FRP bridges in Spain during the last decade
Event details
| Date | 11.12.2015 |
| Hour | 12:15 › 13:15 |
| Speaker | Dr Carlo Paulotto, Head of Structural Design Group at Technological Centre of ACCIONA infraestructuras, Madrid, Spain |
| Location | |
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
In the last three decades, the use of fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) materials in bridge manufacturing has attracted the interest of the civil engineer community due to three reasons at least: (i) FRPs may help reducing the maintenance costs of bridges due to the fact that they do not suffer from galvanic corrosion; (ii) the weight of FRPs, normally between 15 and 20 kN/m3, offers the chance of manufacturing bridges which weigh less than those built using traditional materials. This is especially useful in remote areas, since the transport and installation of the bridge girders are simplified; (iii) the light weight of FRP structural members simplifies their transportation and installation then fostering their prefabrication. Their high levels of prefabrication and lightness help speeding up the construction process of bridges and, as a consequence, reducing traffic congestions caused by site activities, which is nowadays a priority for many bridge construction projects. The seminar illustrates the design concepts and manufacturing processes of a series of vehicular and pedestrian bridges built by ACCIONA Infraestructuras in the last two decades using FRPs. The lessons learnt from each of these projects are highlighted, and the consequent improvements introduced in the design and manufacture of the FRP girders in order to reduce their costs are addressed: open sections instead of closed sections, glass-carbon fiber laminates instead of full carbon fiber laminates, resin infusion instead of hand lay-up. The case of a footbridge in which carbon fiber cables have been used as the main load-bearing system is presented as well. Other applications of FRPs to marine structures and tunnel linings are also briefly described.
Bio : Dr Carlo Paulotto currently works at the Technological Centre of ACCIONA Infraestructuras, located in Madrid (Spain), as head of the Structural Design Group. He received his Master Degree in Civil Engineering from the Sapienza University of Rome in 2000 and his Ph.D. in Structural Engineering from the same university in 2003. After some years spent as research assistant at that university and as postdoctoral fellow at the European Laboratory for Structural Assessment (ELSA) in Ispra (Italy), he joined ACCIONA Infraestructuras in 2007. Since then he has been involved in the design and manufacture of all the company’s FRP elements.
Bio : Dr Carlo Paulotto currently works at the Technological Centre of ACCIONA Infraestructuras, located in Madrid (Spain), as head of the Structural Design Group. He received his Master Degree in Civil Engineering from the Sapienza University of Rome in 2000 and his Ph.D. in Structural Engineering from the same university in 2003. After some years spent as research assistant at that university and as postdoctoral fellow at the European Laboratory for Structural Assessment (ELSA) in Ispra (Italy), he joined ACCIONA Infraestructuras in 2007. Since then he has been involved in the design and manufacture of all the company’s FRP elements.
Practical information
- General public
- Free
Organizer
- Prof. Dr Brice Lecampion & Katrin Beyer
Contact
- Ms Sonia Yanes Armas, PhD student CCLab