Footbridge in Příbor

Authors:
Petr Tej, architect and bridge engineer
Marek Blank, architect
Jan Mourek, bridge engineer

…a bridge as a stone laid over the water…
...lapidary bridge…
…a bridge as a sculpture…
…a bridge made of noble materials…

The bridge is designed as a minimalist object made of perfect material. The most important is the sculptural quality of the bridge. The simple geometric form and the removal of everything insignificant allows the visitor to intensely perceive the basic content of this archetype. The form of the bridge is lapidary, a bridge like a stone laid over water is the oldest form of bridges. The surface of the bridge is noble the structure is designed from shiny smooth concrete. The railing is made of round stainless steel bars, the handle is wooden, solid, wide, painted with ship varnish. Lighting of the bridge using lights in the handrail.

The footbridge over the Lubina River in Příbor, Moravia, is a unique segmental construction, the first of its kind in the Czech Republic. The footbridge is designed as a simple beam with a span of 35 meters, which is created by the closure of 5 double-chamber segments of 7.2 m in length, 2.5 m in width and 0.8 m in height. From a static point of view, the structure has a unique slender ratio of 1:44.
The structural material used was UHPFRC class C110 / 130 with dispersed steel fibers, which was developed at the Klokner Institute of the Czech Technical University in Prague. The ultra-high performance fiber reinforced concrete (UHPFRC) is a new high performance cement composite material. Its mechanical properties (compressive strength 120-180 MPa, bending tensile strength approx. 20-40 MPa) and workability allow us to design new constructions of specific parameters and shapes. At the same time, the service life far exceeds similar structures of conventional concrete. Thanks to its exceptional durability, the surface of the structure can be walked on without additional waterproofing and covering surfaces. The footbridge volume is lightened by twenty large polystyrene blocks.

The segments are longitudinally clamped by prestressing cables guided in the longitudinal ribs of the inner grate. Prestressing is, unconventionally for segmented structures, solved by raised cables of parabolic course. A unique protection system of prestressing ropes is designed on the footbridge. The bridge is supported on supports by means of pairs of 200 mm cylindrical roller bearings.