GCC’s Irondale and Brooking – Rail to Truck Cement Storage Expansion Engineering

Matrix PDM Engineering engineered rail to truck cement storage expansions at GCC’s Irondale and Brookings cement distribution terminals. Matrix PDM increased the storage capacity at each facility to 50,000t and 30,000t respectively. Engineering services included electrical, mechanical and structural design.

For the Irondale project, Matrix PDM laid out the incoming truck route and utilities and modified the existing rail unloading system to discharge cement with an air gravity conveyor. The project included deep foundations under the reclaim tunnel and along the outside of the dome, with caissons approximately every 16 feet. To comply with Irondale’s building permit, forcing the facility not to block the view of the scenic Rocky Mountains, the team designed a solution to lower the dome into the ground 10 feet and lowered the reclaim tower to 25 feet. To control settlement, Matrix PDM designed 40 4-foot diameter caissons to support the storage dome.

At the Brookings terminal, Matrix PDM designed components to raise the dome floor approximately
10 feet, to keep the major equipment above the 100-year flood elevation. The team replaced the existing receiving bucket elevator and screw conveyors with 400 tph air gravity conveyors and extended the pit to allow the conveyors to feed the new bucket elevator. Site construction observation services were also provided for the expansion.