In March 2024, two huge 6m tall ventilation columns were installed at the Chelsea embankment, along side the river Thames in London.
These bespoke, engineered architecture items serve more than just creating an interesting architecture statement. They provide a very important technical function as they ventilate the new Thames Tideway £multi-billion sewage upgrade project to prevent the build up of gases in the system.
The 6 tonne ventilation columns are manufactured from ductile cast iron material and cast in a foundry using a traditional sand moulding process.
Creating the innovative spiral shape was by no means an easy engineering operation.
Steel Dynamics created the column design using 3D CAD (Computer Aided Design) which was subsequently checked using FEA (Finite Element Analysis) so that the columns could withstand wind, vehicle collision and corrosion attack and still function over the intended 120 year life of the sewage project upgrade.
Each column had a 5-axis CNC machined poem up the twisting spiral of the column. The intent is that visitors can walk around the columns, read the poems and take a minute to reflect on the history of the local area.
