Large-scale tests of 50-year-old prestressed concrete bridge girders

An experimental investigation has been carried out as part of the BRIDGE|50 research project, focusing on large-scale loading tests performed on five 50-year-old prestressed concrete (PC) girders. The study aimed at evaluating the structural response of five girders retrieved from a viaduct in the urban area of Turin, Italy, subjected to 4-point bending tests with different levels of deterioration. The girders with a span of 19.2 m and an I-shaped cross section exhibited damage due to both dismantling phase operations and intentional cutting of some prestressing strands. The experimental activity defined the measurements of several critical parameters, such as load, deflections, and multiple strain values to capture bending and shear effects. This paper offers results of the structural performance of aged PC bridge girders both in service conditions and at collapse also in the presence of damage. The outcomes will increase the available knowledge on existing PC bridges, extending the database of large-scale tests that could be also used as a benchmark for numerical models aimed at developing more effective strategies for safety evaluation of existing bridges.