FALCON: Future Lightweight Composite Infrastructure

Important results from the project

The main objective of the project has been to create new opportunities for Swedish industry in the market for lightweight bridges made of fiber reinforced composites (FRP). The project has worked around a case, the Neptuni Bridge in Malmö, and focused on how the bridge can be designed with different variants of FRP and hybrid materials, as well as how these relate to traditional material choices in terms of cost and performance. The project has also explored how real-time monitoring sensors can be used to interpret deformations in these materials through laboratory trials and field tests.

Expected long term effects

Through the project, contractors, bridge designers and owners have gained increased knowledge of what it means to use FRP as construction material. Composite manufacturers, on the other hand, have gained insight into the requirements and regulations that apply to bridge construction and procurement. When the project started, there were no FRP bridge applications in Malmö; at the time of writing there are 3, and within one year, the Neptuni Bridge is also expected to be in place. The results and lessons learned in the project have had a direct impact on the investments in Malmö.

Approach and implementation

In the project, 14 participants from the entire value chain gathered, i.e. researchers, bridge designers, composite manufacturers, suppliers, contractors and owners. The Swedish Transport Administration acted as a reference partner. The project was divided into 6 work packages including design, manufacture, monitoring and procurement. Through several networking workshops, we have laid the groundwork for the platform required to build future cost-effective and innovative FRP bridges, thereby opening up a new market segment for manufacturing companies in Sweden.