Static and Dynamic Testing of a Road Arch Bridge in Rabka Zdroj, Poland

Abstract

Numerical and experimental load test results of the road arch bridge located in Rabka Zdroj town in Poland will be presented in this paper. The bridge under consideration is designed as a reinforced concrete open-spandrel deck arch structure, of a 40 m long effective span between its springing lines, having both arches fixed in abutments. The whole bridge comprises two parallel arch superstructures, which are tied together by a top slab and joint abutments but having separate sets of vertical wide column systems. The structure was analysed using three numerical distinctive FE models, of different levels of details in order to properly assess the sensitivity of numerical results and accurately determine its realistic structural behaviour. The scope of further investigation to validate its structural behaviour included both static (2 cases) and dynamic (6 cases) proof-load testing undertaken on site. As the result, the bridge is considered to be a very interesting research case as it was identified during the site testing, specifically in terms of its intriguing structural behaviour due to thermal effects. The developed numerical models were used for further static and dynamic simulation. In the paper, the results of both numerical analysis and site proof-load testing are thoroughly reported and concluded.