China Railway Construction Engineering Suzhou North Railway Station Building Expansion and Renovation Project

Background

The expansion and renovation of the Suzhou North Railway Station building is a key component of the broader Suzhou North High-Speed Railway Station expansion project. Approved by the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Natural Resources in December 2024, the scheme involves the conversion and expropriation of approximately 10.48 hectares of agricultural land for ancillary works tied to the station’s upgrade.

Overall, the programme covers 55.1 hectares of land and comprises three main elements: a rapid-access ramp for passenger drop-off at Suzhou North High-Speed Railway Station, supporting facilities for the station-building expansion, and the eastern ramp connector to G524. Within this footprint, the station-building portion will reconfigure the concourse, ticket hall and other functional areas, raising the number of waiting seats to 1,200 and markedly improving the passenger experience.

Figure 1 Appearance of steel mold in field test

Project challenge

The C50 test steel formwork for the Suzhou North Railway Station Building Expansion Project by China Railway Construction Engineering Group (CRCEG) exhibited dense surface bubbles, with larger bubbles concentrated in the upper layers. After vibration treatment, a thick floating slurry layer formed. The project required achieving a fair-faced concrete finish with a smooth surface free of large-area bubbles. Additionally, the concrete surface must not develop excessive floating slurry layers after vibration, and the pier body surface must remain free of visible water ripples after final shaping.

Solution from ARIT

1. Concrete material adhesion requires the use of viscosity-reducing origin liquor to reduce concrete viscosity.

2. The air entrainer and defoamer were improperly matched; different combinations of defoamers and air entrainer are being tried.

Figure 2 Pouring effect of field test pier

Product from ARIT

ART-M13、ART-M15

For detailed remixing formula, feel free to contact technicians of ARIT.