Due to its topography, Austria has a large number of bridges. Their increasing age and the rise in traffic demand innovative approaches to condition assessment, maintenance, evaluation, and retrofitting. Prestressed concrete bridges play a special role in this context. Since corrosion-prone tendons are usually located inside the components, they cannot be inspected visually.

The project therefore pursues, among other things (main role TUW), the goal of keeping bridges in service longer. This is achieved on the one hand by further developing acoustic emission analysis and developing new measurement methods for detecting tendon breaks in prestressed concrete bridges by combining several fiber optic measurement methods. Based on the measurement results, new calculation models are being developed to describe more accurately the warning behavior, the degree and progression of damage, and the fatigue load-bearing behavior under shear force in prestressed concrete structures.

The project is funded by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG) as part of the funding program: Mobility Transition 2024/2. Further information can be found here: projekte.ffg.at/projekt/5137690

• AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH (Konsortialführer)
• Technische Universität Wien (Institut für Tragkonstruktionen – FoB Stahlbeton- und Massivbau)
• Technische Universität Graz (Institut für Ingenieurgeodäsie und Messsysteme)
• PORR Bau GmbH
• ACI Monitoring GmbH
• Burtscher Consulting GmbH
• Bilfinger Nuclear & Energy Transition GmbH

Project management: Patrick Huber (patrick.huber@tuwien.ac.at)
Researchers involved: Iztok Arnuga (iztok.arnuga@tuwien.ac.at)