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Testing of Princess River Bridge

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posted on 2023-05-26, 17:11 authored by McGee, Rodney William
Princess River Bridge was a two span reinforced concrete T-beam bridge located on the Lyell Highway on Tasmania's west coast. It was inundated in 1991 by the King River Hydro Electric Power Development. A program of testing was undertaken prior to inundation to assist with the understanding of bridge performance and the overall management of the State's bridge asset The range of testing included dimensional, cracking and cover surveys, concrete and steel testing, dynamic response, load distribution, deck punching shear behaviour and ultimate capacity. While bridge dimensions were generally within tolerance, 48% of measurements of cover to reinforcement were outside the range permitted in the current Australian Standard. The variability of cover is however consistent with that reported for bridges in the Sydney area and for other Tasmanian bridges. Little flexural cracking was evident in the beams prior to testing. There was however a significant amount of random cracking in the deck soffit, which is likely to have been attributable to the permeability of the timber formwork and consequent implications for curing. Concrete testing showed high strength due to relatively high cement contents. Concrete quality and the high relative humidities at the site would have contributed to the minimal carbonation. Steel tensile strength of 300 MPa was higher than the anticipated 230 to 250 MPa. Measurements of dynamic response were able to discern the removal of sections of railing, but required substantial damage to beam reinforcement before observable changes in response occurred. There was reasonable correlation between calculated and measured load distributions, although strains were underestimated. Loading of the deck showed substantial capacity in punching shear. The load at which the bridge yielded was reasonably well predicted, and the bridge failed in a ductile manner.

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Copyright 1997 the Author - The University is continuing to endeavour to trace the copyright owner(s) and in the meantime this item has been reproduced here in good faith. We would be pleased to hear from the copyright owner(s). Thesis (M.Eng.)--University of Tasmania, 1997. Includes bibliographical references

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