High-fidelity analysis of service life extension for steel beam bridges retrofitted with external adaptive tensioning systems
Dshamil Efinger (University of Stuttgart)
Khairina A. Canny (TU Delft - Civil Engineering & Geosciences)
Martin Dazer (University of Stuttgart)
Lucio Blandini (University of Stuttgart)
Gennaro Senatore (University of Stuttgart)
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Abstract
This study investigates the use of External Adaptive Tensioning (EAT) systems as a retrofit strategy to reduce the structural response and fatigue damage in steel bridges. A high-fidelity three-dimensional model, including detailed welded-joint sub-models, is combined with the Active System Utilisation (ASU) metric to account for actuator reliability and fallback configurations. Results show that EAT reduces the stress response by up to 66% relative to the unretrofitted condition and achieves near-zero fatigue damage at critical welded details under representative traffic loading. Even with partial downtime (ASU < 1), EAT provides substantial gains in remaining service life compared with passive external post-tensioning. These findings demonstrate the structural benefits of retrofitting with active components and establish a computational framework for evaluating fatigue and reliability effects in actively controlled bridge systems.
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