I&M of bridge footings and buildings – Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

The development of a new transportation axis

In order to reduce the severe traffic congestion, Jeddah Municipality is undertaking an important road underpass project at the intersection of Prince Mohammed Bin Abdel Aziz Street (Tahlia) with Madina Road.

The issues at stake and the Sixense solutions

The main technical concern of the project is the stability of the Madina road bridge adjacent to the tunneling works as the excavaton is carried out in the vicinity of some of the fly-overs supporting pillars. An assessment of the settlements caused by the dewatering works was also deemed necessary.

Sixense was contracted to install and operate a real-time automated monitoring system dedicated to providing continuous measurement of pillar deformation and settlement during the works.

Sixense proposed to the project stakeholders to use the CYCLOPS technology, proven worldwide as the most effective solution for surface real-time monitoring.
The system consists of 1 Automated Total Station measuring ~ 80 Prisms installed on the bridge pillars and on surrounding buildings in the dewatering works zone of influence, whilst 4 Datalogged Borehole Piezometer Sensors recorded the ground water level, to allow for further movement correlation and analysis.

Vibration Monitoring was also carried out on the project, where the excavation works are directly adjacent to residential buildings.