Introduction

ILWONTECH CO., LTD. is a professional company that specializes in the maintenance and safety diagnosis for the facilities and has carried out the repair/reinforcement and safety diagnosis for the bridge structure since the establishment in 1999. Based on the construction technology and many experiences, we have found the problem of expansion joint in the existing bridge and registered 20 different types of patent on a new device by developing it as a product which is easy to maintain and manage.

An expansion joint is a main component used in the construction of a bridge as well as a bridge support, and it can make a smooth movement of bridge slab caused by the temperature change, drying shrinkage, live load etc. This expansion joint is frequently damaged among bridge members caused by the increase of traffic load, installation and careless repair. Also, the failure of expansion joint accelerates the malfunction of bridge support and the carbonation of a bridge concrete as drain water and sewage flow to the under part of bridge structure. Further, it causes a bad ride and traffic accident, and the frequent repair can cause the traffic congestion so that it is required to have a simple maintenance method to increase the durability of expansion joint. Therefore, our company designed a new expansion joint, called Long-run Expansion Joint System, as a solution for the inefficient method of the construction process in the existing expansion Joints.

The company also developed an Earthquake-resistant Expansion Joints which make three movements in direction of X, Y and Z axles for the occurrence of earthquake as small and large scaled earthquakes has recently occurred in Korea. This system can minimize the bridge damage when applied with damper, which is an earthquake dissipation device and bridge vibration isolator, and it can be reused when the earthquake is terminated so that it is expected to minimize the maintenance cost.