Strengthening of Steel Connections in a 92-Year-Old Railway Bridge Using Prestressed CFRP Rods: Multiaxial Fatigue Design Criterion

This paper presented a new retrofit system for strengthening the stringer-to-floor-beam double-angle connections in a 92-year-old riveted railway bridge in Switzerland, using prestressed carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) rods. The strengthening system transmitted the forces purely through friction, with minimum interference with bridge traffic. The system consisted of two components: a newly developed mechanical wedge-barrel anchor to hold...