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Asia

Europe

Middle East

Pacific

North America

South America

Steel Construction

Building the extraordinary Vlaardingse Vaart Bridge

Client

Constructiebedrijf Hillebrand

Location

Middelburg, the Netherlands

Industry

Steel Construction

Machine

Client

Constructiebedrijf Hillebrand

Location

Middelburg, the Netherlands

Machine

Case Study RPC 1200 Mk3

HGG Case Study at Constructiebedrijf Hillebrand

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About this case

introduction

The Vlaardingse Vaart Bridge, also called The Twist, is a 45m long helical truss bridge for pedestrian and bicycle traffic. It’s located in Vlaardingen, a city in the outskirts of Rotterdam, The Netherlands. It links two neighboring suburbs and is therefore a critical connection in the region’s bicycle path network

45

Meter long bridge

The Twist

400

Tubes of steel

The Twist

2009

Year of completion

The Twist

100

Tons of steel

The Twist

The bridge

The bridge’s truss is made out of 400 steel tubes welded together, galvanized and painted red. The truss’s rectangular cross-section twists through a 90° angle along the entire span of the bridge, so that it is diamond-shaped in the bridge’s center and nearly horizontal at both ends of the structure.

This design also serves a functional purpose – reducing vibrations from traffic on the bridge. Made of box sections it twists on a horizontal axis, and the constantly changing sections are the perfect design to absorb the vibration produced by cyclists crossing over, thus reinforcing the bridge’s movement.

Due to the twisted shape all diagonals made of box section were unique positions. This made it almost impossible to achieve the desired results by manual cutting.

Hildebrand construction

Constructiebedrijf Hillebrand did all the engineering, manufacturing and assembly work on the Vlaardingse Vaart bridge. Hillebrand is an innovative Dutch company highly experienced in building complex steel constructions. All the box section cutting was performed at the HGG’s cutting facility in Wieringerwerf, The Netherlands.

The CAD package data of the unique design was successfully converted into CNC data files for HGG’s beam cutting machine, the RPC, without the need for further processing. The accurately realized cuts resulted in fast and easy fitting and welding of the box sections into the complex structural design.

Being a finalist at the Dutch Design Awards

Constructed largely on-site and prefabricated in a temporary shed, the bridge was lifted into place in 2009. The transportation and the commissioning onto the foundation frame went flawlessly executed and was an impressive sight to witness for the hundreds of spectators who attended the inauguration.
Due to the extraordinary design the bridge was one of three finalists in the Best Public Space category for the Dutch Design Awards in 2009, while it was previously called ‘an engineering failure’

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RPC 1200 Mk3

Industry

Offshore, Steel construction

Process

Plasma

Profile
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