FRP reinforcement against stray current for De Lijn
Double Ø8 mm glass-fibre nets in a De Lijn tram track, so the slab under the rails does not carry stray return current.
For a De Lijn tram track, Fibr Factory supplied glass-fibre mesh instead of steel in the track bed. The reinforcement is a double net of Ø8 mm, set on plastic chairs between the rails before the pour.
Tram return current is meant to stay in the rails. Where it leaks into the ground it becomes stray current, and a steel cage in the slab gives that current a path. The steel then corrodes, even when the concrete still looks sound. Glass fibre does not conduct, so the mesh does not pick the current up and does not rust from it.
The nets are light enough to place by hand in the narrow track bed, between the rails and the fastenings. A double Ø8 mm layer reinforces the slab without putting a conductive grid under the track.
On this site the glass-fibre nets sit in the track bed. Conventional steel reinforcement remains in the neighbouring bays. The change is where stray current would otherwise meet steel: directly under the rails.
Non-conductive. Corrosion-free. Built for the tram track.
