Evaluation of prestressing forces in prestressed concrete bridges


This project has been supported by the Slovak Research and Development Agency under the contract No. APVV-23-0196

Research objectives

The EvPres goal is to develop a SHM methodology to quantify prestressing forces of prestressed concrete bridges with 95% accuracy. The results of this project will greatly contribute to the evaluation process of health condition of prestressed concrete bridges in Europe, helping prevent their sudden failure as well as premature closure.

Based on the research gaps (RGs) identified in the current status of knowledge, the following research objectives (ROs) were determined:

  • RG1 → RO1: To develop a digital twin of a prestressed concrete beam considering stochastic effects based on experimental beam.
  • RG2 → RO2: To advance the SHM method for determining prestressing forces in prestress concrete beams using neural network (NN) approach.
  • RG3 → RO3: To verify and adjust the advanced SHM method on a case study.