Carbon-based tendons in the Dintelhaven Bridge, the Netherlands

In mid-2001 the final two bridges over the River Dintelhaven in the harbour area of Rotterdam were put into use. Both bridges are concrete box girder bridges and have been erected using the balanced cantilever method. In the first bridge, with a main span of about 185 m, four (external) tendons each with 91 carbon fibre reinforced wires (5 mm diameter) have been applied next to conventional steel tendons. The project is the result of an initiative that was started in 1994 by the Civil Engineering Division of the Dutch Ministry of Transport and Public Works and the CUR (Dutch Centre for Civil Engineering Research and Codes). In order to guide the activities, with regard to the application of the carbon fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP) tendons in the Dintelhaven Bridge, experiments were carried out at TNO Building and Construction Research, focussing upon the long- and short-term behaviour of the CFRP wires and tendons. In this paper the results of these tests are presented. Moreover, in the paper, attention is paid to the manufacturing of the tendons, as well as the installation of the tendons in the bridg