Structural design and construction of a road bridge made of carbon reinforced concrete - Carbon reinforced concrete "The Next Step"

In 2021, Saxony's first road bridge made of carbon reinforced concrete was built in Wurschen, a village located in the district of Bautzen in the east of Saxony. The new carbon reinforced concrete construction method is expected to help reduce both maintenance costs and the number of maintenance cycles for bridge structures while also increasing the service life compared to existing bridges made of steel-reinforced concrete considerably. The high-tensile carbon reinforcements, which are virtually fatigue-resistant considering the applicable stress ranges, are predestined to be used in bridge construction due to their resistance to (reinforcement) corrosion. The design of the structure was based on the dimensioning and construction principles resulting from many years of research conducted by the Institutes of Concrete Structures at Technische Universitat Dresden (TUD) and RWTH Aachen University. The construction work was carried out using the in-situ concrete method and carbon surface reinforcement (carbon mats), carbon rod reinforcement, and standard structural concrete. Following the successful completion of the structure, load tests with an extensive measuring program verified the load-bearing capacity of the carbon reinforced concrete road bridge. The structure was opened to traffic as planned in December 2021.