Sustainable Bridges: Tillämpning av erfarenheter från ett EU-projekt, slutrapport

Report, 2008

The aim of the project was to systematically collect and analyse knowledge about the weaknesses and identified problems of the present European stock of railway bridges. The intention was to further analyse, develop and use this knowledge as a basis for improved design and construction methods of new bridges in Sweden, railway bridges as well as road bridges. Basic background data is collected within the European project “Sustainable Bridges”, funded by the European Commission within its sixth framework programme, where the project members are actively participating in areas of strategic importance. Background data regarding the Swedish bridges is collected also through the recently launched Swedish bridge management system BaTMan, which is developed, owned and managed by the Swedish Road Administration and The Swedish Railway Authorities. The system is not a final system and some suggestions for improvement are presented. The results of the present project (enhanced methods for design and construction, improved detailing, proposals for amendments to standards etc) may be directly applied by contractors and design consultants and will be beneficial to the end users of the products, i.e. the owners of the bridges. The activities within “Sustainable Bridges” were started 1st of December 2003, with a superficial identification of “lack of knowledge”, as defined by the European railway owners. A mapping of the European bridge demography was carried out and reported together with a specification of the most frequent problems of the existing bridges. Development work for enhanced assessment methods and improved methods for inspection and monitoring of the bridges followed. In the final phases of “Sustainable Bridges” the activities were concentrated on the identified problem areas and the degree of detailing was at the same time increased. The identified problem areas, as specified by the European railway owners, appear to be very similar to the needs of the Swedish bridge owners in spite of the fact that the studied bridges are geographically distributed over all Europe and its major climate zones. The same conclusion is valid for the defined improvement areas. The results achieved within “Sustainable Bridges” are therefore highly relevant for further development and application also to Swedish bridges and to the design and construction of new Swedish bridges.