European Plastics News reported that a polyurethane application has won a 2011 Canadian Institute of Steel Construction award for innovative use of steel in the province of Alberta in Canada. The award went to the Dialog consultancy and Empire Iron Works for the PU sandwich technique used to renovate a 100 year old, five span, riveted steel through truss bridge.

The 236 meters long, 8 meters wide Dawson Bridge in Edmonton carries 17,000 vehicles a day across the North Saskatchewan River and is believed to be the first major bridge to have been renovated using sandwich plate system technology.

The SPS system comprises two thin steel plates and a thicker Elastocore polyurethane core plate and an elastomer deck. The lightweight sandwich is 45mm thick.

SPS technology was developed by polyurethane producer BASF Elastogran. It is only recently that SPS has been applied to bridge construction, having been initially developed for marine and road barrier applications.

Mr Kris Lima, a structural engineer with the Dialog consultancy, said that "Only a handful of bridges have been built using this technology." He added that the SPS sheet limits the dead load on the bridge, reducing the amount of work needed to strengthen trusses. It also eliminates on site welding, due to a new splice plate countersunk bolt connection method.

It took six weeks to replace the deck with SPS sheets, cutting the total renovation time to 12 months from the 18 months typically needed for reinforced concrete renovation. Using the concrete method would have been 70% heavier and would have required additional steel strength members.

SPS panels have also been chosen for the floor of the terrace of the 2012 Olympics Aquatics Centre in London, designed as a lightweight and easily demountable structure.

(Sourced from www.europeanplasticsnews.com)