Exchangeable precast concrete bridge caps

Precast concrete bridge caps offer many advantages over the in-situ variety

The precast concrete bridge caps are easily dismantled

The cost of remediation of concrete bridge caps is currently estimated at three hundred million euros annually. DIZWO that now, with immediate effect, grants licenses for their patented products also to precast plants, presents these products from 25 to 27 October at econstra – the trade fair for civil engineering and building refurbishment in Freiburg, Germany.

Bridge caps are among the standard equipment for road bridges and without which modern traffic systems are today unthinkable. They are used for fixing crash barriers, railings and noise protection walls in place. Integrated curbs protect drivers of misguided vehicles from the worst. Bridge caps are also used as footpaths or bicycle lanes. They protect the boundary area of the superstructure, in particular from corrosion.

DIZWO system saves construction time, resources and costs

The outdated principle of in-situ concrete construction is complex, expensive and leads in many cases to construction damage. Bridge caps, purposely conceived as a wear parts, manufactured on site are a cost-intensive factor – both in terms of production and for the inspection work that must be carried out on a regular basis. If the used caps must then be removed, the time and effort is enormous when the embedded steel connection must be laboriously exposed. In the course of this work, the connecting reinforcement is not infrequently heavily damages, leading to additional repair works.

The patent-protected precast bridge caps from DIZWO show that there is another way. The considerable time and cost advantages of their use over the in-situ variety becomes evident already when calculating a bid for the erection of the structure.

Damage-free dismantling

Another advantage is the much easier handling of the maintenance and repair of the precast concrete caps and the bridge construction on and around the caps. The precast parts are fixed in place with approved concrete anchors, enabling simple and totally damage-free dismantling (for example for maintenance purposes).

Within the scope of econstra and the civil engineering congress in Freiburg, Germany, DIZWO and other innovative companies as well as BAM (the Germany Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing), BASt (the German Federal Highway Research Institute) and BAW (the German Federal Waterways Engineering and Research Institute) will present innovative construction and analytical methods. Project partners are the German Chamber of Engineers and the VBI (German Association of Consulting Engineers).