-lasting liquefaction and a good consistency of up to four hours, together with high early strength despite the adverse weather conditions.

 

Good application behaviour despite harsh weather

As construction progressed, the high strength and good flowability of the non-shrink grout – brand name MC-Grout – helped to speed up further work. During the construction of the carriageways, MC-PowerFlow 5285 ensured a flowable and easy-to-work concrete of grade C50/60 N/mm². In the concrete for the tunnel ceiling, the high-performance superplasticiser of the latest PCE generation, MC-PowerFlow 2258, ensured long-lasting liquefaction and stable consistency. The very high water retention capacity improved the surface quality and water impermeability of the concrete, while high early strength values also helped to meet the tight schedule.

 

In addition to good advice, high product quality and the ability to deliver large quantities of material to the construction site quickly, MC-BIFI was able to contribute MC’s tunnelling expertise to this major project. MC products are thus making an important contribution to one of Vietnam’s largest infrastructure projects, which is scheduled for completion in 2025.