The Luitpold suspension bridge over the Danube River in Passau ‐ renovation of a 70‐year‐old suspension bridge under special boundary conditions

Obvious corrosion damage on load‐bearing steel and concrete elements made a general renovation of the bridge superstructure necessary. In particular a renewal of the anti‐corrosion coating of the steel components as well as a complete renewal of the concrete deck slab have been unavoidable.

A variety of restrictive constraints in terms of cargo and passenger shipping, the necessity of a permanent pedestrian path on the bridge and numerous non‐removable service pipes complicated the maintenance work dramatically and required a detailed reconstruction concept especially considering static, structural and economic aspects.

A major challenge was also the development of a computational model describing the real structural behavior with sufficient accuracy during and after renovation. Due to the lack of inventory documents an experimental validation and in addition an on‐site monitoring had to be carried out.

As is often the case for existing buildings, the total extent of necessary reconstruction work became apparent only after the first deck slab sections were removed. The remains of leadcontaining coating layers, which also came to light during the course of reconstruction, made the abrasive blast clearing even more difficult.