Empa has a share in the German Civil Engineering Award 2022
Specialists from the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research (Empa) have developed the carbon fiber reinforced plastic cables with carbon hangers for a new network arch bridge in Stuttgart. It has now been awarded the German Civil Engineering Prize 2022.
Experts from Empa and its spin-off Carbo-Link AG have developed a global innovation that was used for the first time in the construction of a new network arch bridge in the Degerloch district of Stuttgart. The jury has now awarded it the German Engineering Prize 2022 . She justified her decision with the fact that "the network arch bridge with carbon-fibre-reinforced plastic cables with carbon hangers as an innovation is an extremely successful example of the art of engineering worldwide and provides formative answers to current questions in the construction industry".
The well-known German State Prize, endowed with 30,000 euros, honors "outstanding innovative engineering structures" that "combine building culture, climate protection and sustainability". This year it goes to the international engineering office schlaich bergerman partner ( sbp ) with headquarters in Stuttgart. It implemented the "delicate light rail bridge" from the first draft to the finished structure – "with the active support of experts from Empa and the company Carbo-Link AG in Fehraltorf", according to an Empa statement .
The idea of replacing the originally planned steel hangers with prestressed carbon fiber reinforced (CFRP) hangers that had never been used before came from the sbp team. A team from Empa's Structural Engineering department headed by Masoud Motavalli began experiments with this new material for the Stuttgart bridge in 2016. Empa expert Urs Meier, a pioneer in CFRP research, and Peter Richner, today Empa's deputy director, handed her over to her in 2017 final report to Stuttgart. In 2018, the responsible approval authority gave the green light for the pioneering project.