Civil Engineering Award for construction art with Swiss contribution

New material for a classic construction: The cables made of carbon fiber-reinforced polymeres and their attachment to the two bridge arches. Image: sbp/Andreas Schnubel - Elegant, efficient and groundbreaking: The fine-span light rail bridge in Stuttgart-Degerloch was awarded the German Civil Engineering Award 2022 - because of its innovative design as a network arch bridge with carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer cables. A premiere, which was also made possible by experts from Empa and its spin-off Carbo-Link AG with many years of research and development work. The jury of the important German state prize for structural engineering explained its decision by stating that "as an innovation, the network arch bridge with carbon fiber-reinforced polymer cables with carbon hangers is an extremely successful example of civil engineering worldwide and provides formative answers to current issues in civil engineering". The prize is worth 30,000 euros and goes to the internationally active engineering firm schlaich bergermann partner, sbp, headquartered in Stuttgart, which implemented the bridge from the initial designs to the finished structure - with the active support of experts from Empa and the company Carbo-Link AG in Fehraltorf, which originated as a spin-off company of Empa and was able to contribute its experience with carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRP). Originally, the bridge had been planned with conventional steel hangers before Lorenz Haspel from the sbp team had the idea of replacing the steel cables with prestressed CFRP hangers.