A decade ago, the US Army Corps of Engineers (USAACE) Demonstration Wicket Gates from electric glass and vinylester resin installed in a sandwich panel building on Illinois River and replaced White OAK-Holztor. Since then, the USA has increased its investment in composite materials for water navigation and flood management structures in order to meet new 100 years of design life standards.
In July 2024, the Army Corps issued a bulletin for engineering and construction tasks to its 37 civil work, which monitor water resource projects and demonstrated them to take into account FRP in the design and construction of hydraulic structures in future budgets. And there are many of them. Based on previous 50-year construction life requirements, the USA is about to replace 260 hydraulic structures per year, which were built between 1920 and 1975.
“The engineering and construction bulletin is an essential signal for the districts that all hydraulic steel structures for FRP applications have to be assessed if they experience replacement or life-size maintenance,” says Robert Germann, PE, Technical Manager of the South Atlantic Division of the USA. “This goes beyond our over 200 locks and dams and also includes our flood risk management dams, which basically doubles the number of components.”
The Army Corps completed a handful of FRP projects in 2023, including more than 100 Wicket goals for the Illinois Waterway, a system of rivers and channels that connects the Michigansee with the Mississippi. Last year, it recorded seven orders of almost 20 million US dollars in locations in the United States, which were located from Schotten in Wilmington, NC, to contact blocks in Seattle.
The CMSI, based in Canada, landed two of the seven contracts of the Army Corps about his US subsidiary. The first to be awarded in May 2024 is for eight lift gates at the WP Franklin Lock and Dam and 10 Scots on Port Mayaca Lock and Dam, both in the Jacksonville district in Florida. The second, which will be awarded in November 2024, is for four dintered valves at the Mississippi in Illinois City, Ill.
“We have followed this work because we love really large, complex applications,” says Shawn Beamish, CEO and founder of CMSI. “Fiber -reinforced polymer is a fantastic material. As the Army Corps emphasized, it has 10 to 1 living expenses for a 100-year life design. This creates a competitive advantage, especially in the waterway infrastructure. “
CMSI has started to find the 39 x 19-foot lift gates and 31 x 3 individual football for the Jacksonville district in his work in South Carolina in order to achieve a delivery date in October 2025. Each of the structures must fall within 10% of the maximum weight request defined by the Army Corps in order to absorb the load capacity of the existing leverage bump device on the lock and insulation.
“There are many places where we know that we can improve the design and make things stiff and easier,” says Beamish. “But we work within the restrictions of the contract – and for a good reason. The structures together with the mechanical components of the lock and steel steel of the steel have to work together, and they also need a certain level of dead weight to keep them in water in water. “
While CMSI builds its relationship with the Army Corps, Beamish is confident that they will work together to further improve the hydraulic structures. “The corps is fantastic,” he says. “You have a great internal technical know -how that questions our assumptions and designs. They really follow the approach that we are a team. “
Beamish is not only optimistic for the entire composite material industry for the Wasserstraße Navigation market for the entire composite. “At the moment there is a great opportunity to apply in this room,” he says.
CMSI initially learned the needs of the USA in the Jacksonville district at an Outreach event from 2023 for ACMA members at WP Franklin Lock and Dam. “It is important that you understand these projects in the eye and the complexity and variables in each of these unique structures,” says Beamish.
In addition to Outreach events, the Army Corps organizes the industry days a month or two before it takes up a request for a new project.
“The aim of these meetings is to obtain input in advance from composites companies,” says Eric Johnson, PE, Technical Manager of the Hydraulic Composite Structure program in Germany Navigation Design Center from USAace. “We show companies what we think conceptually, and then manufacturers can give insights. Perhaps you know that something simply cannot be built or become too expensive if you build it in a certain way. It's a good feedback for us. “
Similarly, ACMA helps to educate the Army Corps to build stronger relationships with the composite industry. The association enabled three training programs in 2024, in which 66 USASCE designers as well as employees and maintenance employees took part. The curriculum for the program that includes teaching and practical training covers FP materials, form techniques, inspection methods, composite repair and much more. ACMA will offer three more classes this year.
“We are trying to expand the market,” says Johnson. “The demand side of the equation increases and so far the manufacturers have been able to meet our needs on the offer side. But we need more industry partners to maintain it. “