FCC Construcción

Innovation and Technology Management

Innovation and Technology Management encompasses the following organisations:

The R&D&i Service, whose function is to coordinate, strengthen and steer research, development and technological innovation activities.

The Video and Technical Reports Department, for distributing information inside and outside the company, about what FCC is doing in important projects.

The Material Technology Department and the Central Laboratory Department, for research and testing of conventional materials and new materials.

The Hydraulic Work and Marine Construction Departments, which have teams specialising in design and construction processes for these kinds of projects.

Most Significant Work by the Hydraulic Work and Marine Construction Departments

The Hydraulic Work and Marine Construction Departments had a hand in a number of ways in special projects in their areas of expertise, including:

In the 2000-2010 period, La Loteta Dam (Zaragoza), Casasola Dam (Málaga), Ibiur Dam (Guipúzcoa), Mora de Rubielos Dam (Teruel) and Tsankov-Kamak Dam (Bulgaria).

Dams

Enciso Dam. A straight gravity dam made of compacted concrete, it has a crown length of 255 metres and a height of 105 metres. The fixed-lip spillway releases water onto a stepped structure on the slope. The approximate volume of concrete is 800,000 m3.

Castrovido Dam. A straight gravity dam made of vibrated concrete, it has a crown length of 532 metres and a height of 99 metres. The main spillway has a fixed lip opening. The approximate volume of concrete is 850,000 m3. The tailings dam is made up of a circular vault elastically supported by the foundations.

Alcollarín Dam. A straight gravity dam made of vibrated concrete, it has a crown length of 626 metres and a height of 32 metres. The spillway has a fixed lip projecting from the dam's face. The approximate volume of concrete is 165,000 m3. Testing with a small model

Heightening of Yesa Dam. Yesa Dam was made taller by building a concrete-faced embankment dam on top of the existing concrete dam, to achieve 1,525 hm3 and a height of 117 metres. The total volume of gravel is more than four million m3. The spillways are designed to spill into shafts with hydraulically regulated gates.

El Zapotillo Dam, Mexico. A curved gravity dam made of compacted concrete, it has a crown length of 320 metres and a height of 132 metres, measured from its foundations. The spillway has a fixed lip and no gates, on a smooth slope. The approximate volume of compacted concrete is 1,100,000 m3.

Ribeiradio Dam, Portugal. A curved gravity dam made of vibrated concrete, it has a crown length of 262 metres and a height of 74 metres, measured from its foundations. The spillway is centrally located, with segmented gates. The approximate volume of concrete is 260,000 m3.

Ermida Dam, Portugal. A straight gravity dam made of vibrated concrete, it has a crown length of 175 metres and a height of 35 metres, measured from its foundations. The spillway is centrally located and has a fixed lip. The volume of concrete is approximately 75,000 m3.

Other Hydraulic Works

Los Payuelos Lower Canal, Phase I. A 100-metre-long diversion dam was built with five-metre-tall Tainter gates. The canal section is a total of 23 kilometres long for a flow of 36 m3/second. It has a lined, trapezoidal cross-section that is 3.80 metres wide on its base, 3.70 metres tall, with 3H:2V side slopes. It has sections whose structural cross-section is 8.20 metres wide with 3.70-metre-tall side walls. FCC Construcción was recently picked to perform Phase II.

Theoretical and experimental hydraulic studies on undermining and erosion control for the Vidin-Calafat Bridge over the Danube, with a small-scale model study of the special foundations, through a cooperation agreement with CEDEX and UPCM.

Xagó underwater outfall, with a diversion construction that functions as a surge chamber and storm water catch basin, an overland ditch section for reinforced-concrete pipe 1,800 mm in diameter, a 1,350-metre jacked section using a closed shield for reinforced-concrete pipe 1,800 mm in diameter (2,400 mm in outer diameter), a 1,400-metre underwater section using HDPE pipe 1,600 mm in diameter protected by rock-fill, and a 250-metre section of varying diameters with 23 diffusers.

Marine Construction

New lock at the port of Seville. This is the new navigable approach to the port from the Guadalquivir River. It is 434 metres long and has a navigable width of 40 metres. The structure is made of reinforced-concrete gravity-type side walls between 17 and 20 metres tall, and it has four metal rolling gates and three bascule bridges.

El Arenal Wharf in Vigo Harbour. Wharf on piles driven to -15.50 metres crowned with reinforced-concrete deck at +6.00 metres, with four lines measuring 290, 225, 170 and 68 metres long, respectively. The job included soil consolidation using gravel columns.

Extension of the East Dock in Castellón. The extension is 448.40 metres long, made of 11 low-reflection, reinforced-concrete floating caissons of a type patented by FCC Construcción.

Wharf No. 4 at Rota Naval Base. Made up of three lines of reinforced-concrete floating caissons founded at a depth of 11 metres below the low-water mark. They enclose an area of 398 x 50.50 metres where ships of the Spanish Navy can be tied up.
Dock attached to the seawall for the pipe rack and new berthing line for bulk liquids at the port of Algeciras. The dock is 530 metres long, founded at a level of -15.50, and made of low-reflection caissons patented by FCC Construcción. The project included soil consolidation by means of gravel columns, constructed using floating equipment.

Depth increase at the Aragón and Rioja quays at Tarragona Harbour. The depth was increased by 2.0 and 1.0 metres, respectively, to ready the quays for new types of traffic (vessels of greater depth and vessels carrying heavier loads). The depth was increased by constructing jet-grout walls beneath the existing gravity-type structures.

Material Technology and Central Laboratory Activitie

Cooperation with the R&D&i Service in projects studying new materials, conducting tests, etc. These include the "UTE Vic-Ripoll" projects on concrete road surface design and control, the "Filler Project" projects on asphaltic agglomerates, "Project LOPCAR" and the "HATCONS" concrete projects.

Road surface design and calculation. Consultancy in the design and construction of main roads, dual carriageways, harbour roads and airports, which involve the dimensioning of alternative road surfaces to suit the available materials and technologies, description of building processes, adaptation of paving surfaces to different stress periods and types, etc. Some of the foremost projects are: Drydock at Barbate Harbour, enlargement of port facilities in Málaga, Transmontana Motorway, N6 Galway road, the approach to Enciso Dam and Campo de la Salud Hospital in Málaga.

Study of pathologies and durability in road surfaces and concretes. Finding of the causes of deterioration and submission of repair proposals.

Study of the applications of new cements. Cements designed by Portland Valderrivas (ULTRAVAL, MICROVAL, special cements for making concrete in hot weather, etc.), conducting segment-casting tests at Prefabricados Delta's factory in Humanes, tests manufacturing reinforced shotcrete in Vaqueriza-Rialiño Tunnel and Ordizia Tunnel, microcement testing in Pajares Tunnel, cold-weather concrete procedure tests at the North II Penitentiary in Nanclares de Oca.

Metrology and calibration of laboratory equipment, calibration of instruments for measuring mass, longitude, temperature and volume, and issuance of certificates.

Design and roll-out of agglomerates and concretes, sundry asphalt road surfaces, concretes for dams and for road surfaces and high-strength concretes.

Cooperation with AENOR, the Spanish standardisation and certification authority, and membership in decision-making bodies such as AENOR's Concrete and Cement Certification Committees and Concrete Standardisation Committees and Subcommittees and the Road Geotechnical Committee of the Spanish Technical Road Association.

Testing of several materials: Bricks, aggregates, asphalts, steels, water, etc.