Adelaide Weather Radar A Winner

An advanced weather radar tower made from XLERPLATE® steel has won the Judge's Special Award at South Australia's Australian Steel Institute (ASI) steel industry awards.

The S1 Doppler radar tower, now operational at Buckland Park on Adelaide's northern outskirts, was fabricated by Keppel Prince Engineering from 62 tonnes of XLERPLATE® steel.

GHD Pty Ltd consulting engineers, who won the ASI award, chose Keppel Prince Engineering to fabricate the Bureau of Meteorology's radar support tower in January 2005.

It is the first of six new technologically advanced radar systems to be installed around the country as part of the Federal Government's five year, A$62.2 million commitment to replace older, less powerful radar systems throughout Australia.

"The tower is around twice the size of the radar tower at Mount Gambier," Keppel Prince Engineering's Estimating Manager Brian Messenger said. "It stands more than 20 metres high, 3.8 metres in diameter and 7.2 metres in diameter at the widest point of the conical section at the top."

The tower supports a radar dish protected by a 13 metre diameter golf ball like fibreglass structure called a radome.

The structure, which includes a door frame, miscellaneous cleats, spiral stair supports, base rings and stiffener rings, is made from Grade 250 XLERPLATE® steel in 12mm, 16mm and 20mm thicknesses.

"Handling of the larger section of the cone was challenging because it was wide and weighed about 18 tonnes," Mr Messenger said. "The timeframe was also tight so we had to work shifts for most of the project's duration to ensure it was completed on time."

Keppel Prince Engineering, which had 20 employees working on the tower during its busiest phase, delivered it to site in three parts, the main body, large cone section and small cone section.

The S1 Doppler radar tower provides the Bureau of Meteorology with improved data on rain and severe weather conditions.

It is the first radar tower fabricated by Keppel Prince Engineering, which has a reputation for fabricating wind towers.

The Victorian based company is now fabricating 53 wind towers for the A$400 million Lake Bonney Stage II wind farm project near Millicent.