INTRODUCTION

1. General

A Bridge is a structure providing passage over an obstacle without closing the way beneath.
The required passage may be for a road, a railway, pedestrians, a canal or a
pipeline. The obstacle to be crossed may be a river, a road, railway or a valley.

Bridges range in length from a few metre to several kilometre. They are among the largest
structures built by man. The demands on design and on materials are very high. A bridge
must be strong enough to support its own weight as well as the weight of the people
and vehicles that use it. The structure also must resist various natural occurrences, including
earthquakes, strong winds, and changes in temperature. Most bridges have a concrete, steel,
or wood framework and an asphalt or concrete road way on which people and vehicles travel.

The T-beam Bridge is by far the Most commonly adopted type in the span range of 10 to 25
M. The structure is so named because the main longitudinal girders are designed as T-beams
integral with part of the deck slab, which is cast monolithically with the girders. Simply
supported T-beam span of over 30 M are rare as the dead load then becomes too heavy.

1.1 Main Components of a Bridge

The Superstructure consists of the following components:

• Deck
• slab
• Cantilever slab portion
• Footpaths, if provided, kerb and handrails or crash barriers.
• Longitudinal girders, considered in design to be of T-section
• Crossbeams or diaphragms, intermediate and end ones.
• Wearing coat

The Substructure consists of the following structures:

i) Abutments at the extreme ends of the bridge.
ii) Piers at intermediate supports in case of multiple span bridges.
iii) Bearings and pedestals for the decking.
iv) Foundations for both abutments and piers may be of the type open, well, pile, etc.

Apart from the above, river training works and the approaches to a bridge also form a part of
a bridge works.

1.2 Types of Bridges

i) Girder Bridge
ii) Truss Bridge
iii) Arch Bridge
iv) Cantilever Bridge
v) Suspension Bridge
vi) Cable-stayed Bridge
vii) Movable Bridge
viii) Slab Bridge
1.2.1Girder Bridges
There are two main types of girder bridges. In one type, called a box girder bridge, each
girder looks like a long box that lies between the piers or abutments. The top surface of the
bridge is the roadway. Box girder bridges are built of steel or concrete. In the other type of
girder bridge, the end view of each girder looks like an I or a T. Two or more girders support
the roadway. This type of bridge is called a plate girder bridge when made of steel,
a reinforced or prestressed concrete girder bridge when made of concrete, and a wood girder
bridge when made of wood.

1.3 Parameters governing choice of Superstructure:

The basic function of a bridge superstructure is to permit uninterrupted smooth passage of
traffic over it and to transmit the loads and to transmit the load and forces to the substructure
safely through the bearings. Although it is difficult to stipulate the aesthetic requirements, it
should, however, be ensured that the type of superstructure adopted is simple, pleasing to the
eye, and blends with the environment. No hard and fast rules can be laid regarding the
economy in cost. The designer should, however, be able to evolve the most economical type
of superstructure based on his judgment and experience given the particular conditions
prevailing at the particular site at the particular time.

The following factors are to be considered while selecting the type of a bridge superstructure.

• The nature of river or streams

• Nature of foundation / founding strata available
• The amount and type of traffic
• Whether used for navigation purposes
• Climatic conditions
• Hydraulic data
• Type of available construction material
• Labour available
• The available facilities for erections
• Maintenance provisional
• The availability of funds
• Time available for construction
• Strategic consideration
• Economic consideration
• Aesthetic consideration

1.4 General guidelines for analysis and Design of a Bridge Structure

Procedure for preparation of General Arrangement Drawing of a Bridge:

