National Transport Library Research Database

Hållbara underhållsfria broar (Sustainable Maintenance-free Bridges)

Sponsors, duration, budget: Trafikverket ; 2020-11-01 -- 2023-06-30 Registration number:
  • Trafikverket 2020/117504
Subject(s): Abstract: Detta projekt är inriktat på att utnyttja de fördelar som rostfritt stål erbjuder för att skapa hållbara och "underhållsfria" vägbroar som är konkurrenskraftiga i jämförelse med liknande konstruktioner utförda med kolstål (icke rostfritt stål). Genom användningen av brobalkar med korrugerade livplåtar, armering av rostfritt stål, optimering av materialanvändning och produktionskostnader kan en avsevärd minskning av investeringskostnaderna uppnås för en rostfri konstruktion.Abstract: This project is focused on the accommodation for full utilization of the benefits offered by stainless steel to have sustainable and “maintenance-free” road bridges which have competitive investment costs to that of their traditional C-steel counterparts. During the last three years, the research group of Lightweight Structures at Chalmers has together with several industrial partners, evaluated various “innovative” concepts with a focus on reducing the investment costs of composite bridges with stainless steel. It is believed that by the use of bridge girders with corrugated webs and stainless steel reinforcement and optimization of the material usage and production costs, a considerable reduction in the investment costs of a stainless-steel solution is attainable. One of the most critical aspects of evaluating designs today is life cycle sustainability impacts. From the Life-cycle point of view, the benefits of using stainless steel in bridges are well known. However, as a new way of evaluating designs, the bridge owner needs to compare the investment cost-optimized design solution with LCC- and LCA-optimized designs in order to facilitate the decision-making process. In the current project, optimization will be applied in connection with parametric design with the target to reduce the investment cost, life-cycle cost, and environmental impacts of composite road bridges made with stainless steel in both steel girders and reinforcement bars. LCA and LCC will be used in early design stages to optimize the design from a sustainability perspective over the life cycle, which is very rare in the research literature and has not been done for bridges with stainless steel before. Investment cost-, LCC- and LCA-optimized design solutions will be compared from different aspects. A complete design procedure that can be used for creating optimum designs of composite bridges with stainless steel according to the newly developed concepts will be produced. Later, the developed design procedures will be applied in a number of case-studies. Alternative designs will be produced, employing the design concepts studied in the project for a number of newly designed (existing) bridges, and the results will be compared to the original design both from investment cost as well as from LCC/LCA points of view. This way potential bridge market segments in which the studied concepts are expected to be most effective will be identified. One of the case studies, Kyrkobron in Avesta, will be used as a fictitious demonstration project to produce a detailed technical specification “särskilda kravspecifikationer” that can be used in future procurement of road bridges with the concept developed and verified in this project. The main deliverable in the project will be a project report comprising design guidelines supported by design examples as well as a detailed methodology for evaluation of LCC/LCA analysis of corrugated web composite road bridges made of stainless steel.
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