ANALYSIS OF DURABILITY OF REINFORCED CONCRETE STRUCTURES OF BRIDGES ACCORDING TO THEIR TYPICAL DESIGNS

Abstract

Thousands of bridges built in the 20th century are operated on Ukrainian roads. In the limited funding of the road industry of Ukraine, the age of highway bridges is constantly increasing, the number of defects in structures is growing. The largest number of defects is concentrated in the bridge spans. The main part of the bridge spans consists of prefabricated reinforced concrete beams, manufactured in factories of reinforced concrete structures according to standard designs developed in the middle of the last century. As a result of long-term operation of bridges, the shortcomings of these designs which reduce the service life of bridge spans and bridges in general are revealed. The systematic approach is required to study this process. The Analytical Expert Bridge Management System (AESUM) operates in the Ukravtodor system. This software complex accumulates all the information on the results of inspections (certification) of bridges on public roads. The special module AESUM – a database of standard designs of bridge spans which is constantly updated was developed to make decisions on repair works taking into account the features of structures on standard designs, to store this information in a single complex, in electronic form. Standard designs of reinforced concrete bridge spans built and operated on the roads of Ukraine are considered, and a comparative analysis of the features of these designs is performed taking into account the impact on the safety of bridge operation, their main features and shortcomings are given. The concept of rank of the standard design on durability is entered. A formula for estimating the durability of bridge span of a standard design using this concept is proposed. The analysis of durability of bridge span is performed. A number of problematic standard designs have been identified. Keywords: road bridge, standard designs, durability.