Headquarters:
mageba sa
Trafostrasse 1
8180 Bulach
Switzerland
Tel: +41-44-872 40 50
Fax:
Even the best expansion joints on the market require maintenance at times, and this is especially true of complex joint designs such as TENSA®MODULAR – a product that offers extraordinary flexibility thanks to its “elastic design”, thereby preventing restraint forces from arising and thus improving the joint’s long-term performance. However, the elastomeric and sliding components that provide this flexibility are not as durable as the main steel elements, and may require replacement at some point during the joint’s service life. Thanks to mageba’s continuous product development since inventing the modular expansion joint in 1965, the components offer extraordinary durability considering the many millions of movements and forces to which they can be subjected, and they can be quite easily replaced when the time comes to do so.
This is currently being demonstrated on the Geoga Bridge in South Korea, which was equipped with TENSA®MODULAR expansion joints during its construction – the largest 15-gap joints accommodating longitudinal movements of 1200 mm as well as transverse/vertical movements and triaxial rotations. Due to the enormous traffic volumes on this bridge and the aggressive marine environment, the non-steel components that accommodate continual movements and rotations began to show signs of deterioration.
To optimize the efficiency of replacement works while ensuring excellent ongoing long-term performance, it was decided to replace all the non-steel components at once. This is far quicker and easier, minimizes costs and reduces the impact on bridge users due to traffic disruption.
The work is now almost complete, leaving the expansion joints of this important transportation connection in excellent condition – almost as good as when they left mageba’s Shanghai factory over 15 years ago!
Contractor: GK Fixed Link Corp.