New BAW Code of Practice for the assessment of the load bearing capacity of existing solid hydraulic structures

Many of Germany's solid hydraulic structures, i.e. structures made from concrete, reinforced concrete or masonry, are of above-average age. For example, about a third of all locks for which the Federal Waterways and Shipping Administration (WSV) is responsible is more than a hundred years old. In other words they have exceeded the design lifetime of 100 years that is nowadays the requirement for such structures. Not only existing locks, but also numerous weirs and canal bridges show static characteristics, such as construction methods or very large cross sections, that are no longer common practice today. If any alterations are made to these structures, or if they exhibit visible damage, it is essential to re-assess the statics of the supporting structure and perform new calculations to verify its conformity with stability requirements. This re-assessment can be done with a new BAW-Code of Practice "TbW". In contrast to bridges and buildings, no adapted regulations have been released until now for re-assessing the statics of existing solid hydraulic structures.