Our products:
SYTEC bridge drainage systems
- Drainage system aspects, maintenance, safety
- Reasons of damages
- Visual aspect of a bridge and representative region landmark
- Components of a bridge drainage system - Ancor type
- System construction diagram
In increasing number of vehicles on our roads make it necessary to construct new roads and motorways as well as repair and adapt the standards of existing ones.
The road building investments to develop and modernize the infrastructure in Poland have been classified as the largest road building investments in whole of Europe.
Implementation of such a great undertaking require modern technical solutions, advanced technologies, qualified engineering staff, in addition any solution used must be environmental friendly.
Numerous new engineering and bridge structures are constructed or modernised along with the roads. They belong to the most difficult projects in terms of design-and-constructional solutions.
The bridges, overbridges, flyovers are engineering structures intended for quick and safe crossing of such obstacle as: rivers, lakes, valleys, railway tracks, streets and others structures. The task of each construction of that type, in terms of their durability and safety, is to bear the weight of vehicle traffic. The life of a bridge structure depends mostly on correct position of the surface hydro insulation as well as functionality and existence of the drainage systems.
The engineering structures are particularly crucial in the process of expanding the infrastructure. In addition to durability, flow rate and size, we pay attention to the rate of construction of these structures, as well as to safety and environmental protection. SYTEC responds to all these requirements and expectations by providing modern solutions, presenting complete bridge drainage system, offering semi finished polymer concrete products, which should be embedded into engineering and bridge structures. Our innovative solutions bring measurable financial and time savings for a contractor, financial and technical benefits for an investor (an authority administering the facility), moreover they do not omit the ecological aspects, meaning that the engineering and bridge structures are environment friendly, and friendly to all of us.
Drainage system aspects, maintenance, safety
When designing engineering structures, great attention is paid to the carriageway surface drainage as well as to drainage of excessive water out of the structure. The atmospheric anomalies cause increasing abrupt and intense precipitations, which mean that there is a layer of water or snow on the bridge carriageway resulting in considerable traffic obstruction. Such a state of affairs slows down or blocks traffic and may be a reason of dangerous accidents, in form of vehicles colliding with each other or falling off the structure, in which case the chances of the driver surviving are near zero. Therefore, all engineering structures are included in the first class of winter maintenance. It means that during the whole of winter season corrosive chemical substances are applied onto them, to prevent freezing of water on the surface and guarantee safe driving.
Using a bridge structure in an open area is related to the fact that it is affected by changing atmospheric conditions (temperature variations and frost, rain waters, acid rains, salt, intense sunlight). Vehicle traffic causes a risk of toxic substance leakage (corrosive acids and bases) being dangerous to the environment and the structure itself. Moreover, these structures are affected by exhaust gases and vehicles, causing changing loads and vibrations. All these factors have influence on relatively quick pace of development of corrosion on engineering structures, bridges as well as of dangerous damages inside the structure. The particularly dangerous defects for engineering and bridge structures are cracks and scratches occurring on their surfaces. A defective structure will not be able to safely bear the load and may present a danger or even structural catastrophe.
Reasons of damages
The rate of corrosion of concrete (reinforced concrete) mainly depends on the type and quantity of cement used and structure protection system. Accelerated corrosion of concrete (reinforced concrete) may be caused by:
- the environment where the structure has been installed - the more aggressive the environment, the more intense and faster is the development of corrosion, therefore maintenance procedures are very important;
- shape of structure - bridges with high resistance to corrosion are relatively simple in their shape, their areas are large, they are equipped with few expansion joints and have effective drainage systems, there are no spots on them where harmful gases or steam could accumulate. All types of losses or scratches constitute potential risk to the exploitation of a structure and its durability. The degree of risk depends on the causes of the scratches, type of structure, quality of materials used and aggressiveness of the environment.
Aggressive of the environment to the exploitation of a structure is related to the requirement of keeping engineering structures in the first class of winter snow removal and to the substances which may leak from the vehicles carried by the structure. The carriageway surface and construction of a facility are exposed to the action of very corrosive substances, such as: petrol, greases, oils, detergents, water salt solutions, chlorides, anti freezing substances, toxic solutions leaking from road tankers (acids, bases), corrosive atmospheric precipitations. This fact requires the use of materials resistant to chemical substances, in order to protect the construction of the facility itself.
The most frequent causes of damages to concrete bridges are:
- concrete spalling caused by corrosion,
- corrosion on the concrete surface,
- scratches on the structure caused by the corrosion of the concrete reinforcement steel,
- shrinkage scratches that may expand due to corrosion of concrete or reinforcement,
- mechanical damages.
Two essential protection methods are applied: material, structure and design protection as well as surface protection.
The first construction protection method (material, structure and design) is aimed at designing it in such a way as to minimize the impact of corrosion. The key features of this method are: no area where water could accumulate and good drainage system. So, it is important for a structure to be provided with a smooth surface, leak-proof expansion joints and a slope system during exploitation and any eventual repairs.
The other protection method (superficial) is to block access of aggressive environment to a structure and its components. Impregnation and sealing agents are used for this purpose. Impregnation is usually combined with sealing, because impregnation as the only mean of protection loses its properties fairly quickly (within a few years), hence if it were the only protection layer employed, it would require quick reapplication.
All the factors that may endanger the safety of a structure, hence its users should be immediately eliminated.
For bridges with high corrosion resistance, complete overhaul should take place every 5 to 7 years, superficial overhaul every 1 to 2 years with intense usage and in aggressive environment, for the bridges with an average corrosion resistance the complete overhaul should be carried out every 5 years, while the superficial ones every 1 to 2 years, for the bridges which are barely resistant to corrosion the complete overhaul should take place every 3 to 4 years, the superficial overhauls every 1 to 1.5 years, for the bridges particularly susceptible to corrosion the complete overhaul should be carried out every 1 to 2 years, and the superficial twice a year.
The properties of polymer concrete used to make the semi finished products of the bridge drainage systems guarantee mechanical and chemical resistance and absolutely no corrosion, which subsequently protects the structure against damaging infiltration of water and dangerous substances into the depth of the facility structure, eliminates inspections and maintenance of those structures.
Visual aspect of a bridge and a representative region landmark
Due to difficulty and high costs of constructing engineering structures, investors pay more attention to the type of functions like representing a city, a commune or entire region and the visual effect of a given investment.
The engineering and bridge structures presented to the public, located in the city centre, surrounded by a dense grid of buildings or constructed on frequently used transport routes are expected to provide not only loading capacity and durability, but they should also meet high requirements in the field of architecture, aesthetics and colours. Therefore, more and more innovative solutions are applied in order to meet high standards of modern architecture requirements, attract and fascinate users with their shapes and colours. In response to signals coming from the market, SYTEC company, with great success, has been implementing polymer concrete bridge edge beams being effective in terms of their shapes and colours. Edge beam panels particularly emphasize a structure outline, reflect very high aesthetic qualities, and eye catching colours attract attention.
Components of bridge drainage system - Ancor type
The SYTEC bridge drainage system, ANCOR type, consists of 7 elements, and namely:
- polymer concrete straight or shaped edge beam panel,
- bridge balcony for a lantern,
- bridge polymer concrete drainage inlet,
- resin laminate bridge drain,
- polymer concrete bridge kerb,
- bridge kerb with a polymer concrete gutter,
- polymer concrete kerb gutter
System construction diagram
