MONITORING AND PROTECTION OF TIMBER-CONCRETE BRIDGES

The majority of timber bridges for ordinary road traffic are often made as timber-concrete composite structures. Concrete slab is something like as umbrella for timber. The reason for problems in timber-concrete bridges is nearly always poor detailing for durability and neglected maintenance. Mainly all aspects of timber protection and maintenance should therefore be considered even during the planning phase of bridge. Paper deals with evaluation of timber properties, system of opto-fiber sensors for monitoring and diagnostics of mechanical stress of timber-concrete bridges, and degradation of timber due to UV radiation, atmospheric conditions and biological agents after application of photocatalytic materials on surface.