Propuesta de reforzamiento de la superestructura del puente sobre el río Mocora.

Abstract

The bridge over the Mocora River, located in the canton of Pedernales, and is part of the "Ruta del Spondylus", is of the utmost importance in the country. According to the study by (Benavides & Díaz, 2020), the bridge requires reinforcement to guarantee its functionality in the medium and long term. Four reinforcement methodologies were investigated, but steel plate reinforcement, also known as metallic cladding, was chosen for this study. The reinforcement of the bridge with metal sheathing consists of placing steel plates on the faces of the beams that support the decks, anchored by means of bolts that cross the entire section of the beam. Information was collected on the current state of the bridge, its geometry and the properties of the materials, with its original design plans provided by the (MTOP, Design of the Bridge Over the Mocora River, 1983). Through a computational model, the structural performance was evaluated following the methodology proposed by the Manual for Bridge Evaluation (AASHTO, 2018). The results of the resistance coefficients for the unreinforced bridge and for the reinforced bridge were obtained. It was found that, in the first case, there is a flexural strength deficit for the regulations (NEVI12, 2013); while once reinforced it meets the flex demand for contemporary truck and tandem configurations. The study concludes with a description of the structural details of the reinforcement and an estimate of the cost of the materials based on quotes.