World's first 3D-printed bridge

For the project ‘Noord-Om’ (a new ring road) in Gemert (The Netherlands), the world’s first 3D-concrete printed bike bridge is constructed. Witteveen+Bos designed and engineered the 3D-concrete printed bridge. The use of pre-tensioned 3D-concrete printed elements is an unique development within the 3D-concrete printing world. The concept is fully lab tested under the guidance of Witteveen+Bos.

This project was initiated by general contractor BAM as part of a larger infrastructure project. The bridge, intended for bicycle traffic, crosses a small local canal in Gemert, the Netherlands. It spans 6.5 m and is 3.5 m wide. It consists of 6 segments, printed horizontally and rotated 90 degrees before being assembled by post-tensioned prestress tendons that keep the entire section in compression. The bridge elements were printed at the TU/e 3DCP facility, transported and assembled on site. The TU/e performed extensive material testing, assembly mock-ups as well as a 1:2 scale 4-point bending test. In addition, the TU/e provided extensive design support. An in-situ test was performed on the bridge before it was being approved and opened for general use on October 17th, 2017.

Project partners

• Client: Province Noord-Brabant, the Netherlands,
• General contractor, initiator: BAM Infra, the Netherlands,
• Structural design and engineering: Witteveen+Bos consulting engineers, the Netherlands,
• Research, print design and manufacturing of printed elements: Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands,
• Material supplier print mortar: Saint-Gobain Weber Beamix, the Netherlands,
• Prestress system and application: Dywidag, the Netherlands,
• Reinforcement cable supplier: Bekaert NV, Belgium.