Studies and repair of the railway bridge of Soller in Mallorca

Abstract

The studies and the repair works that were carried out on the railway bridge of Monts Reials in Sòller, which is the main city in the north-west coast of Mallorca , are described. The bridge presents five barrel vaults spanning eight meters with a width of 3.6 m and a depth of 0.60 m. The bridge was in a general good condition except for the first arch which presented some significant cracks, including very wide transversal cracks close to the abutments and spalling of the brick fabric just under the key of the arch. The assessment of the arch included the review of design documentation, full geometrical characterization of the arch, dynamic load tests and finite element analysis to check the capacity of the arch and interpret the causes of the damage. Repair works consisted of grouting of the arch ring, particularly in the cracks, repointing of the intrados of the barrel vault and the voussoirs and a watertight layer on the extrados.