SIMONA^® Twin-Wall Sheets - high strength, light weight

Initial situation

The locomotive shed in Göttingen is over 100 years old and it has been used by GWG Gesellschaft für Wirtschaftsförderung und Stadtentwicklung Göttingen mbH as a multi-purpose event location since 1998. To ensure that this historic industrial monument will be geared to future requirements, a comprehensive refurbishment is to make the popular, award-winning event location more sustainable, more customer-friendly and even more attractive. In the course of this conversion work the existing rainwater utilisation system had to be renovated and enlarged. As large quantities of drinking water were still required for the toilet flushing systems at large-scale events, it was important to install a maximum-capacity rainwater storage facility in the available frost-protected basement room.

 
Task

The planning consultancy for building services that was commissioned to refurbish the locomotive shed, Krausse Ingenieure from Göttingen, drew up a public tender for the development and construction of two rainwater storage tanks made of PE-HD plastic with a storage capacity of 35 m³ and 25 m³, respectively. It was not quite clear whether they could be delivered before or after completion of the concrete slab of the exposed basement room. As a result, the bid submitted by the potential service provider had to make provisions for crane-assisted installation of the fully assembled plastic tanks, Free Construction Site, as well as on-site assembly by welding. Hopfgartner Kunststoff- und Umwelttechnik GmbH was able to offer both methods and consequently won the contract. When it came to executing this challenging project, Hopfgartner was looking for a high-quality plastic product that would be able to satisfy the demanding material requirements.

 
Solution

To ensure that the two rectangular rainwater storage tanks would have a high level of tank strength and deformation resistance, Hopfgartner decided in favour of using lengthways-ribbed SIMONA^® PE 100 black Twin-Wall Sheets. The high rigidity of the tried-and-tested Twin-Wall Sheets with a total thickness of 54 mm was further enhanced by internal steel sections. SIMONA® PE 100 black meets all the essential requirements with regard to media resistance, pressure resistance and temperature resistance, and especially weld seam strength and tightness in compliance with DVS. In addition, the material is easy to clean, corrosion-free, durable and 100% recyclable.
The two tanks were expertly fabricated by Hopfgartner in the workshop and checked for leak tightness in a 24-hour test before being delivered to the site as part of a special transport operation. On site, the rainwater storage tanks were hoisted into the basement room of the locomotive shed by a crane and all the necessary joints and connections were made to the overall rainwater utilisation system.