Repair of fractured cast iron bridge

This paper reports on the repair and reinstatement of fractured historic cast iron elements of the High Level Bridge in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. As a part of a full structural refurbishment of this grade 1 listed structure, three cast-iron girders were extracted from the historic bridge and subjected to fatigue testing. This destructive testing was carried out under the condition imposed by English Heritage that the cross-girders could be reinstated with the least visual impact. To satisfy this requirement, the damaged elements were repaired using a refurbishment procedure employing strengthening with externally bonded fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) plates and ‘cold' metal stitching with alloy inserts. The paper discusses the numerical analysis, structural modelling and the quality control measures adopted during construction for the repair of the girders. The fatigue testing will be presented in a separate paper.