The Weightman Bridge

The bridge re-opening was on May 19th, 2011. Major James M. Diodati of Niagara Falls hosted this ceremony. The bridge was named by a local business man – Mr. Weightman. The grand daughters of Mr. Weightman were invited in this ceremony as well.

Major of Niagara Falls

Mr. Weightman's Grand daughters

The public work manager Geoff Holman introduced how this bridge was built. He was holding ComBAR® rebars during his speech, and said his municipality is very proud of using this most advanced reinforcing materials.

Mr. Geoff Holman of Public Work's Manager introducing the ComBAR®

There are several reasons to use ComBAR® rebars, two of them are corrosion free and high strength in long term performance.

Benjamin from Germany, Christian, Ekaterina and I attended this two days conference. Our competitors were also there. There were several sessions to discuss the different topics about the life of bridges. Every break between each session, all visitors came to the booth to acquire the information that each exhibitor can provide.

Schoeck Canada Booth in BRIDGELIFE

Christian talking with client, Ben and I watching

Christian and Ben were working during the break

It’s me.

It’s Ekaterina.

ComBAR® rebar is the perfect reinforcement element to achieve the bridge longevity compared to traditional steel reinforcement. Schoeck is the first GFRP supplier that did the crush test for PL3 barrier walls which is required by MTO. The pending approval by using ComBAR rebars for PL3 barrier walls also attracted lots of attentions and interests.

The idea of a ceremony for the Obligation of Canadian Engineers dates back to 1922, when seven past-presidents of the Engineering Institute of Canada attended a meeting in Montreal with other engineers. Rudyard Kipling responded to a call from the seven engineers with The Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer, to be administered by the Corporation of the Seven Wardens Inc. It was instituted with the simple end of directing newly qualified Canadian engineers toward a consciousness of their profession and its social significance, and indicating to more experienced engineers their responsibilities in welcoming and supporting the newer engineers when they are ready to enter the profession.

There is a story behind this iron ring. The Quebec Bridge collapsed during construction in 1907 and killed 75 construction workers, due to poor planning and design by the overseeing engineers. In order to remember this accident and the obligation of engineers, the iron rings which are made from the steel of a beam started to be worn by engineers. This story may have its roots in a common practice of attaching a symbol of an engineering failure, such as a bolt from that bridge, to chain that is held by participants in the ritual.

The Iron Ring is worn on the pinky finger of the working hand. This story may not be the reason of wearing the ring, however it does remind people who wear it of their ‘obligation of Engineer’. I can feel a little bit heavier of my right hand when I wear it.

Schoeck Canada was the GFRP rebars supplier for those two jobs. The contract drawings asked the contractor to design or propose their own solutions for those soft-eyes area. Jessica of Strong foundation that is the subcontractor for Sheppard West station told me that the engineer only approved our solution and this was a major reason why they bought from us, even though our price was higher than the competitor.

The ComBAR® rebars are very easy to install and it won’t make a big difference to steel rebars on the assembly. The bars are fixed together with binding wires. The steel rebars are on the top and the bottom of the cage, and the middle of the cage is made of ComBAR® rebars. Wire ropes (U-bolts) are used for clamping bars between the GFRP rebars and steel rebars. In most of cases, the contractor will build the cage on the ground and crane it into the ground. I am so surprised that how strong the ComBAR® is when the contractor lifted the cage and lowered it into the trench.

Mark Montgomery from HC Matcon which is the contractor for Steels project said “This project was a challenging deep excavation. The project was based on the efficient engineering and co-operation from both the shoring designer and Schoeck. Their help in putting together the required glass fibre reinforcing and co-ordination with the conventional steel rebar installs was tremendous.”

I am very proud of the products we made and the solution we provided to our customers.

FRP is composed of 2 part of materials: fibre and matrix. The combining fibre and matrix gives a composite material with superior properties. GFRP has been used as reinforcement for concrete structures, as GFRP has strong corrosion resistance and is considered a cost effective alternative. It’s about 50% of cost of stainless steel. For Combar GFRP, the ultimate tensile strength is 1300 MPa, modulus of elasticity is 63000MPa, ultimate elongation is 2.06% and density is 2.2 g/cm3. Some tests have been conducted on GFRP structures, such as beams, cold temperature and durability of GFRP in concrete.

FRP product specification was introduced in the seminar. It addressed the qualification testing, quality control/assurance tests, materials and manufacturing. There are three GFRP bars in Ontario market, Aslan, ComBAR and V-Rod. The design codes of concrete structure with internal FRP reinforcement are CSA S806-02 and CHBDC S-06. There are some calculation examples on moment, cracking width, shear, deflection etc. The 401 WB collectors Bridge #2 over Humber River is a good example on application of GFRP in bridge decks.

On the application of GFRP, bend bars are always a concern. The University of Waterloo carried out the tests and the GFRP bars were supplied by Schoeck Company. The strength of the bent bars was higher than expected, resulting in concrete failure prior to GFRP bar failure. Bonding strength is not negatively affected by bending. For the same anchored length, the peak load was higher for a bent bar.

Bonding is always a top topic in application of GFRP bars in concrete. Extensive tests have been conducted. ‘De-bonding’ appears to be the primary failure mode of GFRP reinforced concrete structure members.

The seminar went very well. It gave many engineers confidence in using GFRP products. On the other hand, it pointed out the different GFRP suppliers have different performance. For example, for the same size, ComBAR bars have much better properties than the other 2 suppliers. It can give the engineers flexibility when they design the structures.

I started my graduate studies in civil engineering in Concordia University in 2005 and got my Master degree in 2007. I got my Profession Engineer designation in last year in Ontario.

My first job in Canada was Technical Sales Representative in Central Ontario for Atlantic Industries Ltd that provides corrugated steel solutions for infrastructure and mining industries. I dealt with engineers in engineering firms to get my products specified and contractors or owners to get the P.O. I always loved innovative products and believe GFRP should have a huge potential market in the near future.

This is one of reason why I started with Schoeck Canada Inc. I am a licensed civil engineer, but I also love to be sales professional. As a salesperson, I always enjoy my achievement when I close a deal. On the other hand, I believe that sales job is to provide a solution to the customers. We actually satisfy the customers’ need through the products sell. I am always proud of myself as a solution provider.