CARE life-size bridge experimentation site

Project data 

Short description

A prestressed three-span concrete bridge, 45 m long and 4.5 m wide, was erected in April 2024 in Bautzen, near Dresden. This research site, referred to as openBridgeLAB, was initiated by Steffen Marx within the research project IDA-KI. CARE will have full access to this experimentation site and will primarily utilize it for research on structural health monitoring and upgrading of existing infrastructure. The bridge will be systematically damaged by overloading under controlled conditions and rehabilitated using novel strengthening methods. Additionally, the superstructure within one 15 m span will be built according to novel CARE design principles. It will undergo real-scale loading tests to assess its structural performance, validating the novel modeling techniques that deliver accurate predictions and insights into the structure's behavior under various conditions.