Akbar Abad railway bridge load test (masonry concrete arch bridge , spans = 6*5m)

  Client: IRAN Railway Research Center

  Consultant: Educational chancellor of the School of Technology, the

  University of Tehran

  Contractor: Dr. Mohammad Sadegh Ma’refat

  Akbar Abad Bridge is one of the railway bridges tested by IRAN Railway Research Center. The bridge has five 6-meter spans and is located in the 24th kilometer of Tehran-Ghom old railway track (picture 1). The structure of the bridge, constructed 60 years ago, is a type of unreinforced concrete arch. In order to reach a realistic judgment of the bridge current resistance, static and dynamic tests have been conducted on the bridge. In the static test, the bridge was loaded by 500 tons of distributed load. This loading was carried out in 5 meters in the center of the middle span. The loading was performed by 4-tone packages with the approximate dimensions of 6/15 2/0×1× meter. These packages were taken from already-used (second-hand) rails. The packages were gradually moved on the bridge by a rail crane in three days. The deflection of the bridge middle span was measured by 9 electronic LVDTs. In the dynamic test, on the other hand, a six-axle diesel with a weight of 120 tons and nominal speed of 10 to 90 km/h passed over the bridge. Finally, the deflection response along with the acceleration of the bridge was measured.

  Picture (1.A): Akbar Abad unreinforced concrete arch bridge in the static test

  Picture (1.B): Loading 500 tons on Akbar Abad concrete arch bridge

  Picture (1.C): The 120-tone diesel at the beginning of Akbar Abad unreinforced concrete arch bridge