In the search for more validated circular viaducts, Rijkswaterstaat launched the Circular Viaducts SBIR ('Small Business Innovation Research') call at the beginning of 2020. From all proposals submitted, the BESIX - NEY & Partners consortium was one of the ten parties selected to further develop their circular concept. In recent months, the team has worked hard to elaborate a feasibility study on technical feasibility, environmental impact and economic perspective.
Circulair Boogviaduct
The concept of the BESIX - NEY & Partners consortium consists of the Circular Arc Viaduct: a dismountable viaduct made up of arch elements consisting of Ultra-High Strength Fibre Reinforced Concrete and a substructure of circular geopolymer concrete with 100% recycled building materials and renewable pile foundations.
The strength of the Circular Arc Viaduct consists of the following core themes:
Substantial material reduction through the application of Ultra-High Strength Fibre Reinforced Concrete
A modular, demountable and reusable design
Application of renewable and low environmental impact materials in the substructure and foundation.
By means of ‘form finding’, a design has been developed for the Circular Arc Viaduct which is technically feasible, with a reduction in the environmental cost of up to 52% and a reduction in the TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) of 15%.
This feasibility study was carried out with our partners VITO, Haitsma, ResourceFull, Franki Grondtechnieken, Maurer and Université Libre de Bruxelles.
Next stage
On 16 March 2021, all 10 selected parties submitted their feasibility study of their circular viaduct and on 23 April, Rijkswaterstaat will announce which three parties will proceed to the next phase to test and validate their concept, with the aim of having a validated total concept for a circular viaduct by 2022.