Material Properties and Carbonation Depths Measured on Seven, More Than a 100-years Old, Concrete Bridges in Slovakia

The oldest Reinforced Concrete Bridge in Slovakia was built in 1892 in Krásno nad Kysucou and it was reconstructed in 2014, after being in service for more than 120 years. There are many other concrete bridges in Slovakia older than 100-years, which are still in daily use. Mostly no drawings nor structural design calculations were preserved from the time of their construction. Also only a very limited information is available about the concrete and reinforcement properties used at the turn of the 19th and 20th century in Slovakia. Thus, any reconstruction of such an old bridge is always based on some preliminary assumption, which are in many cases quite far from reality. The primary aim of our research was to study the material properties of concrete and steel reinforcement used in bridge construction industry 100 years ago in the region of Slovakia. Drilled core samples were taken from various parts of bridge structures for further laboratory analyses. Some selected material properties and carbonation depths measured on 7, more than a 100 years old concrete bridges, are reported in this article.