First, our team of concrete paving specialists will study the submitted plans for your waterway project and analyze your equipment needs. This involves top widths, bottom widths, percentage of slope on the walls, is the slope constant throughout the project, top to bottom length of the canal walls, distance of the canals, the number of variations in the profiles, the presence of a haul road and berm, and anticipated concrete supply to the paver. The team will break down the concepts and provide practical recommendations on the choice of slipform concrete paver and mold considerations or paving with a cylinder finisher machine. The project analysis will include the capability to build in versatility to the equipment to accommodate more than one profile. The biggest advantage you have with your GOMACO team is their extensive global experience in canals and waterways.
The GOMACO engineering team is made up of concrete paving professionals with experience in equipment design for almost any waterway imaginable. Their primary design tool is state-of-the-art Pro-Engineer CREO software that provides 3D solid modeling. Your machine and paving mold will be built on screen to your specifications for the manufacturing process. Our investment in engineering is the people who will provide you with a solution through the power of the latest design software available today. This team enjoys the process of taking unique job-site logistics and creating a machine specifically for you that will accomplish the demands of your paving tasks.
GOMACO’s quality management system is ISO 9001 and our products can be CE certified. Our manufacturing facility leads the concrete paving industry in computerization, robotics, and mechanization to provide precision from concept to finished product. The GOMACO manufacturing team is made up of three generations of personnel who build a product that has a worldwide reputation for quality, versatility, and dependability. Safety is the first consideration in the design process and we go beyond regulations and requirements with your team’s well-being in mind.
Product support is as important to us as a superior product. GOMACO has a team of service representatives who are the undisputed leaders in the world for their experience in the field and concrete paving knowledge. No other company can come close to the total number of days these representatives have logged on concrete paving projects in their careers. GOMACO has a 3D team that is dedicated to the research and development of stringless paving, sales and service of 3D products, and also the setup and training of new 3D startup operations. GOMACO has a controls team that has been responsible for the G+® control system. This team is dedicated to programming the industry’s premier control system for concrete paving applications and is responsible for designing unique control applications on our product innovations. Our global distributor network provides GOMACO-trained concrete paving professionals close to most locations around the world.
Finite Element Analysis (FEA) consists of a computer model of the design and materials used which is dynamically loaded and then analyzed for maximum stress to achieve specific results. It is used in new product design and gives us the ability to verify that a proposed structure will be able to perform to your specifications prior to manufacturing.
There is no question about our dedication to equipment needs for the waterways of the world. We have been involved with the largest projects and the most unique projects in the world. We are also proud of our partnership with those involved on smaller projects and providing efforts to make their accomplishments profitable. A testimony to our commitment is the building of a concrete testing pier on our proving grounds to provide the ability to assemble large slope machines for testing.
More than 22,000 students from around the world have received graduation diplomas from GOMACO University in Ida Grove, Iowa, U.S.A. Special classes have also been held in several countries throughout the world.
GOMACO has designed and conducted courses to better educate and aid equipment owners, operators, mechanics, and distributor service personnel in acquiring the knowledge and skills necessary to successfully operate GOMACO equipment. Classes are composed of informative lectures in the classroom and challenging “hands-on” preventive maintenance training. Study aids, including training and safety manuals and the latest information on product technology, are provided to the students for use in the classroom and on the job.
The All-American Canal (located in Southern California, U.S.A.) was a concrete lining project which called for a new 37 kilometer (23 mi) long concrete lined canal to be built parallel to the existing unlined canal. Coffman Specialties paved the 9.7 kilometer (6 mi) long Reach Two and 6.4 kilometer (4 mi) long Reach Three of the project. The proposed lined sections would have slopes of 1.75:1 and 2:1, a bottom width of 15.2 meters (50 ft) and a top width spanning 45.7 meters (150 ft). Slope widths would be variable, between 11.4 meters (37.3 ft) and 14 meters (45.7 ft). The concrete lining itself would be 102 millimeters (4 in) thick.
