More traffic, heavier loads: When bridges in Germany over the age of 50 are evaluated according to current standards, calculations show that many of them theoretically have substantial deficiencies. Nevertheless many bridges exhibit no damage that confirms the calculated structural shortfalls. Engineers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) are now working to explain this contradiction, conducting experiments on the transverse load bearing capacities of a real pre-stressed concrete bridge.
Researchers had been looking for a bridge like this for a long time. ...
