Majestic Close Boardwalk, Dundas Point, Applecross

Dundas Point, Applecross, WA

COMPLETION:

September 2014 (Stage 1) + January 2017 (Stage 2)

PROJECT VALUE:

$500,000 (Stage 1) +  $400,000 (Stage 2)

COLLABORATORS:

City of Melville (Girish Hedge – Project Engineer)

Having evaluated the existing board-walk steel sub-structure at Point Dundas for the City of Melville, it was found to have a 40% mass loss after 23 years. The design decision was made by Airey Taylor Consulting to replace the existing steel substructure columns with concrete reinforced with Glass Fibre Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) to achieve a cost effective, low lifetime maintenance design.

Compression tests undertaken in 2011 by the University of Western Australia validated use of GFRP rods as reinforcement in concrete which are not subject to corrosion displayed by steel. This solution dramatically extends the life of concrete structures in harsh environmental conditions. GFRP simply does not rust in the presence of salt or other corrosion agents – so they dramatically extend the life of structures using them as reinforcement over any other load bearing material. Test results then published by the University of Sherbrooke in Canada in 2013 confirmed the findings.

As a structure where the major design condition is bending and axial stress, the boardwalk at Point Dundas at Applecross for the City of Melville in 2014 was a perfect proof of concept for the use of GFRP; and was the first structure in Western Australia to use GFRP in compression members.

The remaining steel superstructure was replaced with a new easily maintainable ultra high build epoxy paint coated steel structure with GFRP holding down bolts and EPDM gaskets throughout to reduce bi-metallic corrosion effects.

The project is rated at a 75 year design life prior to first maintenance. Airey Taylor Consulting have a national source of supply for GFRP rods for reinforcement and are a leading national designer using this material.

For more information on the use of GFRP please refer to our ‘Innovations’ page.