XiSPAN Bridge Strengthening and Life Extension

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In the UK there are over 25,000 masonry arch bridge spans carrying railway traffic, with similarly large numbers in many European countries. These structures were designed for lower vehicle loads than are currently being applied. This issue is common to many rail networks, increasing the ongoing maintenance burden. The XiSPAN project is designed to extend the scope of a proven ballast strengthening technique (polyurethane/ballast composite) to encompass masonry arch bridges, allowing better distribution of the loads from trains and reducing the pressures exerted by earth fill on spandrel walls. This project will trial the system and provide the measurements and test results to verify the modelling of load distribution such that designers can apply the system in practice, reducing costs, reducing railway access times to undertake repairs and in some cases increasing load capacity of the route.