APPLICATIONS

Footbridge installed Prototype

in six hours solar-powered
UK RAIL contractor Birse Rail were used for secondary bonding
recently installed a composite
railway footbridge in just six
hours at Bradkirk, Blackpool, UK,
operations.

Although this was a one-o

thereby minimising disruption
to rail services.
At 6 tonnes the composite bridge
is signicantly lighter than the
metallic structure (20 tonnes) that
it replaces. The reduction in
weight was a signicant factor in
the speed of installation.
The new bridge is designed to
last for over 60 years and during
this time maintenance should be
restricted to the replacement of
non-slip nishes and stair noses.
Manufactured by UK company
AM Structures for Network Rail,
the owner of Britains rail
infrastructure, and engineered by
consultant WYG, the bridge
comprises of two 12 m spans
and two ights of steps. Both the
spans and steps were produced
using Gurits SPRINT system over
a foam core. The SPRINT re
retardant woven glass/epoxy skins
are approximately 2.5 mm thick
whereas the core varies from 40
mm of 55 kg/m3 foam at the top
of the parapets to 100 mm of
100 kg/m3 foam on the walkway.
To provide a paint-free nish a
polyester gel-coat and a vinyl
ester tie coat were used. Gurits
Spabond 340LV and Ampreg 22
project, the tools were manufac-
tured from composite materials
to allow further bridges of
varying spans to be manufac-
tured in the future. AMS and
Gurit are now working together
to oer a modular bridge
concept that will enable
composite bridges to be
supplied at a lower rst cost
than equivalent steel bridges.
SPRINT materials comprise a layer
of bre reinforcement on either
side of a precast resin lm with a
light tack lm on one face.
Unlike conventional prepregs,
with SPRINT the bres remain
aircraft was recently unveiled.
dry and unimpregnated by the
resin until the curing process
takes place following the applica-
tion of a vacuum bag. Gurit
during the day and night
claims that the void content of a
SPRINT laminate is comparable
emitting any pollutants.
with autoclaved prepreg (less
than 1%). The company states
that for large structures, such as
bridges, autoclave processing
would be prohibitively expensive
if not impossible to undertake.
Gurit; www.gurit.com
AM Structures;
www.amstructures.co.uk
WYG; www.wyg.com
Birse Rail; www.birserail.co.uk
aircraft unveiled
The Solar Impulse HB-SIA prototype that makes extensive use of carbon bre/sandwich
composites.
AT THE Dbendorf aireld near
Zurich, Switzerland, the
prototype Solar Impulse HB-SIA
This solar-powered craft is
believed to be the rst aircraft
that will be able to y both
without using fossil fuel or
With its 63.4 m wingspan and
take o weight of just 1600 kg,
the HB-SIA makes extensive use
of carbon bre/honeycomb
sandwich composites for the
fuselage in order to achieve the
required level of strength, rigidity
and weight savings. Similar in
size to that of a Boeing 747 400,
the wings of the HB-SIA feature
120 carbon bre ribs at 50 cm
centres that both create the
aerofoil shape and support the
upper and lower wing skins.
allowing the HB-SIA to y
at night.
The aim of the Solar Impulse
project, which was started in
2003, is to produce an aircraft
entirely powered by solar energy
that will take o and y both
during the day and at night.
The HB-SIA is the rst prototype
of the Solar Impulse project. Its
mission is to demonstrate the
feasibility of a complete
day-night-day ight. After
ne-tuning on the ground, the
aircraft should make its rst test
ights between now and the end
of 2009.
The data gathered during the test
ights of the HB-SIA will be used
to develop and build a second
aircraft, the HB-SIB, whose 2012
mission will be to circumnavigate
the word in ve stages.

Chairman and initiator of the

The crafts four propellers are
project is explorer/scientist
driven by four electric motors
Bertrand Piccard, who made the
that are powered by nearly
rst non-stop, round the world
12 000 mono-crystalline, silicon
balloon ight. The project CEO
cells embedded in the upper
is engineer and ex-ghter pilot
skin of the wing. During the
Andr Borschberg.
day, the silicon cells will also
charge a series of lithium- Solar Impulse;
Installing the composite bridge steps. (Picture courtesy of Birse Rail/AM Structures.) polymer batteries thereby www.solarimpulse.com

www.reinforcedplastics.com AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2009 REINFORCEDplastics