Development of a guideline for proof loading of bridges

The Danish Road Directorate has developed a guideline for proof loading of road bridges. The guideline ensures that proof load tests are planned and executed in a consistent manner and that test results may be used to update the load-carrying capacity of the considered bridge. The guideline describes how proof load tests may be planned, executed, and interpreted to demonstrate that the considered bridge can withstand a given load with sufficient reliability. One of the primary hypotheses is that many bridges have a load-carrying capacity that may be larger than the one determined by traditional computational analysis. This is mainly because the computational models, that are used to determine the load carrying capacity, of a given bridge does not predict the actual response of the considered bridge with sufficient accuracy. Most models are inherently conservative and underestimates the actual load carrying capacity of the considered bridge. Load testing is a cost-effective method to demonstrate that a given bridge has a sufficient load carrying capacity.