Construction of ropeways in Slovakia in terms of pre-construction design using helicopters (case study)

Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Department of Building Technology, Radlinského 11, 810 05 Bratislava, Slovakia

^* Corresponding author: zdenka.hulinova@stuba.sk

Abstract

Ropeways usually provide access to locations inaccessible to other means of transport. Due to this fact, the construction of ropeways is extraordinarily taxing in terms of both, technology and logistics. The site location is often in terrain difficult to access, which often precludes deployment of common construction mechanisms in ropeway construction. In such case, it is advisable to deploy a transport mechanism independent of the terrain – a helicopter. Functioning as “flying cranes“, the helicopters have been used in construction industry in Slovakia for six decades now. Having amassed positive experience, even the “conventional“ construction industry of the time, especially its ropeway transport segment, started to use the benefits of helicopters, with helicopter deployment subsequently gaining ground and becoming the mainstream technological procedure. Ropeway construction can hardly be feasible without them even nowadays. Throughout the history of helicopter deployment in construction industry, a constant search of improving the efficiency of their work has been under way, necessitated by the helicopter’s sensitivitiy to weather conditions and work procedures alike. The paper presents an analysis of the factors affecting helicopter operation together with a proposed methodology of modeling their work in simulation models and the benefits of such approach.