For the third time, the extremely popular IUT (Innovation Underground) Live fair will be held in the underground facilities of the Hagerbach Test Gallery in Flums, near Sargans, in the east of Switzerland. Following the first two trade fairs, which were held in 1995 and 1999, a very strong response on the part of both exhibitors and visitors prompted the organisers to stage the event at regular intervals.
VSH (Hagerbach Test Gallery) is a privately owned facility, established in 1970 by Dr Rudlof Amberg. Today the Gallery employs 28 full time staff and its inventory of equipment, includes a concrete batching plant, materials testing laboratory, various items of track-mounted and wheel-mounted rolling stock including drilling jumbos, locos and muck hauling dump trucks. The 4.5km underground network of tunnels, caverns, test sites, laboratories and conference rooms includes a climate-controlled gallery, set up to study the application and behaviour of shotcrete under extreme conditions of heat and humidity and a blasting chamber for explosion tests.
This month the underground complex will be completely taken over by the 116 companies that will be exhibiting at IUT ’02 Live. In addition, a large number of demonstrations with drilling equipment and concrete spraying machines, facilitated by this unique venue, provides the illusion of being involved in construction right at the face.
Live fire tests
The newly completed Hagerbach fire gallery is a 200m long, 90m² two-lane motorway tunnel. This year it will be used at IUT for intensive fire tests and public demonstrations. Visitors and exhibitors will be offered the unique opportunity to present their fire tests and products live on the spot and observe them under real conditions. However, the popularilty of these tests may limit the event “With over 12,000 IUT ’02 invitations posted, we expect a huge turnout. The fire gallery is expected to be at least three-quarters full, this will obviously limit the number and size of tests,” explains Felix Amberg, one of the event’s organisers.
Dril and blast excavation of the fire fighting facility, which is largely unlined and has various types of natural and forced ventilation options available, started in August 2000 and is still underway. When finished, it will also include two inclined tunnels of about 50m² (one at 5% and the other on a 10% gradient); a 40m² single track railway tunnel – the confined space that presents the worst case situation for a tunnel fire; and finally, there will be a 9m² passenger walkway/access tunnel. The facilty is being constructed to provide fire fighters and emergency crews a venue to practice and train for real life fire situations.
Volker Wetzig, head of research and development at Hagerbach says, “We have had fire brigades use our facility to acclimatise the fire fighters to the underground environment and to simulate emergency situations in our existing galleries. But the new facilities will simulate real size motorway and railway tunnels for the enactment of real fires.”
IUT ’02 provides an interesting lecture and excursion programme. The tried and tested team of organisers – Bertelsmann Fachzeitschriften, Deltacom and VersuchsStollen Hagerbach, have additionally been able to acquire the services of the STUVAtec for the event. Eight specialised lectures will be presented in the blasting cavern over the two days of the fair.
Two informative site visits are also planned to the nearby NEAT construction sites. The first (on 20 September) will invlove the Gotthard Base Tunnel, delegates will be able to visit both Faido/Bodio and the Sedrun imtermediate point of attack. The second excursion is to the Mitholz construction site at the Lötschberg Base Tunnel (also on 20 September).
The IUT organisers will be exploiting new means of attracting visitors, by offering offering attractive packages, particularly for delegates from Eastern European countries. However, with the current protracted upswing in sophisticated tunnelling projects throughout Europe, a high number of international industry professionals are also expected to attend.
