Shear repair of massive viaducts.: Actual reinforcement in a high speed railway viaduct

Reinforcement using Carbon Fibre Reinforced Plastics (CFRP) offers, potentially, some advantages when compared to traditional methods, the most important being the reduction of disruption on the initial structure, easier (often manual) application and high specific mechanical strength. Thus paper presents the application of CFRP prep-preg lamination to massive structural elements where shear strength is critical. In order to quantify the new shear capacity and limit loads, a failure model is implemented that defines the limits of compression and traction capacity. This model is then applied to the reinforcement of a bridge box-section viaduct of the Madrid-Barcelona high speed train line. The webs of the box-section were repaired using 3 mm thick plates with fibres placed at 45degrees and 0degrees with respect to the viaduct axis and whose final dimensions were 1.9 x 7 metres along the shear web.