• ASSOCIATED COMPANIES
• VEC CIVIL ENGINEERING PTY LTD
• VEC PLANT & EQUIPMENT PTY LTD
• VANEK PTY LTD

VEC Testing & Design has introduced an economical bridge load testing and rating system into Australia.

It has been almost universally experienced that the elastic load capacity of a structure in practice is greater than that predicted from a standard desktop analysis.

VEC, in association with Bridge Diagnostics Incorporated (BDI) of the USA, have developed a quick and accurate method of developing a 'calibrated elastic model'.

The process involves:

• Developing an elastic model based on the as constructed drawings, visual inspection and other documentation of the structure
• Measuring the strain at up to 48 locations on the structure as a truck or other vehicle of known weight crosses
• Calibrating the theoretical model by adjusting (within recognised limits) member stiffnesses and boundary conditions so that the strains and deformations in the model are matched with the test results.

Once the model has been calibrated, any vehicle load configuration (including design vehicles, permit vehicles, or overloads) can be applied to the model with the appropriate live load and dynamic load factors to determine the structures actual live load rating
The system can be used to rate all manner of steel, timber, reinforced concrete and prestressed concrete structures.

We have a brochure on VEC Bridge Load Testing and Rating in adobe acrobat format available here (783kb).