Software Offers More Precise Match Cast Bridge Building

Brief 

Spanish construction company Acciona has adopted new software that takes into account variations during concreting of sections to improve its Match Cast system for bridge building. The SeCAC software geometrically defines manufactured bridge segments and adjusts the dimensions of each section according to concrete.

Insight

Leading Spanish infrastructure major Acciona, through the collaboration of its R&D+i Department with its Roads and Bridges specialised business unit, has developed new geometric control software for manufacturing the concrete segments used for bridges constructed using the Match Cast method.

This methodology involves manufacturing concrete segments using the previous segment as a mould and a geometric reference to ensure a perfect fit when the segments are assembled, said a statement from Acciona.

The SeCAC software guides the user during the process to geometrically define the segments and their subsequent manufacturing in the factory, recalculating new dimensional values for each piece, enabling potential variations that may have occurred during the concreting phase of the previous segment to be corrected, it stated.

Acciona had launched the development of this new software after constructing the bridge over the Roskilde Fjord in Denmark and the viaduct for Dubai Metro 2020 project.Both projects reaffirmed the need for a tool that can centralise and automate these processes, which to date has been performed by external software and tools.

This new software will enable Acciona to be more competitive and self-sufficient when constructing bridges using this method, which will generate significant cost savings as well as reducing construction times and minimising the social impact among local communities.