U.S. Patent 8,677,720, “Precast concrete pile with carbon fiber reinforced grid,” is a new technology promising to dramatically extend the service life of precast concrete bridge piles by dramatically improving their corrosion resistance through the use of carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) grid.
The technology is a composite support structure with a plurality of support strands surrounded by a CFRP mesh and encapsulated by structural concrete. The support structure provides high corrosive resistance in additional to various advantages in withstanding compressive, tensile and shear loading as compared to carbon steel spirals commonly used in piles today.
AltusGroup intends to market the technology as a CarbonCast product line extension into the pile market sector – its first major foray into the DOT and transportation segment. The CarbonCast brand name is already associated with CarbonCast Enclosure Systems for building exteriors and CarbonCast Double Tees for structured parking. All CarbonCast products use C-GRID CFRP grid from Chomarat NA, LLC, as a carbon fiber composite reinforcing material.
