Construction of the Underground Parking Garage of the Air Cargo Center at the Airport of Madrid-Barajas

“The greatest concentration of companies in the air cargo industry in Spain”

The Air Cargo Center of the Adolfo Suárez Airport Madrid-Barajas has the greatest concentration of companies in the air cargo industry in Spain as over 200 companies operate there.

It is located so that it is directly connected to the access freeways and beltways that connect the Airport with logistic centers.

Azierta conducted in March 2002 a Geotechnical Survey for this parking garage that included every geotechnical consideration relevant for the works as designed then.

Subsequently, coinciding with the start of the works, a geotechnical recognition was performed in order to determine as accurately as possible the foundation depth for the installation of two gantry cranes, one for each parking garage (A and B). Furthermore, complementary studies were completed. They consisted in conducting 4 Borros-type dynamic penetration tests.

Technical characteristics

Dynamic penetration tests were BORRO type with a square penetration cone of 4 x 4 cm. and a piece of equipment with the following characteristics.

Hammer weight      ->  65 kg

Height of drop     ->  50 cm

Rod diameter  ->   32 mm

Rod weight  ->  6.3 Kg/m.