STRUCTURAL ASSESSMENT OF MADRID - BARAJAS AIRPORT T3 FOOTBRIDGE

The footbridge, built in 1998, is located at Barajas Madrid Airport and connects Terminal T1 and Dique Sur. It is a major reinforced concrete cable stayed footbridge composed of 8No spans, with a transverse structural joint that divides the footbridge in 2No mirror structures.The superstructure consists of 2No main continuous longitudinal reinforced concrete beams, fitted with main transverse beams with cantilever ends, where the deck is supported (i.e. at supports, upon the towers and at midspan, where the cable anchor points are located). Additionally, secondary transverse beams were installed in order to support the travellators.

Each cable is comprised of 12No 0.6” parallel strands and are anchored at the top of the 15.5 m high precast towers and at the cantilever ends of the transverse beams at midspans.

During the site inspection, among other defects, large cracks up to 3 mm wide were found along the inner edge of the cantilever anchor points. Given the importance of the defect, several advance computer aid calculations were run in order to stablish the cause and allow the design of effective strengthening measures.