Empa Technology Reduces Emissions on German Railroad Bridge

(CONNECT) A new border bridge has been spanning the Oder near Küstrin since last year. It is held by a network arch with a span of 130 meters and 88 carbon beams. According to a recently published Empa press release, these carbon tensioning cables were developed by Carbo-Link, an Empa spin-off from Fehraltorf. The carbon carriers are made of carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP).

The new material not only enables flexible processing, but also saves a large amount of carbon dioxide that would be released with conventional steel constructions. The use of carbon beams significantly reduces the dead weight compared to other flat steel hangers. Around 500 tons of steel and 1,350 tons of reinforced concrete were saved in the construction.

A major advantage of the new suspension ropes is their high tensile strength and lower fatigue than steel. Most of the fatigue tests were carried out by a team from Empa's Structural Engineering department and confirmed the required fatigue strength of the new CFRP material. "We have thus created the basis for a new generation of filigree network arch bridges with carbon hangers as load-bearing elements," Giovanni Terrasi, Head of Empa's Mechanical Systems Engineering department, is quoted as saying in the press release.

Visually, the new materials offer design freedom, as the Oder bridge shows. Carbon girders have already been used in other bridge constructions, but the special feature of the Oder bridge is its first use for heavy goods rail transport. Trains can pass through at a speed of 120 kilometers per hour. The bridge has been awarded both the German Bridge Construction Prize and the British Bridges International Award. ce/ww