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Ribeira de Terges and Cobres Bridge on the EN122
The Ribeira de Terges e Cobres Bridge is located on the EN 122, in the municipality of Mértola, district of Beja, it was built in 1861 and extended in 1963. The work of art, with a total length of 115.6 m, consists of five circular arches of brick masonry and stonework staves, with free spans of 12.5 m for the three interior arches and 8.5 m for the two exterior arches. The enlargement, carried out in the meantime, consisted of the execution of a reinforced concrete deck resting on the masonry structure.
The current deck has a total width of 10.9 m. The pillars are in marble masonry and the abutments are in a vault. The tympanum walls are made of brick masonry and are extended in the encounters with stone masonry avenue walls, both plastered.
The Execution Project, as well as all the works associated with it, had as an initial assumption to rehabilitate the existing bridge. From the main inspection carried out on the work of art, it was found that the state of conservation is bad to very bad. From the analysis of the material characterization tests, it was concluded that, given the anomalies presented, the work under study lacks corrective measures for rehabilitation and reinforcement. The structural analysis, based on the results obtained through calculation models developed using the RING and SAP2000 programs, confirms the option for the rehabilitation of the existing work of art through the execution of repair and structural reinforcement works.
For the rehabilitation of the Ribeira de Terges e Cobres Bridge, the following works were planned:
- Repair visible damage through:
Slit injection;
plaster repair
Execution of paintings.
- Stop the concrete degradation processes, through:
Repair of delaminated concrete;
Sealing cracks in the slab;
Deck waterproofing;
Surface painting.
- Reinforce the existing structure through:
Placement of tie rods between tympanic walls;
Assembly of metal straps on the intermediate supports.