
14
APPENDIX C. ATTACHING THE PRESSURE CELL TO THE REBAR
CAGE
The eyebolts are threaded into the three lugs welded to the top plate. The three hooks and chains
supplied with the cell are then hooked to the eyebolts and used to lift the cell and position it close
to the bottom of the rebar cage, (within two meters). The cables and hydraulic lines are then
routed along the rebars leaving an extra two meters of slack between the cell and the bottom of
the cage. A steel rope of approximately one-meter length is tied to one of the eyebolts and to the
bottom of the cage. The purpose of the steel rope is to make sure that the cables and hydraulic
lines cannot be ripped off when the rebar cage is lifted from the horizontal to the vertical.
The bottom of the rebar cage should have some standard form of support for the pressure cell.
These standard designs include a steel cross at the bottom and a steel belt around the periphery,
adjacent to the bottom. These features require that tapped lugs be welded on the upper plate of
the cell at specific locations to match corresponding holes drilled in the cross-piece.
When the cage has been lifted to a vertical position it is lowered onto the cell. The bottom of the
cage should be guide by at least two people to prevent it from twisting and swinging. The holes
in the crosspiece are lined up with the threaded lugs on the pressures cell and then the bolts
supplied with the cell are used to bolt the cell to the crosspiece. The chains can now be removed
from the eyebolts.
Three pieces of rebar, approx. 1.5 m long are bent into a hook shape at one end. The hooked ends
are hooked into the three eyebolts and the other ends are welded to the rebar cage. The assembly
is now ready to be lowered into the shaft. While lowering the cage into the shaft the cables and
the hydraulic line are tensioned step by step and fastened to the longitudinal rebars of the cage
with cable ties at intervals of approximately one meter.