Design and Planning of Pedestrian Bridge Made of TRC

TRC (Textile reinforced concrete) is a material that seems to mimic some of the problems faced by the traditional steel RC structures especially in the field of planar and shell elements.

With the light weight of the textile reinforcement (1.8 g/cm³), high tensile strength textile mesh (from 1,000 to 3,500 N/mm²), high compressive strength of the matrix (> 70 N/mm²), high corrosive resistant of the matrix, high flexural, bending and torsional strength, and so on, it provides endless possibilities in strengthening or building light and durable structures.

In view of this, between two existing buildings which are 16 m apart, a pedestrian bridge would be built. A TRC enclosing shell structure with an organic shape and openings along the longitudinal sides was selected. Thus, maximizing the full material benefits of the TRC and ensuring pedestrian comfort.

The bridge was modeled, analyzed and optimized using Dlubal Software program RFEM. The conclusion and output was: Indeed the thin shell bridge structure can be designed with TRC, but further optimized for stability by providing additional steel tie bars incorporated into a series of transverse and longitudinal ribs, and also locking the ends of the bridge with a concrete frame to reduce deformations.