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Bridge Expansion Joint System – BEJS Overview

Watertight, traffic durable, new & retrofit bridge expansion joint seal

Bridge Expansion Joint System (BEJS) is a traffic-durable bridge and roadway expansion joint which provides a primary watertight seal. It is designed to handle harsh environmental conditions and features greater movement capability, better low temperature flexibility and higher temperature stability than other technologies. Non-invasive anchoring provides for quick turnaround and repairs. The BEJS System helps prevent and/or decrease maintenance costs to bridge bearing pads and support structures. Primarily designed for D.O.T./Infrastructure markets, it is ideal for new construction and retrofit of old or failed bridge expansion joint systems in: Concrete-to-concrete substrates / Rebuilt joint faces / Where demolition and removal of existing embedded metal angles is not feasible or affordable / As a lasting replacement for all failed liquid-sealant joints in parapets, sidewalks, jersey-barriers, etc.

The system is comprised of a precompressed, silicone-and-foam hybrid installed into field-applied epoxy adhesive on the joint faces, with the silicone bellows locked to the joint faces with a silicone sealant band. The BEJS SYSTEM features a hydrophobic acrylic impregnation infused into the cellular foam base material resulting in low-temperature flexibility not available in asphalt, wax, or isobutylene-based products.

Available on reels for smaller gap widths (1/2″ – 1 1/4″ / 12mm – 30mm) or a sticks for larger gap widths (1 1/2″ – 4″ / 35mm – 100mm).

Bridge Expansion Joint System – BEJS Overview

Watertight, traffic durable, new & retrofit bridge expansion joint seal

BEJS watertight bridge expansion joint by Sika EMSEAL
BEJS in strip seal Bridge Expansion Joint from Sika EMSEAL
Lee Bridge Expansion joint BEJS by Sika EMSEAL full of gravel
Bridge expansion joints what's different about tensionless BEJS from Sika EMSEAL
Bridge Expansion Joint BEJS newly restored steel angles Sika EMSEAL
BEJS Bridge expansion joint in skewed parapet by Sika EMSEAL
Bridge expansion joint sealant BOR from Sika EMSEAL
End of Kickout Termination visible extending beyond the edge of retrofitted bridge deck.
Bride expansion joint fills rough joint edges
BEJS SYSTEM in Typical Concrete Substrates (new or retrofit)
BEJS SYSTEM in New or Rebuilt Joint Edges with EMCRETE Nosing Material
BEJS SYSTEM in Existing metal angle substrates (retrofit)
Bridge expansion joint installing the sealant band on BEJS from Sika EMSEAL
Bridge expansion joint innovation Sika EMSEAL BEJS System
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BEJS watertight bridge expansion joint by Sika EMSEAL

BEJS in strip seal Bridge Expansion Joint from Sika EMSEAL

Bridge expansion joints what's different about tensionless BEJS from Sika EMSEAL

BEJS lengths installed into existing metal angles as a retrofit solution.

BEJS Bridge expansion joint in skewed parapet by Sika EMSEAL

Bridge expansion joint sealant BOR from Sika EMSEAL

End of Kickout Termination visible extending beyond the edge of retrofitted bridge deck.

GOT IT ROUGH? There is no quicker, more effective, and more reliable way to retrofit bridge expansion joints than with Sika EMSEAL BEJS. Manufactured much wider than the joint gap and precompressed to less than the joint size, BEJS installs rapidly. While super resilient and traffic durable, it is also pliant and able to fill joint face irregularities. This reduces time and cost of joint edge repair. This means your budget and time goes further in fixing more bridges. Oh, and we should remind you that BEJS from EMSEAL is WATERTIGHT. This means water and salt are kept off your rockers, beams and columns and that means bridge preservation.

BEJS SYSTEM in Typical Concrete Substrates (new or retrofit)

BEJS SYSTEM in New or Rebuilt Joint Edges with EMCRETE Nosing Material

BEJS SYSTEM in Existing metal angle substrates (retrofit)

Bridge expansion joint installing the sealant band on BEJS from Sika EMSEAL

Features

  • Watertight, tensionless silicone bellows
  • Traffic durable
  • Pre-compressed
  • Primary seal
  • Uniquely handles skewed joints and shear movements
  • Rapid installation—new or retrofit
  • Non-invasive anchoring
  • Staged installation preserves traffic flow
  • Joint-face adhered
  • Continuity of seal through curbs, sidewalks, parapets

Sizes

1/2″ – 1 1/4″ (12mm – 35mm) — Supplied on a reel (See below**)
1 1/2″ – 4″ (40mm – 100mm) — Straight run stick

View complete BEJS sizing chart

Movement

  • Total 120% (+60% and -60%) of nominal supplied size
  • Handles shear and/or skewed joints up to 100% of nominal material size combined (thermal + shear) movements. Consult Emseal for your specific condition

Color

Black

Uses

  • Replaces old or failed bridge expansion joint systems
  • Ideal for concrete-to-concrete substrates
  • For nosing material-repaired substrates,
  • Metal reinforced edges where demolition and removal of existing embedded metal angles is not feasible or affordable.
  • As a replacement for failed strip-seal inserts
  • As replacement for failed bolt-down joint systems
  • Ideal for phased night time maintenance
  • To seal the joint under asphaltic-plug joints
  • To seal control joints under continuous asphalt roadway surfaces
  • Other applications such as jersey barriers, precast panels, wing walls, etc.

