Diagnostics and Evaluation of Two Atypical Girder Bridges on Railway Line

Abstract

The paper is focused on diagnostics and calculation of load-carrying capacity of the two atypical girder bridge objects on the railway line between Púchov and Považská Bystrica in Slovakia. These are skewness reinforced concrete (RC) girder bridges with three girders. The non-typicality is given by the fact that the spandrel girders are in the longitudinal direction, but the middle girder is relatively wide and is perpendicular to the clearance (not in the longitudinal direction). The diagnostics was performed on the objects aimed at determining the material and geometric characteristics, which served as a basis for the numerical model. A 3D scanner was also used to determine the geometric dimensions. The load-carrying capacity was subsequently determined on the bridges. The recalculation and diagnostics revealed the fact that bridge structures can still be used, but have to be reconstructed. This is a prime example of reusing in practice, i.e. how the old bridges can be further used, which means a significant saving of CO2 emission that would be produced by demolishing the old bridges and building new ones