UHPFRC intervention reduces environmental and economic costs in bridge management

UHPFRC intervention reduces environmental and economic costs in bridge management | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article UHPFRC intervention reduces environmental and economic costs in bridge management Numa Bertola, Célia Küpfer, Eugen Brühwiler This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6549136/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 04 Feb, 2026 Read the published version in Nature Communications → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Conventional infrastructure management typically involves replacing bridges at the end of their intended service duration or when significant structural deficiencies arise, resulting in high costs and environmental impacts. Novel structural-strengthening methods using ultra-high-performance fiber-reinforced cementitious composite (UHPFRC) have allowed the preservation of hundreds of bridges. Their service duration has been extended, and the performance has been improved to achieve the same performance as a new structure. Examining the Swiss federal network (3,903 bridges), it is found that interventions with the UHPFRC method are feasible on more than 99.7% of structures, demonstrating that the structural intervention could be systematically applied to road bridge networks. Systematically applying the UHPFRC strategy would lead to savings of up to 7.7 MtCO 2,eq, and 18.5 billion CHF over the next 80 years compared to current mainstream engineering practice. This study underscores the large potential of UHPFRC-method interventions for sustainable and cost-effective infrastructure management. Physical sciences/Engineering/Civil engineering Scientific community and society/Business and industry/Engineering/Civil engineering Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 04 Feb, 2026 Read the published version in Nature Communications → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6549136","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":452046203,"identity":"24298afc-3ef4-41ec-b889-360b1c7b8bf4","order_by":0,"name":"Numa Bertola","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAyklEQVRIiWNgGAWjYLACxgYQydzA8IGBgYeBnVgtPECScQaIZiZFCzMP2DYCqs0lshM/MO6wybdnb2z8bNt2R4aBmccArxbLGbmbJRjPpFn28Bxsls5te8ZDUIvBjdwNEoxthw14JBIbgFoOE6Vl8w/Gtv8gLc2/LYnUsg1oywGQljZpRqK0nHm7zSLxTLIBz5mDbZY95w7zsDGzFeDXcjx3842PO+wM2NubD9/4UXbYnp+9eQNeLWCQgMxhI6x+FIyCUTAKRgEhAADCYT9tVN513QAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4151-3123","institution":"University of Luxembourg","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Numa","middleName":"","lastName":"Bertola","suffix":""},{"id":452046204,"identity":"62d5de13-31cf-4725-84f2-d3f8251b0fba","order_by":1,"name":"Célia Küpfer","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"EPFL","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Célia","middleName":"","lastName":"Küpfer","suffix":""},{"id":452046205,"identity":"c4a143c4-4288-4e39-8f1c-e983c1f66acc","order_by":2,"name":"Eugen Brühwiler","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2321-010X","institution":"EPFL","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Eugen","middleName":"","lastName":"Brühwiler","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-04-28 15:11:18","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6549136/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6549136/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[{"content":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-69103-x","type":"published","date":"2026-02-04T05:00:00+00:00"}],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":103637097,"identity":"5ec3864a-eabf-4a95-babd-e1b5fe0e2113","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-02-28 08:05:46","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1396810,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"2025NBNaturSustUHPFRCinterventionv7.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6549136/v1_covered_35bdcf96-1f99-4d51-8a78-007760f77915.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"There is \u003cb\u003eNO\u003c/b\u003e Competing Interest.","formattedTitle":"UHPFRC intervention reduces environmental and economic costs in bridge management","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"nature-portfolio","isNatureJournal":true,"hasQc":false,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Nature Portfolio","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":false,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"ejp","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6549136/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6549136/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eConventional infrastructure management typically involves replacing bridges at the end of their intended service duration or when significant structural deficiencies arise, resulting in high costs and environmental impacts. Novel structural-strengthening methods using ultra-high-performance fiber-reinforced cementitious composite (UHPFRC) have allowed the preservation of hundreds of bridges. Their service duration has been extended, and the performance has been improved to achieve the same performance as a new structure. Examining the Swiss federal network (3,903 bridges), it is found that interventions with the UHPFRC method are feasible on more than 99.7% of structures, demonstrating that the structural intervention could be systematically applied to road bridge networks. Systematically applying the UHPFRC strategy would lead to savings of up to 7.7 MtCO\u003csub\u003e2,eq,\u003c/sub\u003e and 18.5\u0026nbsp;billion CHF over the next 80 years compared to current mainstream engineering practice. 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