EBOMAF-BTP: A long lead in the preparation of cement floor

Improving working conditions is an ongoing concern on the site. EBOMAS now breaks with archaism in the preparation of cement floor. New equipment, of the latest generation, has facilitated this task and strengthened the quality of this crucial activity in road construction.

EBOMAF appears to be one of the first companies to introduce cement tanks called "Bananas" and spreaders in the execution of road projects in West Africa. The acquisition of this material sounds like a revolution in the treatment of cement soil, a decisive step before the application of bitumen. Manual character is almost replaced by automatism.

At present, Mahamadou Bonkoungou, the company of the President-General (PDG), has sixteen (16) bananas or cement tanks and two (2) spreaders. These complementary equipment, acquired at the cost of several hundred million CFA francs, is part of a desire for innovation.

For example, on the Kanté-Tandjouare section where the spreader is active, 16.4 kg/m2 is applied as recommended by the laboratory and the monitoring mission. Once the content of the spreader is spread, the other machines involved in the treatment of cement soil such as the recycler, grader, cal-baret and compactor take over successively the portion of the two hundred (200) metres concerned by the cement floor. In less than three (3) hours, the preparation phase is completed.

Bananas or cement tanks are used to transport cement powder from cement plant to construction site. It is capable of taking a load from forty (40) to forty-five (45) tonnes. A real jewel, the spreader is equipped with an electronic system that allows it to load optimally and to manage the laying of cement on the ground. It has a capacity of more than nineteen (19) tons.

The transfer of the cement from banana to spreader takes place automatically according to the parameters. "Since the arrival of bananas and spreaders, our task is done very easily and very quickly. The soil-cement team is moving forward at a satisfactory pace and the team is following us very quickly," says Ismaël Coulibaly, the spreader operator.

Before the spreader comes into action, the soil-cement team agrees with the laboratory and the monitoring mission on the different characteristics of the quantity and thickness of cement to be poured on the ground. With the nineteen (19) tons is proportionally applicable two hundred (200) meters of carriageway and half floor for only twenty (20) minutes, at the maximum. With the spreader, sharpness and accuracy are required in the treatment of cement soil. These depend on the type of road to be built. A mini computer forming the dashboard records the data from the start.

IE