Features Explained

Watertight—the tensionless silicone bellows is installed just below the deck surface. This ensures watertightness is achieved at the deck surface.

Unlike liquid-applied sealants, compression seals, and inflated seals, the BEJS System does not rely on adhesion in tension.  Instead the material is precompressed in the factory ensuring that the spring energy of compression is always pushing back on the substrate.

BEJS is not like other foam-based (EVA) expansion joints.  BEJS is supplied precompressed to less than the joint size.  It is held in compression by its packaging. When released it expands. BEJS, properly sized, is never in tension in the joint. This is the key to its performance.

BEJS is coated at a width that exceeds the maximum expected joint opening. Expansion is faster when hot and slower when cold.

Older technologies don’t perform to the standards of BEJS. Liquid sealants and asphaltic plugs fail in extension due to tensile stresses at the bondline or within the system. Closed-cell foams (EVA-types), rubber compression seals, and inflated seals all fail from tensile stresses at their bond lines after compression set takes place.

Non-Invasive Anchoring—there are no hard metal-to-concrete connections as those found in systems with embedded pins, anchors, screws, bolts or tracks, trays or rails. Instead, BEJS is locked to the joint faces by means of the 1) backpressure of the foam; 2) the epoxy adhesive; and 3) the injected silicone sealant band at the joint face to foam and silicone bellows interface.

Continuity of Seal—as in all Sika Emseal expansion joint systems, continuity of seal through changes in plane and direction is an essential performance differentiator. Details for watertight, field-fabricated transitions from deck to wall, at curbs, sidewalks, parapets, tees, and crosses are available with the BEJS System.

Aesthetics & Versatility—Both sticks and reels are supplied with a standard bellows surface color of black (gray and other custom colors are also available). They feature uniform bellows appearance, fuel resistance, and an enhanced ability to handle variations in joint size are among other system features.

Installation—Fast, easy, and can be staged to preserve partial traffic flow. Under average conditions and temperatures, BEJS provides a driveable surface within an hour of installation.

Composition

  • BEJS sticks and reels are produced by coating an impregnated cellular foam with AASHTO-approved, Sikasil WS-295 traffic-grade silicone.
  • The expanding foam is cellular polyurethane foam impregnated with a water-based acrylic.
  • The silicone external facing is factory applied to the foam at a width greater than maximum joint extension and is cured before final compression.
  • Silicone application and curing takes place in a factory-controlled environment. In contrast to field-applied liquid sealant and backer rod installations, no movement takes place during curing that can cause deformation or stresses in the material.
  • When compressed, a bellows is created in the coating. As joint movement occurs the bellows simply folds and unfolds free of tension on the bond line, and virtually free of tensile stresses in the silicone material. Sizes 1/2-inch (12mm) through 1 1/4-inch (35mm) have a single-curve convex bellows; sizes from 1 1/2-inch (40mm) through 4-inches (100mm) have a dual-curve convex bellows.
  • The foam provides a resilient backing to the silicone coating, making the system capable of resisting reasonable transient point loads.
  • BEJS SYSTEM is supplied in sticks [6.56 LF (2m) shrink-wrapped lengths] or reels [12 LF (3.65m) wrapped reels] depending on its width. It is precompressed to less than the joint size for easy insertion. After removal from the shrink-wrap and hard board restraining packaging, it expands gradually.

Design Considerations

  • Substrates must be parallel, plumb and capable of resisting approx. 2.5 psi backpressure from the foam.
  • Fuel Resistance: Silicone sealant is not degraded by contact with fuel. Some swelling of the material will normally occur, but it will return to its original shape upon evaporation of the fuel.

Transitions and Terminations

Universal-90’s
(US Patent 9,200,437; 9,637,915)

  • Factory-Fabricated Terminations and Transitions—in all Sika Emseal expansion joint systems, continuity of seal through changes in plane and direction is an essential performance differentiator.
  • BEJS is manufactured in straight-run sticks which can be joined in the field to Emseal’s patented “Universal-90” Transitions and Terminations.
  • These factory-fabricated single-piece 90-degree units have a 12-inch long leg and a 6-inch vertical piece on each end of the elbow.   The Universal-90’s are symmetrically coated on both sides.  This allows them to be installed as an upturn or as a downturn.  Either leg can be trimmed in the field to connect to straight run material or to another Universal-90 when going, for example, up and over a curb and/or parapet.
  • Universal-90 terminations end, on the 6-inch leg, in a 45o sealed and mitered end.  This allows termination as a stand alone upturn in a parapet wall or provides a surface against to which a wall joint system can be married.  Flipped over, the Universal-90 termination unit can be alternatively installed as downturn termination where a joint runs off the bridge deck.  In this use, the sealed, mitered end provides a drip edge for drainage of water off the joint.
  • In addition to guaranteeing a continuous waterproof coating, Emseal’s “Universal-90’s” allow for much faster and secure installation by eliminating field cutting or notching and bending at angles.

Custom-90’s
(US Patent 10,570,611)

  • Custom-90’s are available when field conditions and measurements are known up front.
  • Custom-90’s are used in applications where numerous inside and outside 90-degree transitions are required.

Product Videos

EMSEAL BEJS Quick Overview

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2016 EMSEAL BEJS Installation – Bridge Expansion Joint System

Bridge Expansion Joint BEJS installing straight length EMSEAL

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