Worcester Viaduct

Figure 1: Worcester viaduct was badly damaged by water through lack of proper drainage.

The viaduct comprises 65 brickwork arches rising from approximately two-storey height near the railway station, to over three-storey height as it approaches the river Severn (Figure 1).

With the passage of time water had penetrated the structure of the bridge saturating the clay fill material. A lack of sufficient drainage had led to the spandrel walls being forced away from the intrados arch, creating longitudinal cracks close to the edge of the viaduct. This problem had been exacerbated by freezing and thawing. Water penetration had also contributed to cracking at the springing of some spans and delamination of external parts of some columns.

Previous attempts to restore the integrity of the structure using tie rods and steel plates were evident but had proved ineffective.

British Rail invited Cavity Lock Systems to provide an effective repair of the structure using CINTEC anchors.

To restore the integrity of the spandrel wall/intrados arch connection, transverse 30 m x 30 mm x 3 mm SHS stainless steel WSA anchors were installed at approximately 750mm centres. The anchors had alternate lengths of 2.0 m and 2.5 m. Stitching anchors were then angled across longitudinal cracks. These were then filled.

To re-instate the delaminated columns, transverse and diagonal RWT 15 mm x 15 mm x 1.5 SHS stainless steel stitching anchors were installed.

Figure 2: Front elevation of the arch.

In tackling the cause as well as the symptoms of the problem, drainage holes were drilled through the intrados arch and plastic pipes installed to relieve the water pressure.

British Rail and carefully monitoring the performance of the CINTEC system. To date 10 arches have been repaired and there are plans to extend the programme re-instating further arches.

Figure 3: Stitching anchors were angled across cracks.

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