Road bridge Friedberg

In July 2008 the first steel - FRP composite bridge in Europe has been finished in Friedberg (Hessen). The elegant flyover of the federal road B455 is the result of a close cooperation between the Road and Traffic Authority of the state of Hessen and the Institute of Building Structures and Structural Design (ITKE). The bridge has a span of 27 m and a total width of 5 m. The FRP bridge deck has been adhesively bonded on 2 steel girders. Also the edge casings are made out of FRP. The plastic units were produced by Pultrusion. To obtain an aerial slab, the prefabricated longitudinal beams were glued together. The design of the bridge allows omitting any parts out of reinforced concrete or asphalt pavement. Moreover, the superstructure could be completely pre-assembled in shop. On the con-struction site the superstructure had only to be lifted and finally cast into the abutments. Thereby the bridge had been finished and was open for use; traffic interference could by limited to s few hours. At the ITKE FEM-analysis and testing had been performed in advance. A longtime monitoring programme is projected in order to test the structure under real term conditions und to scrutinise the bridge for possible future damages. Therefore, 137 sensors had been attached to the superstructure during assembly to monitor strain, temperature and humidity.

 

ITKE Institute of Building Structures and Structural Design, University of Stuttgart

Professor Dr.-Ing. Jan Knippers, Markus Gabler

 

Road and Traffic Authority Hessen