(I) First of all, the required formation level is found out. On knowing this the permissible
structural depth is established. This is done after taking into account the following two things:
(i) Minimum vertical clearance required taking into account the difference between the
affluxed high flood level and the soffit of the deck. (ii) Thickness of wearing coat required
below the formation level.
(II) Considering the depth of foundations, the height of deck above the bed level and low
water level, average depth of water during construction season, the type of bridge, span
lengths, type of foundations, cross section of the deck, method of construction and loading
sequence.
(III) Trial cross sections of the deck, sizes of various elements of the substructure and
superstructure are decided upon and drawn to arrive at the preliminary general arrangement
of the bridge. Various trials lead to a structural form with optimum placements of its load
masses. Relative proportions and sizes of certain members as well as their shapes are decided
upon and drawn to a certain scale on this drawing. The type of bearing to be used along with
their locations depending the support system is also
established. The main basis of the general arrangement drawing of a bridge structure is a
quick preliminary analysis and design of the member sections. This is essential for forming
the basis of the detailed to be carried later on depending upon the requirements of the project.

1.5 General Procedure for Design of Superstructure of a Bridge:

i) Analyze and design the transverse-deck-slab and its cantilever portions, unless the
superstructure is purely longitudinally reinforced solid slab with no cantilevering portions.
This is necessitated so as to decide the top flange thickness of the deck section which is
essential to work out the deck section properties for the subsequent longitudinal design.

ii) Compute the dead load and live load bending moments at each critical section.

iii) In order to determine the maximum and minimum live load effects that a particular
longitudinal can receive, carry out the transverse load distribution for live
load placed in various lanes.

iv) This may be done by Courbon's method, Little and Morice's method, Hendry and Jaeger
methods.

v) Alternatively, use may be made to the Plane-Grid method which involves using one of the
many standard computer programs (e.g., STAAD program). The Plan Grid method is
basically a finite element method. Though time consuming in writing the input data, it is
nevertheless very useful for the purpose of analysis. For wide and multi-cell boxes and
transverse live load distribution may be studied by the finite element method but it is time
consuming.

vi) Design against bending of critical sections, in reinforced or in prestressed concrete

as the case may be.

vii) Work out dead load and live load shear forces at each critical section in the longitudinal
of the deck and design the sections and reinforcements for effects of torsion
and shear, if required.

1.6 Transverse Distribution of Loads

Analysis based on the elastic theory is recommended to find the distribution in the transverse
direction of the bending Moment in the direction movement in the direction of the span. For
the analysis, the structure May be idealized in one of the following ways:

(i) a system of interconnected beams forming a rigid

(ii) an orthotropic plate
(iiI) an assemblage of thin plate elements or thin plate elements and beams

For the computation of the bending Moment due to live load, the distribution of the
live loads between longitudinal has to be determined. When there are only two longitudinal
girders, the reactions on the longitudinal can be found by assuming supports of the deck slab
as unyielding. With three or more longitudinal girders, the load distribution is estimated using
any one of the above rational methods.

By using any one of the above Methods, the Maximum reactions factors for intermediate and
end longitudinal girders are obtained. The bending Moments and shears are then computed
for these critical values of reaction factors. The above three Methods make
simplifying assumptions relating to the structure and loading. These assumptions
introduce errors but Make these Methods amenable to calculators and graphs. In relative
comparison to this the grillage Method of analysis, pioneered by Lightfoot and Sawko
requires lesser simplifying assumptions.

1.7 About the Project

The Project is an ongoing work across Palar river near Thangalakuppa on road joining
Kangandlahalli-Ramasagara Road and K-V Road in Bangarpet Taluk. The Superstructure for
19.34M effective span is proposed with Reinforced Concrete Deck slab and cast-in-situ three
Reinforced girders which are supported over four cross girders with a total height of
the girders 1.950M at the centre of the span and 1.890M at the end with two end cross girders
supported on the piers. The spacing of R.C. longitudinal girders is 2.5M c/c. The spacing of
the cross girders is 3.742M c/c. The panel size is 2.1M x 3.442M. The deck consists of two
cantilever slabs of 1.750M length from the centre of the end girder. There are two Crash
Barriers at the end of the deck slab. The design of the superstructure is done by the Working
stress method and involves the following procedure:

1. Deck Slab Design

2. Design of Longitudinal Girders and Cross Girders.

Do read through the notes and see the example design and analysis calculations of the above
project. Discuss in your Groups.

Kind Regards,
GW