Reinforced elastomeric bearings

A number of bridge decks of the structures of the Blankenburg connection are built elevated on a support structure. To accommodate deformation due to prestressing and/or climatic conditions, the supports are provided with steel-reinforced elastomeric bearings from the company Konstrukom.

"An elastomer bearing is like a sandwich construction of rubber and steel," explains Jan Schoonbeek of Konstrukom. "For the Blankenburg connection, the bearing is constructed of five layers of 12 millimeters of natural rubber and six layers of 4 millimeters thick steel. The bearing is completely 'wrapped' with a polychloroprene shell with a thickness of 2.5 millimeters on the top and bottom and 7.5 millimeters on the four sides. The total dimensions of the elastomeric bearings are 600 by 380 by 89 millimeters."

According to Schoonbeek, the advantage of an elastomeric overlay is its maintenance-free nature. "In the case of a type B bearing, there is no steel on the outside. This means that we can expect a lifespan of up to fifty to one hundred years. The bearings were produced specifically for the Blankenburg connection. That applies to all bearings. It is not a standard product. Everything is custom-made by our supplier in Spain based on the calculation and/or drawings we provide. In this case, by the way, the calculation was provided by CT deBoer, responsible for the support construction."

Konstrukom supplies a wide range of bearings, from unreinforced to the most 'luxurious' sphere segment bearings, which are imported directly from Spain and elsewhere from one of the leading manufacturers in the field of rubber products. In addition, Konstrukom supplies various technical plastics as, for example, thermal bridge interruptions.