Civil Engineering

Winner: Acciona Infraestructuras S.A (Spain)
Partners: Saertex GmbH&Co.KG (Germany) Huntsman Advanced Materials GmbH (Switzerland), Glascraft Iberica S.L (Spain) Universidad de Sevilla (Spain) and Universidad Politcnica de Madrid (Spain)

Acciona Infaestructuras S.A and its partners have designed and manufactured a composite bridge beam made from a single piece (40 m long) and weighing only 25 t, which is half the weight of a concrete or steel bridge (minimum 50 metric tons).
The beam required a “slenderness ratio" (ratio of depth to the length of the beam) of less than 1.2/40, combined with a maximum cross sectional thickness of 50 mm and a depth of 1,200 mm.

The entire project took about 1 year to complete. Two more briges will be delivered to Spain by the end of this year. Talks are in process with African  countries to manufacture and install 10 composite bridges over the next two years.

These composite bridges offer more design freedom. No joints or assembly are necessary as the beam is made from a single piece. Compared with a concrete beam, which requires 28 days just for curing, the composite beam was ready for shipping in 15 days. No painting required. They are easy to transport quick and easy to install on sites where high-capablility cranes are not available. They provide better corrosion resistance than concrete and steel in coastal areas, and require less maintenance.

Other finalists in the Civil Engineering category
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•  A high-performance carbon fibre composite hydraulic for deep-sea use presented by Automated Dynamics (USA) with its partners Union College (USA) and Cameroun (USA).

• Protective composite wall for strengthening a railway zone presented by ApATecCh (Russia) with its partners Lightweight Structures B (Russia) and Engineering (Russia)