Footbridges made of recycled plastic material reinforced with steel bars
| Author(s): |
Zdenka Prochazkova
Aran van Belkom |
|---|---|
| Medium: | conference paper |
| Language(s): | English |
| Conference: | Footbridge 2014 - Past, Present & Future, London, 16-18 July 2014 |
| Published in: | Footbridge 2014 - Past, Present & Future |
| Year: | 2014 |
| Abstract: | Footbridges made of a recycled plastic material have many advantages related to the maintenance. The recycled plastic does not rot, does not need paint and is resistant to water, insects and many solvents. However, beams made of the recycled plastic material of post-consumers waste usually have a low stiffness. This leads to a design of very shorts spans or large cross sections, which are difficult for a production. In the Netherlands, the Company Royal Lankhorst Euronete has developed a production method of recycled plastic beams reinforced with steel bars. The steel bars are fully submerged into the plastic material, thus protected against corrosion. With steel reinforcement the span of beams of a same cross section can be prolonged from 1.5 meter to 4.5 meters. Normal production of recycled plastic products requires heat and pressure. Chips of sorted plastic waste (mixture of polypropylene and polyethylene) need to be melted at a temperature around 200°C and injected into a steel mould. Beams and planks made of recycled plastic material can be sawed and connected with screws or bolts in the same way as timber. But a connection of steel reinforced recycled plastic beams is more complex as the most of the load bearing capacity is provided by the steel reinforcement and therefore it is desired to connect the steel reinforcement, too. In 2006 an arch footbridge of 10 meters span was build. Such a span was possible to reach by using a novel technique to connect reinforced recycled plastic beams. Interesting aspects of the recycled plastic footbridges, material properties and connections are covered in this paper. |
| Keywords: |
arch bridge recycled materials recycled plastic polypropylene high density polyethylene low density polyethylene plastic waste steel reinforcement
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data sheet - Reference-ID
10070865 - Published on:
09/12/2014 - Last updated on:
02/06/2021
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