Monitoring and Modelling of the Abiskojåkka Bridge

Abstract: The infrastructure of today is getting older and problems caused by deterioration over time is affecting the service life of these structures. In Sweden most of the existing bridges were constructed 60 to 70 years ago, rising the need to determine the state of health of the bridges as the maintenance costs will increase heavily. Part of the above-mentioned cut of the bridges owned by Trafikverket (The Swedish Transport Administration) that was constructed 60 – 70 years ago are pre-stressed concrete bridges. Pre-stressing of concrete structures is today a commonly used technology that utilizes the beneficial characteristic of concrete, the compressive strength, to a further extent than reinforced concrete.     This report will focus on the problems with pre-stressed concrete bridges and particularly on the thermal effects on the Abiskojokk railway bridge located in the northern part of Sweden. The pre-stressed box girder bridge spans in total 86 m in three lengths of 30 m, 35 m respectively 21 m starting from the east abutment and is part of the Iron-Ore Line starting in Kiruna and ending in Narvik, Norway. In an ocular(särskild) inspection of the bridge carried out the 18th of August in 2016 several crack patterns were mapped on the inside of the box girder along with some cracks about the top of the first column support starting from the east abutment. This thesis is focusing on the cracks that was mapped along the tendon positions on the inside of the box girder in the first span starting from the east abutment. The hypothesis is that the cracks are caused by temperature loads and normal forces obtained from the tendons at the thickening of the cross-sections. The research questions are; what the monitoring program shows and if it is possible to prove the hypothesis by using of a FE-model considering the gravity loads, temperature loads and the pre-stressing.     In order to determine the cause of the cracks on the inside of the box girder and investigate the behaviour of the bridge a monitoring program was installed, measuring the crack development over time along with the acceleration and temperatures of the bridge. Example data from the program were later used to analyse the behaviour of the bridge.     The results from the temperature data shows that the bridge has a slowness to temperature changes outside. This gives rise to temperature gradient acting over the bridge parts that may contribute to crack propagation. It also showed that the temperature correlates well with the strain of the cracks. The LVDT’s showed that the largest crack openings during train loading occurred in the second span of the bridge. The data also showed relatively large and unexpected negative peaks during the train loads. The strain gauges also show that the largest strain is occurring in the second span of the bridge. The crack envelopment during a train loads are more expected here and may prove that the negative peaks from the LVDT’s and accelerometers are caused by vibrations. The accelerometers showed that the largest transversal accelerations take place in the first and third span. This may be due to more restricted supports conditions at the column supports than the abutments. The accelerometer also showed correlating negative peaks with the LVDT’s that may be caused by vibrations in the bridge.     The conclusion from the monitoring program so far is that is not possible to prove the cause of the cracks so far, but it may be in the future.     The results from the non-linear FE-model showed that the thermal action of the Eurocode gradient was not enough to crack the concrete along with the pre-stressing load. However, the effects of the hypothesis were proven right.