**7.2 Guiding beams**

Guiding structures are placed near bridges or lock gates in canals to guide ships and prevent damaging the infra structure. Traditionally, these structures consist of a steel frame with horizontal guiding beams. These beams are normally made of tropical hard wood (e.g. azobé) and typically have dimensions of 200 x 200 x 4000 mm. In 2019 guide beams were made from re-used EoL thermoset composite to replace the lowest two rows of four guiding structures at Groningen Seaports in Delfzijl, The Netherlands [3]. Because the lowest two rows of guiding beams in a guiding structure are located around and under the water level, this is the location where normally tropical hardwood beams suffer most from fungi attack and re-used EoL thermoset composite will be more durable. **Figure 12** shows a photograph of one of the four guiding structures. The four rows above the water level are made from tropical hardwood.

The strength needed to resist a possible ship collision for a single beam is defined for a single beam as 440 kN when mounted at a support distance of 1800 mm. To achieve this, additional layers of UD-glass reinforcement had to be incorporated into the beam. A prototype beam was tested in three-point bending with a support distance of 1800 mm and a maximum force of 515 kN was recorded. After this successful test, 112 meters of guiding beams were produced using a steel mould with an RTM injection process. The beams have been installed in Delfzijl in October 2019.
