Project Highlight: GRM Offshore Bridge Slide Plates

Building an offshore platform is no small feat.  Installing it next to an existing one can be tricky.  Permanently linking the two structures to share power, capacity, and personnel is an engineering achievement worthy of note.  We were called in to collaborate with project managers and engineers on one such project recently.

Bridge framework under construction.

Offshore platforms are designed with safety at the forefront, under any weather or sea conditions.  Worst-case weather simulations for this project yielded possible movement between the two platforms of ±5 feet.  With the location tolerance of ±10 feet for the new platform, we found ourselves needing a 30 foot long slide plate.  This is about ten to twenty times longer the the average slide plate.  Most structural applications requiring our Fluorogold® or GRM Slide Plates are designed with around 2 or 3 foot long slide plates, and need to allow for a few inches of movement.  Because of corrosion concerns, segmenting of the sliding surface or its backer plate was not an option.  Our experienced staff developed a plan of action to make these impossibly large Fluorogold Slide Plates a reality.

The result was a set of Fluorogold Slide Plates that measured 30 feet in length, with no seams or splices in the bearings surface or backer plates.

30-foot long Fluorogold Slide Plates loaded onto flatbed trailer for delivery directly to our customer’s fabrication facility.

30 foot long Upper Fluorogold Slide Plate (with protective cover) attached to the bridges lower bearing plate.

Close-up view of the Fluorogold Slide Plate with the protective blanket pulled away.