Destructive Testing of a Decommissioned Reinforced Concrete Bridge

A destructive field testing of a simply supported channel-beam bridge was carried out to gain insight into the ultimate load-carrying capacity of existing RC bridges. Based on a field inspection and assessment of the material strength, structural damage, and structural degradation before testing, a detailed test program was developed. It was observed from the testing that the field bridge exhibited local nonlinearities owing to its beam-to-beam bolted connections and initial damages. The failure mode of the tested bridge was the typical flexural failure characterized by the yielding of rebars and concrete crushing. Some concrete failures were also observed at the location of bridge bearings. The observed load-carrying capacity was much higher than that of the original design of the tested bridge and many more studies are needed to understand the real performance of field bridges.