Drax Thermal Power Station Ecodomes, North Yorkshire

Byland Engineering was employed by Shepherd Construction Limited to initially provide advice on the design of temporary works to facilitate the construction of bio-domes and associated facilities at Drax Power Station in North Yorkshire.

The domes comprise thin geodesic domes of sprayed reinforced concrete applied to an inflated membrane. They are approximately 50m high and 50m in base diameter, founded on circular reinforced concrete ring beams. Each structure is fed by a series of elevated conveyors supported on steelwork trestles and trusses with piled foundations. 

Fuel is imported onto the site by train and discharged from bottom opening hopper wagons into a deep underground pit, from which conveyors take the pellets to the domes for storage. Tunnels running under the domes receive product as and when required and then distribute it to the boilers. 

Byland ultimately provided the following services:

• Additional ground investigation and interpretation

• Slope stability analysis and temporary working platform design

• Advice on temporary excavations to construct cut and cover tunnels

• Critical review of dome designers FEA used to model dome settlement performance 

• Review of design of bearing piles for trestles and temporary steel sheet piled walls

• Independent checking of the design of propped steel sheet piles to support the deep pit excavation

More details on the scheme in general are reported in an article published in New Civil Engineer in February 2016 (Drax NCE Article).