Multi and interdisciplinary method to identify the true capacity of concrete bridges (TruBridges)

Enhance sustainability by reducing costs of strengthening or replacing existing bridges, by improving predictions of their true capacity and remaining life.

Goal

This project’s purpose is to enhance sustainability by reducing costs of strengthening or replacing existing bridges, by improving predictions of their true capacity and remaining life. The aim is to develop a multi-disciplinary procedure for evaluating bridges’ capacity using reliability and probability-based assessments involving non-linear finite element modelling, real and scaled down model tests, and structural health monitoring data.

Project status and results

A review of the database of existing railway bridges administered by Trafikverket was carried out. This analysis showed that around 20% of the Swedish bridge population corresponds to reinforced concrete trough bridges. Based on this information, a comprehensive experimental campaign including two real scale trough bridges was designed to study the behaviour of these bridges under different loading conditions (ultimate limit state, serviceability limit state, fatigue, and dynamic behaviour) and evaluate their actual capacity. Preliminary finite element models were developed with the aim of having an initial prediction of the expected capacity. The two bridges have already been casted.

Sponsor: LKAB, Trafikverket
Researchers: Gabriel Sas (PL), Jaime Gonzalez-Libreros
Duration: 2021-2022