Considerations on the Bearing Capacity of Existing Prestressed Concrete Bridges

Military actions generally unfold rapidly in different operational environments for which the commanding officer has assess the bearing capacity of the prestressed concrete bridges existing in the country’s road network. The bearing capacity is the maximum weight of the predetermined constitution convoy, which may safely circulate on the bridge, in stable conditions, considering the physical condition of the bridge. The paper shows that the bearing capacity will be assessed only through a technical analysis performed by an authorized expert together with a military engineer specialized in genius. This experts report will compare the initial condition of the bridge to the present one. The initial condition is based on the research of the execution design; the year of elaboration; the standard loadings at the moment; proprieties of the used building materials; execution modality, possible alterations occurring during execution as to the initial project. These data, together with the road traffic census, can be obtained from the company administrating the road network where the bridge is located. The current state to be assessed through analysis, calculation and static loading tests, showing if the capacity of the bridge can to support the increase of traffic military vehicle loading and reduction of the bearing capacity due to fatigue phenomena in the reinforcement. The paper proposes that authorities draw up and approve a standard concerning the verification periodicity of the bearing capacity in the existing prestressed concrete bridges.