Construction was completed on the world’s first Fibre Reinforced Polymer (FRP) wharf at Pinkenba in July 2018 for Wagners at their Pinkenba cement facility in Brisbane. Having been designed for large bulk handling vehicles, and equipment, including mooring forces from a 40,000t vessel, the wharf will be expecting a new vessel every 3 weeks.
icubed have been involved with designing, testing and overseeing construction of the 252m long, 16m wide wharf, which was constructed using Wagners Composite Fibre Technologies FRP girders, acting compositely with an FRP reinforced concrete deck utilising Earth Friendly Concrete (EFC). The combination of these materials provides a completely non-ferrous construction solution for extreme durability.
The combined use of EFC for the concrete components and FRP beams for the deck components significantly reduced the total carbon footprint of the project. The FRP beams and EFC design saved in excess of 1300 tonnes of carbon dioxide compared to a conventional steel and GP cement deck.
Further to this the EFC concrete provides higher flexural strength, lower shrinkage and high resistance to acid, chlorides and sulphates.The deck can withstand Australian Standard Bridge Code design vehicles, plus large moxy and forklift loads, and loading in accordance with the maritime structures code.
The construction of this project is a milestone for both icubed and Wagners, as there are no Australian Standards on the design of reinforced slabs or structures using FRP materials. icubed chose to design the wharf using the Canadian Structures code, as their research into FRP slabs is at the forefront of the developing technology.
Photo credit: icubed consulting wishes to thank Russell Genrich and Wagner’s Group Holding for the use of the photo of the first vessel arriving at the wharf.