GOMACO created a custom paver, water stop insertion machine, and a work bridge/cure machine. The equipment would have the ability to change its slope as the canal’s slope changed. Meetings between Coffman Specialties and GOMACO’s sales and engineering staff started even before the bid was submitted for the project. They exchanged ideas, proposed theories, and through it all there was a partnership between the two companies to develop the most versatile equipment possible. The biggest challenge was to create these machines in order to slipform the All-American Canal project and be able to slipform future projects that have different slope angles and widths. The solution was to equip each machine with the exclusive GOMACO Powered Wedge, thus allowing the machines to adjust to the canal’s different slope angles and help the paver match the grade the trimmer had prepared.
The goal was to create each piece of equipment with the latest technology and engineering to accommodate the requests. The All-American Canal paver uses a paddle system with baffles. The paddle system distributes the concrete down the slope of the canal, and the baffles collect the concrete and keep it all from sliding down to the canal floor. If too much concrete does slide to the bottom, the paddles can be reversed to carry it back up the slope. The paver is equipped with four massive spools of blue cross-shaped, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) rubber strips. The water stop material (blue crossshaped PVC strip) was placed into the concrete by a specially designed inserting mechanism 102 millimeters (4 in) deep, thus creating the longitudinal fracture joints.
The Water Stop Insertion Machine followed directly behind the paver inserting the transverse water stop material every 4.6 meters (15 ft). The rubber water stop material was inserted into the wet concrete by a specially-designed inserter mechanism that rides on a rail-mounted carriage. The material was attached to the carriage, and as it moved down the canal wall, it pulled the water stop material off the spool and down the slope. At the bottom of the canal, a worker anchored the material to the canal floor. The carriage, with the inserter mechanism, then moved up the canal wall while vibrating and inserting the water stop material to a job-specific depth and orientation.
The Work Bridge/Cure Machine was the third machine in the paving train, and it mirrors the paver and water stop insertion machine in several features in order to match the changing dimensions of the canal. The work bridge gave finishers a platform to work from and was used to cure the finished canal. A curing mechanism was mounted to the back of the work bridge to apply the white curing compound.
Read more on the All-American Canal equipment.
Click here to read an entire GOMACO World magazine on the All-American Canal project.
The water stop insertion machine follows the canal paver. The holes in the concrete are pockets created by workers on the paver notching out pieces of the water stop material, so the transverse water stop material will fit on top of the longitudinal water stop material properly.
The specially-designed inserter mechanism rides on a rail-mounted carriage. As the mechanism moves down the canal wall it pulls the water stop material off the spool and down the slope. At the bottom of the canal, a worker anchors the water stop material to the canal floor. The carriage then moves up the canal wall while vibrating and inserting the water stop material to a job-specific depth and orientation.
The sectional mold and front hopper feature different inserts to change the slope length and the depth. A sliding berm cap allows an extra 300 millimeters (11.8 in) of slope length adjustment on this canal in Turkey.
A work bridge has been attached to the back of the paver allowing the crew to finish the concrete around the joints being scored into the side of the slope.
A chain trimmer on the front of the paver fine trims the grade as the canal is simultaneously poured allowing canal paving efficiency.
Commander III, Canal Paving In Portugal
Project Report In Portuguese
3 minutes 8 seconds
Commander III, Canal Paving In Portugal
39 seconds
The trapezoidal canal mold has the ability to pave a deeper and wider canal by adjusting the berm caps.
This four meter (13 ft) wide, 200 millimeter (8 in) thick canal in Japan was slipformed in two paving passes.
GOMACO engineers use 3D drawings to precisely show how the final product will be assembled during production. This also gives the customer an idea of what their mold or machine will look like before it is finished.
The GOMACO finisher is followed by a double work bridge and the center joint is cut on-the-go on this canal in Peru.
Click here to learn more about the SL-450
Two GOMACO CP-650s pave the slopes of a large canal in Chile. One CP-650 is being used for concrete finishing and the other is equipped with a compaction roller for the grade. The RC Conveyor on the project is being used for placing both the rock for the grade and the concrete for the canal.
