SUP&R ITN outreach magazine SUP&R ITN features in FIRM magazine - Jun2014 | Page 16

DESIGN & PRODUCTION UHPFRC DECK ON CROATIAN BRIDGE SUCCESS STORY - FOLLOw UP OF FORMER FEHRL PROJECTS The 36-month FP7 Smart Maintenance and Analysis of Transport Infrastructure (SMARTRAIL) project, set to conclude at the end of August 2014, aims to provide maintenance and rehabilitation solutions for ageing railway infrastructure networks to reduce replacement costs and delays and be environmentally friendly. One of its tasks has been to adopt, test and evaluate the possibility of using Ultra High Performance Fibre Reinforced Concrete (UHPFRC) rehabilitation methods for the rehabilitation of old steel railway bridges. For this, partners have built on the positive experience gained in the SAMARIS (samaris.zag.si) and ARCHES (arches.fehrl.org) projects and successful application on road bridges. UHPFRC, characterised by a very low water/binder ratio, high binder content and an optimised fibrous reinforcement, provide the structural engineer with a unique combination of extremely low permeability, high strength and tensile strain hardening. UHPFRC are perfectly suited to the rehabilitation of reinforced concrete structures in critical zones subjected to an aggressive environment and to significant mechanical stresses, to provide a long-term durability and thus avoid multiple interventions on structures during their service life. The Buna Bridge bending test Within SMARTRAIL, numerous UHPFRC mixes have been prepared, adopted to intended use and to local materials and tested at ZAG laboratories. An old steel railway bridge, the Buna Bridge in Croatia was transported whole to the IGH laboratory where it was inspected and tested in bending. The bridge is now ready to be strengthened by an UHPFRC deck and its load bearing capacity analysed. Based on the results, a recommendation will be prepared and presented at the SMARTRAIL final conference on 25-26th August 2014 in Ljubljana, Slovenia (see advertisement on back page). The application of cast-on site UHPFRC was first validated during the FP5 SAMARIS project (2003-2006) in Switzerland. The FP6 ARCHES project (2006-2009) then showed that the implementation of this technology with local components in Slovenia and Poland was possible and fostered the use of cost-effective (ECO) UHPFRC mixes with reduced clinker content. By May 2014, more than 25 applications of cast-on site UHPFRC to protect or reinforce bridges or slabs in industrial For more information, see www.smartrail.fehrl.org or contact Dr. Kenneth Gavin at [email protected] buildings, alone or combined with reinforcing bars (rebars), have been performed successfully since 2004 in Switzerland and one in Slovenia in 20091.The assessment of the Log Čezsoški bridge in Slovenia two years after its rehabilitation with the ECOUHPFRC developed du