JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #77 - December 2012 - 34

civil engineering
About Acciona Infraestructuras S.A
Acciona Infraestructuras S.A. works along two main lines of business: civil works and construction. The company, a global leader in infrastructure development, is present in more than 30 countries. Headquartered in Madrid, it has five national R&D centres and three international R&D centres located in Poland, Canada and Chile. Acciona Infraestructuras S.A. is one of Spain’s largest corporations, covering all aspects of construction from engineering to project execution and maintenance. It is well established in Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Poland and Australia.

Bridge in use

Development, manufacturing and installation
The project started in November 2009, when Acciona first contacted the Cuenca municipality officers and the architect. During this phase, various CAD drawings were produced to give them an idea of what the bridge would look like once

finished. Then, it took one year and four months to complete the entire project. The project concept was accepted by the Cuenca municipality officers and the architect in December 2009. The pre-design phase started in March 2010, followed by stability testing of a scaled bridge cross section in a wind tunnel. The final design was approved in May 2010. The resin and reinforcement were then selected and preliminary testing of the CFRP cables was conducted at reduced scale. The manufacturing process for the GFRP stay-in-place formworks was studied and selected in July and the formworks were manufactured in August. In parallel, trials were conducted to optimize the parameters for the CFRP cable manufacturing process. The foundations and concrete columns were built in September and October, followed by the pouring of concrete in

the GFRP stay-in-place formworks. Various end terminations for the CFRP cables were also studied and tested in October. The CFRP cables were manufactured, installed and pre- tensioned by February 2011. The bridge was completed in all respects and inaugurated in March 2011.

Technical solutions
To ensure that the CFRP cables met the strength requirements, a minimum fibre volume fraction of 65%, a uniform impregnation of carbon fibres and a void content less than 4% were required. Future Fibres conducted numerous experiments to develop and optimize the process in order to produce cables meeting these requirements. To achieve a smooth paint-free surface, Acciona suggested the use of GFRP stay-inplace formworks. To keep the cost low, they used low-cost steel moulds and the spray-up process utilizing alkali-resistant glass fibre, vinyl ester resin and special treated sand. To increase productivity when manufacturing the formworks, Acciona used low-cost hot air blowers for accelerating the curing process. Acciona Infraestructuras S.A. is very positive about the use of composite bridges in the near future and they are in talks for manufacturing and installing more than 5 bridges in Canada during the next few years. The main advantages that give composite bridges an edge over conventional bridges are their higher corrosion resistance, easy transportation, low weight and easy installation. n
More information: www.acciona.com

Finished bridge

34 jec composites magazine / No77 December 2012

http://www.acciona.com

JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #77 - December 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #77 - December 2012