EURO MED SEC 01


REHABILITATION AND LOAD TESTING OF A BRIDGE

KAWAN G. ALANI, ABDULLAH S. AHMED


Abstract

Al-Fatha Bridge is constructed on Tigris River at Baiji town, about 220 km north of Baghdad. Beside its main purpose of connecting the main highway west of Tigris River with the Kirkuk city, its deck structure is purposely designed to carry pipes conveying crude oil from Kirkuk oil fields to Baiji refinery and to the oil exporting network of the country. During the war on Iraq in spring 2003, the bridge was subjected to an air strike. In addition to the damages caused by the impact and explosion of the munitions, the great fire of the crude oil erupted and lasted several days caused much heavier damages in different parts of the structure. The parts of the bridge damaged beyond repair, were replaced, while the parts which were found to have sufficient structural integrity were repaired. This paper addresses the repair and testing of the most affected span exposed to fire. The efficiency of the repair work had been evaluated by carrying out a load test on the above mentioned span. The deflection at different stages of loading were recorded at specified points and compared with theoretical results. Good agreement was obtained between the theoretical and measured deflections, which prove the adequacy of the repair work. This paper introduces briefly an assessment of damages of the bridge, the rehabilitation work, analysis and load test results.

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