The Future-Bridge seminar
On September 29, Jarosław Popiołek, CEO of Mostostal Warszawa, launched an international seminar devoted to the construction of polymer composite bridges. The conference hosted by Mostostal and Acciona Infrastruktura was organised as part of the Future-Bridge project.
The meeting brought together representatives from the academic community, construction companies and industry media. The main objective was to present up-to-date information about the Future-Bridge project. During his speech, the Mostostal Warszawa CEO stressed that polymer composites may bear large significance for the development of the construction market, specifically when it comes to bridge construction. He also added that for Mostostal, its involvement in the project was obvious as the company is inextricably tied to engineering construction and the company's project portfolio includes both the longest as well as the most modern bridges in Poland. Jarosław Popiołek expressed his thanks for the Warsaw University of Technology's support in organising the project.
The topic of the first presentation delivered by Henryk Zobel, Head of the Land Engineering Department at the Warsaw University of Technology, was bridge crossings in the capital, the modernisation of which will involve polymer composites. Next, the project coordinator, Javier Bonilla Diaz from Acciona Infrastruktura, discussed the project. Greatly appreciated was the lecture on polymer component bridges erected across Europe and throughout the world prepared by Claude Renard from OCV Reinforcements. The presentation by Mostostal Warszawa concerning composite component production technologies (beams, plates, partition walls) was delivered by Agnieszka Giluń from the Analysis and Development Department.
Martin Poljansek from the EU's Joint Research Centre (JRC) presented test results for a 14-metre long composite beam. The data collected from the tests will be used for the purposes of the project to build two bridges with a load support system made entirely of composite materials. The presentation delivered by the Macedonian company Mikrosom was also greatly appreciated, which addressed the composite production process automation options for reducing production costs.