Fig.1 - A "New Miracle" situated on the bank of the river Thames will be a new tourist attraction. Mercon Steel Structures, located at Gorinchem in the centre of the Netherlands is one of the leading steel fabricators of bridges, offshore structures, transport equipment, storage tanks and architectural structures. Last year, Hollandia Krimpen B.V. got the order as the main contractor to manufacture the so-called British Airways London Eye. Situated on the bank of the river Thames, this huge structure of more than 1500 tonnes of steel consists of a 135-meter high observation wheel, equipped with 32 cabins for 25 persons each. As a symbol of time, the wheel has been erected to celebrate the new Millennium and will be one of the main tourist attractions for the next decade in London. It allows the visitors to have an excellent view of almost 40 kilometers (25 miles) over London and its surroundings. The total building time was limited to 14 months, including engineering and manufacturing. Big castings for the hub and spindle were made by Skoda in Czech Republic and other parts came from France and Italy. A special heavy lifting mobile crane with a capacity up to 4000 tonnes was constructed at the same time to allow the mounting of the wheel.
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Mercon Steel was contracted to manufacture the rim
sections of the wheel with a total weight of around 576
tonnes of steel (Type S355J2G3 and S355J2H). Mercon
has been using Elgacore DWA-55L since the early
1990s to a large extend for improved productivity in all
positional welding of complicated steel structures. The
stable mechanical properties and excellent weldability
of the wire allows problem-free construction of a diverse
range of welding structures.
The construction of the rim sections took place in 16 parts from 8.5-meter length and 6-meter width. These sections were later jointed to four individual sections of 144 tonnes each before transport oversea. Each rim section contains more than 450 welds with stringent impact requirements. The repair rate was far below 1%. Elgacore MXA-55T was also used successfully to make root passes before filling with the submerged arc welding process.
Fig. 2 - High integrity rim sections were welded with Elgacore DWA-55L & Elgacore MXA-55T
With the motto "QUALITY AND KNOW-HOW IN
WELDING" the ELGA Group, with sales outlets in
many European countries, has more than 13 years
experience with KOBELCO welding consumables,
especially flux cored wires. Thanks to Mercon Steel,
ELGA and KOBELCO are really proud of being
involved in this memorial project in Europe.
Managing Director, Elga Benelux)
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