Identifying and prioritising works for post-tensioned bridges

Overview

Join this webinar with leading expert, Dr Donald Pearson-Kirk, for a review of the management of post-tensioned concrete bridges, including the identification and prioritising of works for those bridges to assist in their long-term management.

In major upgrades and extensions of highway networks over the past seventy years, the use of post-tensioned concrete in structures has been found to be an economically competitive form of construction. However, unexpected deterioration of post-tensioned concrete structures has become a major concern in many countries, despite established design and construction practices. As a result, significant expenditure has had to be diverted from capital works to the management of these structures.

This webinar will outline the performance of post-tensioned structures and the necessary reviews of investigations, reports, their processes and review findings. The implications for bridge owners and managers and the essential lessons learned will be presented. The development and application of the UK Standard “BD 54/15 Management of post-tensioned concrete bridges” will be summarised.

WSP’s Structures Investigation Group (SIG) was involved in the development of the draft standard BD 54/XX in trialling the application of the BD’s processes, from desk studies to site investigations, on post-tensioned bridges during 2013 and 2014. Workshops and seminars on the standard, issued in 2015, were presented to bridge owners and managers. SIG has completed BD 54/15 risk review and risk assessment reports for over 340 post-tensioned bridges since 2015 and has recently completed the re-drafting of the Standard, now published as CS 465, as part of the update of the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges.