Today's KNOWLEDGE Share : Hengshen carbon fibre cables

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share 

Hengshen carbon fibre supports one of the world’s tallest bridges:

The first main cable strand of the Huajiang Canyon Bridge, one of the world’s highest bridges under construction located in China’s Guizhou province, was successfully installed, realizing stress monitoring by using grating optical fibre (composite carbon fibre filament) on the 2,378-metre-long main cable.

The intelligent carbon fibre cables used in the project were jointly designed by Hengshen, China’s major carbon fibre and composite materials producer, and Three Gorges University, and manufactured by Hengshen. The company underlines that “this fully proves Hengshen’s technical strength and product quality, and highlights the company’s competitiveness and influence in the field of intelligent monitoring of carbon fibre composite materials.”

The application of this stress and strain monitoring technology on a long-span suspension bridge is the first of its kind in the world, taking a key step towards innovation and empowerment of intelligent condition monitoring for suspension bridges, according to Hengshen.

The smart cable is a fibre optic array sensing device installed in the main cable strands of the bridge to perform condition monitoring of the main cable. It is equivalent to the “nervous system” of the bridge’s main cable. The safety of the main body of the bridge is monitored through the stress changes of the cable strands. A network fibre is also configured to monitor the temperature and humidity of the cable’s internal environment. The aim is to monitor and understand whether the internal environment of the cable affects the durability of the main cable and whether the outer protection of the main cable is damaged. In addition, the smart cable is also equipped with a dehumidification system to ensure that the internal humidity of the main cable is within a reasonable range, to effectively protect the main cable, preventing corrosion, and extending its service life. 

“With the continuous development of science and technology, Hengshen people will keep on making improvements and breakthroughs to help the rapid development of intelligent health monitoring of suspension bridges in China“, says Hengshen. The company has five thousand-ton carbon fibre production lines with an annual production capacity of 5,000 tons of carbon fibre. The product portfolio covers raw silk, carbon fibre, sizing agents, fabrics, liquid resins, adhesives, prepregs, carbon fibre composite parts, and aviation composite structural parts. 

source:Hengshen/jeccomposites.com