Sustainable development requires risky decisions - problematic 300 ton overweight transport passing a bridge

Abstract

<p>Oversize load passages over bridges are one of the research issues related to sustainable development that engineering and scientific teams around the world have to deal with . The article presents the scope of activities that enabled the passage of an oversized vehicle with a total weight of over 300 tons over a reinforced concrete slab. The bridge load capacity is 30 tons. In order to assess the capacity of the bridge, detailed visual inspection, inventory, tests during a load test, field and laboratory tests of concrete, location and inventory of reinforcement, static and strength calculations were carried out. Unfortunately, the tests done during the passage of an oversize vehicle on the bridge showed that the actual weight of the set were greater than originally declared. Fortunately, it turned out that there were still some reserves in the structure load-bearing capacity and the over-weighted vehicle entered the bridge without any damage to its structure.</p>