Site testing and monitoring of Fidgett Footbridge

This paper describes the rigorous testing programme of Fidgett Footbridge, which monitored the effectiveness of its innovative glass-fibre reinforcement. The bridge is located on a public footpath over a stream at the village of Chalgrove, Oxfordshire, England, and is the first concrete structure in the UK to be reinforced entirely with glass-fibre composite bars. It is also the subject of one of the case studies of EUROCRETE, a pan-European collaborative research programme developing non-ferrous reinforcement for concrete, and associated design methods. The paper first outlines the EUROCRETE project. The bridge has a 5m long by 1.5m wide precast concrete slab, 30mm thick, supported by unreinforced concrete abutments cast in situ. Its clear span is 4m. Its handrails are glass-fibre posts and rails. It was designed for a live loading of 5kN/sq m. Section 9 of Part 2 of British Standard BS 8110 "Appraisal and testing of structures and components during construction" was used as the bases for load testing the bridge. The static and dynamic load tests are described. The bridge's measured and predicted behaviour agreed moderately well. Monitoring by a permanent datalogger should identify any significant changes in the bridge's material properties.