Bridges

A Consortium of the Welding Technology Institute of Australia (WTIA) members consisting of Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC), RailCorp, Roads and Traffic Authority of New South Wales (RTA), and Transport Main Roads (TMR), Queensland has worked on a project towards the production of best practice guidelines for avoiding fatigue, optimum repair techniques, fatigue resistance improvement techniques and case studies.

This project was part of the Federal Government and Industry sponsored Industry Cooperation Innovation Program (ICIP). These guidelines will provide Asset Owners and Contractors with guidance on various considerations for the repair and retrofit of cracked bridge members, and relevant Australian standards.

These will include non-destructive techniques for locating and monitoring cracks, repair techniques for fatigue cracks on welded structures, riveted/bolted bridge structures, and the use of Fibre Reinforced Polymers (FRPs) for repair. Procedures have been developed for the repair of fatigue cracks, fatigue resistance improvement techniques for existing welds and welded repairs and repair case studies which, together with the best practice guidelines, will be put into a Knowledge Resource Bank for use by Consortium members and contractors.