Post tensioned granite – Slender designs are our strength.
As solid as necessary, as slim as possible.
The underlying idea of a bridge is to overcome boundaries. Post tensioned granite bridges from Kusser take that literally. Our sophisticated technology means the link between two shores can be more slender than ever before. But this lightweight appearance shouldn’t be the only benefit.
Pared-down design, fantastic benefits.
- More than twice as slender compared with steel-concrete bridges
- Maintenance-free for decades
- Sandblasted: non-slip, walkable in all weathers
- Prefabricated in our factory and installed swiftly on site
- Available as a complete solution (including planning, production and installation)
- Prestressed granite for pedestrian bridges, pond bridges, stairways, works of art, supports or pillars, beams and lots more
The most beautiful marriage between aesthetics and load-bearing capacity.
Essentially we just wanted to bring to life the rather daring idea of an art professor from Münster/Germany. His aim was this: to build a doppelganger or lookalike of the earth’s axis on the scale of 1:1 million on the square in front of the main train station in Magdeburg/Germany. The heavy sculpture, over 12 metres long and weighing 10 tons, was to rotate at the correct angle of tilt and in sync with its sister axis. Wondering how we could possibly achieve this aim filled our minds for almost one whole year. And by the end of all our mental efforts and demanding brain work, not only had we implemented Professor Timm Ulrich’s idea but we had also developed a new form of technology: that of prestressed granite.
The principle of prestressing.
During the development of prestressed granite, it was necessary for the stone to provide a stability which had not been bestowed upon it by Mother Nature. At least not in such a lean, slender and streamlined form as we were intent on achieving. The solution: prestressing. When granite is being prestressed, steel strands compress the structural component in a perfect field of tension between tensile and compressive tension. So as to ensure permanent protection against corrosion, the prestressed links are fed into greased plastic cladding tubes, which are themselves protected by a second plastic tube. The result: astounding robustness, resilience and load-bearing capacity coupled with a floating gracefulness.