Click here to learn more on the CP-650 & SL-650
This GOMACO CF-790 paves a canal in Portugal with in a single pass. The CF-790 canal finisher is specifically designed for finishing wider width canals. Because no two canals are alike, the CF-790 can be custom ordered to fit your exact job specifications. The CF-790 will accommodate slopes from 4:1 to 1:1.
• Variable operating speed up to six meters per minute (19.7 fpm) during paving and a travel speed up to 18.1 meters per minute (59.5 fpm).
• Full walkway system to access the machine from either side and along the main frame.
• Features two, three-point finishing systems, one for each side of the canal.
— Auger
— Finishing cylinder
— Trailing float pan
• Features a welded steel tubular lattice-type upper structure with end car mounted crawler tracks.
• The finishers sub-frame is made up of welded high strength steel lattice panels, with pin-connected sections providing fast setup time.
The finisher’s bottom frame can be partially disassembled and the remaining slope frames along with the finishing carriages can be winched up under the upper structure for ease in moving in and out of canals and for transporting from one project to another. This unique design provides a tremendous savings in time and labor costs.
Click here to learn more about the CF-790
The SL-750 uses automatic advance which allows the machine to automatically move forward to any pre-set distance at the end of each carriage pass, as it moves along the rails to pave the new canal.
Click here to learn more about the SL-750
The world’s largest canal, the Narmada Canal, and 31 branch canals in western India was lined with concrete by numerous contractors using the GOMACO 700 series slope trimmers and finishers, SL-450 slope trimmers and finishers, RC Conveyors, 6000 walkway Spanit® work bridges, and a CP-650 canal paver. This massive canal project involved a 444 kilometer (276 mi) long main canal, and a network of 31 branch canals which totaled 3000 kilometers (1864 mi) of concrete lining. The 700 series machines were used to finish the greater width bottom sections in multiple passes. RC Conveyors placed the concrete in front of the machines. Deeper boomed conveyors and the larger 6000 walkway Spanit work bridges were incorporated to accommodate the greater slope lengths and match the ability of the 700 series machines.
Click here to learn more about the Narmada Canal project
GOMACO’s commitment to concrete canal lining involves participation in projects such as this underwater paving concept on the Coachella Canal in southwest California, U.S.A. In 1988, GOMACO Corporation built very specialized equipment for underwater concrete paving of the Coachella Canal. The world’s largest paver and trimmer was designed to span the canal’s top width of 31.39 meters (103 ft) with a bottom width of 14.63 meters (48 ft) and slopes of 2.5 to 1. The GOMACO trimmer was used to trim the canal to a specific profile while directing water flow away from the trimming operation. The specialized GOMACO paving machine was used to place a geotextile material along with PVC (polyvinyl chloride) and slipform a concrete lining on the bottom and slopes of the canal.
Technology from GOMACO provided the introduction of narrow ledges that are slipformed into the walls of the Coachella Canal. These footings help to prevent the drowning of wildlife that drink from the canal.
The trimming of the slopes and bottom of the Coachella Canal was required to be done underwater, while doing one slope and half of the bottom with each pass. The trimming and slipforming of the canal were done in two passes to avoid the interruption of the water flow. GOMACO equipment could have slipformed this project in a single pass if the water was not in the canal.
Click here to learn more about the Coachella Canal project
The stringline holders have been mounted to the wall on this channel project, so the GT-3600 will follow the wall profile.
The reconfigured All-American Canal work bridge doubles as a paver on a canal in the southwestern parts of the United States. The paving train consists of the canal work bridge (as a paver), water stop insertion machine, and a T/C-600 texture/cure machine.
An SL-450 in Japan tests a patented concrete mix, called Permearcon, for ecologically friendly flood control slopes.
Download The Canals Brochure (PDF)
GOMACO World All-American Canal edition
Download The GOMACO Full Line Brochure (PDF)
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