Protection of shaft sinking

Description

Falling object protection in a vertical shaft. Problem: Installed at the Gotthard base tunnel in Sedrun, Switzerland, was an 800 m vertical shaft for transporting material, machines and personnel. The cavern below had to be safeguarded from falling objects. Special requirements: The problem was to catch and stop larger objects, also the retention of smaller items up to 15 mm. At the same time the protection net had to be permeable to air (pressure head for the lift installation). Geobrugg’s answer: A lightweight, wind permeable protective structure with ROMBO nets and special fixing elements. Multilayer net construction guaranteed adequate protection, also against small falling objects. Installation took just one day and without interrupting traffic.