Concrete Hinges

In the first part of the 20^th century concrete hinges developed by Freyssinet and Mesnager were widely tested and implemented in concrete structures. The concrete hinges were used a great deal in closed-spandrel arch bridges. Since such a bridge type has not been competitive for the past 40 years, the research in concrete hinges has not evolved significantly in that period. But introducing a new state-of-the-art concrete arch bridge solution (Pearl-Chain arches invented at the Technical University of Denmark) creates a necessity of a concrete hinge research based on modern standards.
Back when research in concrete hinges was more common different designs were proposed for the geometry and reinforcement. Previous research focused on fatigue, multi-axial stresses around the hinge throat, and the relation between rotation- and moment. But many different test-setups were proposed by different researchers. The present paper uses the prior research results to optimize a test-setup for concrete hinge testing by means of a universal method taking into account the application of the hinge in an arch structure. 3D CAD is utilized in all steps of the planning to reduce errors during assembly of the parts in the test-setup, to create detailed drawings for the workman crew, and to produce visualizations. The test-setup is created for testing of full scale concrete hinges, and actual tests are successfully made on 18 specimens with three different hinge geometries.