An incident involving a heavy vehicle caused fire damage to a Prestressed Concrete Bridge. The Emerald Shire Council needed to decide whether to repair or replace portions of the bridge.

AS 5100 Bridge Design provides guidance on the design of bridges to resist fire, but provides little information on how to evaluate the residual strength of bridges following a fire.

Working on behalf of the Queensland Department of Main Roads, Texcel undertook an investigation of the international literature, and utilising the principles of fire engineering, documented the expected residual performance of the bridge.

The Emerald Shire Council applied the
findings of this investigation to make their decision on whether to repair or replace
portions of the bridge.