Presentation of the fasstbridge project: Fast and effective solution for steel bridges life-time extension

One of the goals of sustainable development applied to bridge infrastructure is to provide bridge owners with strengthening solutions that may lead to an increase of existing structures service life. In the case of steel bridges, the assessment of the remaining service life is most often linked to the determination of the structural deterioration caused by corrosion and fatigue. Damage caused by fatigue is very difficult to assess before crack initiation, and is more bound to occur in old structures, for which the phenomenon was not taken into account in design before 1970. In addition, old steel materials present a more brittle behavior. The FASSTbridge project, financed through European Infravation call, is aimed at developing a pre-cracking fatigue assessment and strengthening methodology for steel bridges, based on the technology of adhesively bonded composite. The methodology will include an assessment method of remaining fatigue life of existing structures, the design and on-site application of a strengthening system, and the environmental and economical appraisal of the solution. A new strengthening technique based on CFRP plates will be developed. This technique will include the formulation and production of a specific adhesive, specifications for using commercial CFRP plates, and the definition of instrumentation plans to monitor the performance of the strengthening system. Finally an on-site application in an actual steel bridge will be carried out, to verify the quality of the proposed solution.