ATA Engineering, Inc., has developed ARCS™, a lightweight, rapidly deployable modular bridge system for use in a wide range of applications.  Developed under an SBIR grant from the U.S. Army’s Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC), ARCS provides highly transportable temporary gap-crossing solutions suitable for assault, tactical, and line-of-communication missions. The bridge system utilizes modular construction extensively to facilitate on-demand hardware configurations to satisfy a broad range of load and span requirements. Comprehensive finite element analysis has shown that the bridge system can accommodate military or commercial vehicles weighing up to 100 tons in crossing spans of 8 to 12 meters (25 to 40 feet). The adaptive design allows the bridge span to be further increased in exchange for reduced vehicle load capacity. For instance, a 32 meter (105 foot) bridge span can be deployed and crossed by a 45 ton vehicle.

The structural concept employed in the ARCS bridge system is an efficient tied arch in which aluminum trusses are interleaved to achieve high strength while also facilitating the folding of the bridge into a compact package for transportation and storage. The modular truss unit serves as the building block of the bridge system, providing both the roadway and structural support. Repeated module instantiations are assembled to form bridge segments, which are in turn connected together to achieve a customizable bridge span. The end-user is thereby able to tailor the bridge span and load capacity on a mission-by-mission basis. Extensive design, analysis, and test programs were conducted to optimize the module’s form, construction, and materials, and capable designs were demonstrated for bridges composed of either traditional metallic or lightweight composite materials.

Because a complete, deployment-ready 24 meter (80 foot) bridge fits in an ISO standard 40 foot intermodal shipping container, the ARCS system fulfills the need for a “bridge-in-a-box.” The bridge folds up into a stack of hinged segments that can be easily handled by forklift, allowing stowage in a shipping container for transport of a complete bridge system by road, rail, sea, or air (C-130). Additionally, kinematic computer simulations were used to demonstrate that scissor and accordion-type deployments can be made from existing launch vehicles.

Prototype Construction and Field Testing

A prototype version of the ARCS bridge system was built and tested at ATA’s facility in Southern California. Developed to accommodate crossing by a 30 ton vehicle over a 12 meter (40 foot) gap, the bridge was composed of six segments constructed from interleaved aluminum modules. The prototype bridge was traversed with a cargo van and a heavy-duty forklift to demonstrate capability for wheeled vehicles. In the absence of an available tracked vehicle, the prototype bridge was successfully loaded with 84,000 lbs of steel plate to represent normal crossing by a 36 ton tank, inclusive of requisite safety factors. Strain gage, displacement, and acceleration measurements were made throughout the load tests to monitor the bridge’s performance and to validate analysis predictions. Based on the relatively low material stresses observed during this load test, it is expected that the prototype bridge could successfully pass requisite load tests for 70-ton vehicles.

Future Applications

The bridging technology provided by ARCS can relieve the Army of much of its logistical burden of supporting multiple systems and, as such, the US Army is identified as the prime customer. The ease of transportation and other logistical benefits of the system could benefit other applications, including Roll-On Roll-Off (RoRo) ramps for the Navy, emergency bridging solutions for National Guard and FEMA applications, and construction vehicle impact abatement in sensitive environmental areas. The Navy could employ a shipboard ARCS system for equipment transfer in undeveloped or damaged ports, and similarly, disaster relief agencies such as FEMA and the National Guard could benefit from the adaptable, lightweight bridging system to gain access to areas made unreachable by damaged roads, flooding, or other hazards. This system can also provide heavy construction equipment access to areas without roads or across terrain with natural gaps while avoiding potentially fragile landscape. ATA is in the process of exploring these and other potential markets.

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ARCS Benefit Summary

• Variable span length—Assembly of different bridge spans in increments of 2 m. For example, the system is designed to accommodate a gap range from 8 m to 32 m for a MLC45 loading classification simply by changing the number of segments from 4 to 16. The system likewise enables crossing by heavier vehicles, potentially up to MLC100, at reduced maximum spans.
• Adaptable load capacity—Accommodation of higher load categories by adding modules to widen and strengthen segments.
• Inventory control—Modules and segments can be warehoused and configured as required for a specific campaign.
• Manufacturing efficiency—Production can be streamlined around the design of the bridge module instead of a catalog of components.
• Construction material options—Bridge systems can be made from metallic, composite, or timber materials based on cost/capability requirements.
• Repair/maintenance logistics—A damaged module or segment can be switched out easily.
• Shipping convenience—A complete 24 m bridge fits in an ISO 40 ft container for road, rail, and sea transportation and in a C-130 cargo bay for air transportation.
• Deployment method—The system is suitable for scissor and collapsing deployment from a lightweight launch vehicle using a support guide.

Product Brochure

Click here for the ARCS Brochure