Analysis of Bridge Foundation Damage in Albania. (2017) - Gega, Mirva
Abstract: Albania is a mountain-hill territory with many water currents such as rivers, small springs, etc. Therefore, the use of various bridge structures such as wood, metal, reinforced concrete, and suspension has been crucial for the realization of road connections as solution for passage. Political changes over the last 26 years have been accompanied by discordance in the implementation of existing norms and construction maintenance regulations, with a tentative to implement the Eurocodes together with the old Albanian codes. The problems created by this confusion were worsened by natural and human interference causing foundation damage to the bridge structures in Albania. These problems have mainly been investigated following river fence destructions, flooding, earthquake, and landslide activities. In this paper we have the goal to perform damage analysis on some bridges by following the method of geological and climatic investigations accompanied by human activity impact that could be their cause of damage. The main natural factors contributing to the damage of bridge foundations are geological and hydrogeological conditions, erosion, and alteration while the human factors are river bed excavation close to the bridge foundations, damage of river fences, and uncontrolled industrial waste discharge. As a result some recommendation on the solution of damage will be introduced.