To Renew or Build New? That is the Question
It has become standard practice to witness the knocking down of infrastructure from the 1950s to the 1980s. The rationale for the demolition is often due to structural decay or increased stresses and loads that have been unexpectedly added to these structures as population and transportation networks have expanded over the years.
The knockdown process incurs significant costs for asset owners and has a significant CO2 impact on the environment, specifically when considering new structures will be replaced with high volumes of concrete and steel.
To mitigate both the financial and environmental burden, the construction sector has undergone a notable shift in the past 25 years. Instead of focusing primarily on knocking down and constructing new structures, the industry has increasingly turned its attention toward repurposing and strengthening existing ones using Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymer technology.
These efforts result in an extended design life for these structures. Examples of assets that can benefit from this approach include bridges, car park columns, power & energy infrastructure, as well as offices and residential towers.
How does Master Builders Solutions contribute to improving the design life of existing structures?
The MasterBrace Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) system, in combination with our concrete repair products, provides asset owners with an effective and straightforward solution for extending the design life of existing structures.
By applying MasterBrace carbon fibre to an existing structure, we're able to add up to 50 years of additional use life, ensuring safer, prolonged use for decades to come.
The MasterBrace System:
• MasterBrace Laminate - A ready-to-use pultruded, carbon fibre laminate, normally externally bonded to structures, to provide additional load-bearing capacity.
• MasterBrace Fibre - Provides increased strength for flexure, shear, confinement & fatigue enhancement and end anchoring of MasterBrace systems.
• MasterBrace MBar – A ready-to-use pultruded carbon fibre rod, which provides a high tensile strength (that is higher than steel reinforcement used in the concrete industry) and can be used for flexural reinforcement of concrete, masonry, and timber elements.
• MasterBrace Anchor – An advanced carbon fibre anchoring system that is used as near surface mounted strengthening and as fibre connection and the anchorage of MasterBrace Fabric and laminate systems.
Project Reference:
As part of the Major Highway Upgrade Project, the Victorian Department of Transport recently utilised a range of MasterBrace products to increase the load-carrying capacity and extend the design life of the Lederberg Bridge by more than 50 years.
To learn more, click here or watch the Project Reference video below.
To find out more about MasterBrace, contact:
Andrew Sarkady: National Industry Advocate: Civil Infrastructure – Transport
0418 530 763 | andrew.sarkady@masterbuilders.com