XiSPAN Bridge Strengthening and Life Extension

在英国，有超过25000座砖石拱桥承载铁路交通，在许多欧洲国家也有类似的数量。这些结构被设计为比目前应用的更低的车辆负载。这个问题在许多铁路网络中都很常见，增加了持续的维护负担。XiSPAN项目旨在扩展经过验证的道砟加固技术（聚氨酯/道砟复合材料）的范围，以涵盖砌体拱桥，从而更好地分配来自火车的载荷，并减少填土对拱肩墙施加的压力。本项目将试验该系统，并提供测量和测试结果，以验证负载分布模型，以便设计人员可以在实践中应用该系统，从而降低成本，缩短铁路维修时间，并在某些情况下增加路线的负载能力。

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.