Boskalis’ soil improvement company Cofra is currently improving sandy soil for the construction of a large-scale solar farm in the United Arab Emirates.
"Whether supporting land reclamation, dike reinforcement or the construction of new infrastructure, our Cofra colleagues are invaluable thanks to their specialist drainage and compaction expertise and capabilities. Their work helps our clients prepare sites for use more quickly," Boskalis said.
Cofra regularly carries out this work in the Netherlands and is equally active abroad.
"Using powerful rigs, our colleagues perform rapid impact compaction using the Cofra Dynamic Compaction method. This technique compacts the soil to a depth of 7 to 9 meters below the surface by repeatedly dropping a hydraulically accelerated weight of up to 20 tons onto a foot that remains in contact with the ground," the company added.
The resulting vibrations cause soil particles, such as sand grains, to settle into a denser arrangement, creating a firm foundation. This technique is currently being used on several projects in Europe and the Middle East region.