Wild-Brücke - Bridge WILD

The pilot project in Carinthia/Austria for an UHPC-segmental-arch-bridge for traffic loads, is an example for the swivel-in-method that will be applied. The polygonal arranged UHPC-segmental-arches consist of individual 6 cm thin-walled and for this reason very light precast UHPC-segmental-box-girders made of C 165/185, which are assembled by the use of external tendons running inside of the arches. Because the actual shear force in the arches is very low, the thin-walled webs made of UHPFRC need not any shear reinforcement for carrying the loads. At the bends of the arches so called knee-elements are arranged. They work as deviator and anchor block for the external tendons and offer the base for the columns. The columns have a rigid connection to the knee as well as to the deck. Present design codes and guidelines do not completely cover the use of UHPC in relation to the structure presented. Experimental tests answer open questions in designing and construction. In addition to many other experiments, full-scale laboratory tests within the scope of the pilot project are carried out. The focus of the full-scale test is the load carrying behaviour in the region of the springing. These elements are fixed to a massive supporting block by prestressing tendons. The external tendons are the same type of monostrands as in the real arch continuing in the inside of the box-girder. An additional prestressing is applied by Dywidag Steel Threadbars, which causes a bending moment and a further axial force. First the test is performed only by prestressing elements with force-controlled load increase. Afterwards the shear force and the further bending moment is increased path-controlled by a hydraulic jack until the failure occurs. So the total load path is performed according to the design calculation and then until failure.