Objective
Bridges are of vital importance to the European infrastructure and economy leading to the request for highly advances and economic structures. Further on the maintenance of bridges is an ever-growing problem for the road administrations.
Experience from already constructed bridges with integrated abutments show that the traditional bridges with joints are outclassed, the former being not only less expensive to maintain, but also more affordable to build. The research proposal INTAB investigates on this innovative bridge type and aims on promoting composite bridges with integral abutments.
The major objectives of the proposal are to elaborate cost effective, environmental friendly and sustainable bridge structures, to prove their durability in practice and to provide design guidance for competitive construction.