Abstract:
This article presents a study on stress-laminated timber bridges. The technique is useful for the rehabilitation and
construction of bridges. It consists of a series of timber planks placed side by side and compressed transversely with highstrength
steel prestressing bars. A prototype of this kind of structure was built in the Department of Civil Engineering at the
University of Coimbra. The prototype, a stress-laminated timber bridge deck with butt joints, was 6 m long, 2.7 m wide, and
0.20 m thick. The experimental program was developed with two main objectives: to study the evolution of the prestress
value applied to the structure and to observe the bridge structural behavior under the effect of loads simulating the action of a
standard vehicle. Practical difficulties and/or limitations and potentialities of the system when maritime pine is used as the
timber material are also discussed. This article reports the experimental program and the results, with emphasis on the tension
losses in the prestressed steel bars.
