The Refurbishing of the Nibelungen Bridge Worms, Germany

摘要

If the Nibelungen Bridge (Fig.1), opened on traffic in 1953, is forced into the corset of present-dayrntechnical regulations, then it loses its adequate load-bearing capacity. However, if one followsrnFinsterwalder’s ingenious design idea of 1930 and enrichesrnit with the ideal of fully prestressing, a carefulrnstrengthening will result with just a few external tendonsrnlaid carefully inside the two hollow boxes and anrnallowance for shear approach that will enable the structurernto cope with today’s live loads. Apart from the replacementrnof the tiebacks in one land pier, the further defects are duernto the greatly changed, aggressive environmentalrnconditions and the effect of de-icing salt that could not bernforeseen in 1953.rnKnowledge of construction history also helped to preservernthis masterpiece of civil engineering without having tornmake any concessions with regards to its use.