FUNDAMENTAL OF BRIDGES

What is a bridge?
• Definition: A structure which spans between two
points and carries specified design loads.
• A bridge is a structure that spans a divide such as:
– A stream/river/ravine/valley
– Railroad track/roadway/waterway
• The traffic that uses a bridge
may include:
– Pedestrian or cycle traffic
– Vehicular or rail traffic
– Water/gas pipes
– A combination of all the above

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 How Bridges Work
• Every passing vehicles shakes the bridge up and
down, making waves that can travel at hundreds of
kilometers per hour.
• The bridge is designed to damp them out, just as it is
design need to ignore the efforts of the wind to turn it
into a giant harp.
• A bridge is not a dead mass of metal and concrete: its
has a life of its own, and understanding its movements
is as important as understanding the static forces.

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 Basic Concepts

• Span - the distance between two bridge supports,

whether they are columns, towers or the wall of a
canyon.
• Force - any action that tends to maintain or alter the
position of a structure
• Compression - a force which acts to compress or
shorten the thing it is acting on.
• Tension - a force which acts to expand or lengthen the
thing it is acting on.

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 Basic Concepts
Beam - a rigid, usually horizontal, structural element
Beam

Pier

Pier - a vertical supporting structure, such as a pillar

Cantilever - a projecting structure supported only at

one end, like a shelf bracket or a diving board

Load - weight distribution throughout a structure

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 Basic Concepts
Truss - a rigid frame composed of short, straight pieces joined
to form a series of triangles or other stable shapes

Stable - (adj.) ability to resist collapse and deformation; stability

(n.) characteristic of a structure that is able to carry a realistic
load without collapsing or deforming significantly

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 Basic Concepts
Buckling is what happens when the force of
compression overcomes an object's ability to
handle compression. A mode of failure
characterized generally by an unstable
lateral deflection due to compressive action
on the structural element involved.

Snapping is what happens when tension overcomes an

object's ability to handle tension.

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 Basic Concepts

To dissipate forces is to spread them out over a greater

area, so that no one spot has to bear the brunt of the
concentrated force.
To transfer forces is to move the forces from an area of
weakness to an area of strength, an area designed to
handle the forces.

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 Types of Bridges
1. Slab Bridges
• The most common and basic types
• Typical spans: 10 m to 200m

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 Types of Bridges

2. Slab-on-girder Bridges

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Bridges which Carry Loads Mainly
in Flexure

• By far the majority of bridges are of this type. The

loads are transferred to the bearings and piers and
hence to the ground by slabs or beams acting in
flexure, i.e. the bridges obtain their load-carrying
resistance from the ability of the slabs and beams to
resist bending moments and shear forces.
• Only for the very shortest spans is it possible to
adopt a slab without any form of beam. This type of
bridge will thus be referred to generally as a girder
bridge.

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 Types of Bridges
3. Box girder Bridges

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 Types of Bridges

4. Rigid-frame Bridges

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 Types of Bridges

5. Truss Bridges
• Truss is a simple skeletal structure
• Typical span length are 40 m to 500m

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 Forces in a Truss Bridge
• In design theory, the individual members of a simple
truss are only subject to tension and compression
and not bending forces. For most part, all the beams
in a truss bridge are straight.

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 Types of Bridges
• Arches used a curved structure
6. Arch Bridges which provides a high resistance
to bending forces.
• Both ends are fixed in the
horizontal direction (no horizontal
movement allowed in the
bearings).
• Arches can only be used where
ground is solid and stable.
• Hingeless arch is very stiff and
Hinge-less Arch suffers less deflection.
• Two-hinged arch uses hinged
bearings which allow rotation
and most commonly used for
steel arches and very
economical design.

Two hinged Arch

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 Types of Bridges
6. Arch Bridges • The three-hinged arch
adds an additional hinge
at the top and suffers
very little movement in
either foundation, but
experiences more
deflection. Rarely used.
Three-hinged Arch
• The tied arch allows
construction even if the
ground is not solid
enough to deal with
horizontal forces.
Tied Arch
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Forces in an Arch

• Arches are well suited to

the use of stone because
they are subject to
compression.
• Many ancient and well-
known examples of stone
arches still stand to this
today.

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 Types of Bridges
7. Cable-stayed Bridges

• A typical cable-stayed bridge is a continuous deck with

one or more towers erected above piers in the middle of
the span.
• Cables stretch down diagonally from the towers and
support the deck. Typical spans 110m to 480m.
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 Types of Bridges
7. Cable-stayed Bridges
• Cable Stay Towers

Cable stayed bridges may be classified by the number of

spans, number and type of towers, deck type, number
and arrangement of cables.
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 Types of Bridges

7. Cable-stayed Bridges
• Cable Stay Arrangements

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 Types of Bridges

7. Cable-stayed Bridges

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 Types of Bridges

8. Suspension Bridges

• A typical suspension bridge is a continuous deck with one or more

towers erected above piers in the middle of span. The deck maybe
of truss or box girder.
• Cables pass over the saddle which allows free sliding.
• At both ends large anchors are placed to hold the ends of the
cables.
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 Types of Bridges
8. Suspension Bridges
• Forces in Suspension Bridge

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 Bridges which Carry their Loads
Mainly as Axial Forces

• This type can be further subdivided into those bridges in

which the primary axial forces are compressive (arches)
and those in which these forces are tensile (suspension
bridges and cable-stayed bridges). Such forces normally
have to be resisted by members carrying forces of the
opposite sense.

• It must not be thought that flexure is immaterial in such

structures. Certainly, in most suspension bridges, flexure of
the stiffening girder is not a primary loading in that
overstress is unlikely to cause overall failure; however, in
cable stayed bridges (particularly if the stays are widely
spaced) flexure of the girder is a primary loading.
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Bridges which Carry their Loads
Mainly as Axial Forces

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Bridges which Carry their Loads
Mainly as Axial Forces

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 Bridge Components
qSubstructure qSuperstructure
qAny structure above bearing
qFoundation (Pile/Spread footing) qWearing surface
qPier (Column)
qAbutment

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 Substructure Components
• Abutment: A support of an arch or bridge which may
carry a horizontal forces as well as weight.
• Pier: A wide column/short wall of masonry/reinforced
concrete for carrying loads as a support for abridge, but
in any case it is founded on firm ground.
• Bearing: support on a bridge pier which carry the weight
of the bridge and control movement at the bridge
supports, including the temperature expansion and
contraction.

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 Superstructure
• Bridge Deck: The load bearing floor of a bridge which
carries and spreads the loads to the main beams. It is
either reinforced concrete, pre-stressed concrete,
welded steel, etc.

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Bridge Components

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Bridge Components

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Bridge Components

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 Bridge Components

qShort span : 6-30m

qMedium span: 30-100m Span>6m Bridge
qLong span: >100m Span< 6m Culvert
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 “If the Bridges Fails, the System
Fails”

• The importance of Bridge can be visualized by considering

the comparison between the two main components of a
highway system. Ex: road and bridge itself.
• Ex: Suppose in road there occurs deterioration and ultimately a crack,
thus making a sort of inconvenience but it wont result in stopping of
the flow of traffic as traffic can pass or otherwise a bypass can be
provided. The traffic no doubt will pass with a slower speed but in
case of a bridge its flow is completely stopped incase of the failure of
the bridge, that is the reason its often called “If the bridge fails the
structure fails” as the function of the structure could no longer be
served at all.

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Video 1

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• On the morning on November 7, 1940, the Tacoma Narrows
Bridge twisted violently in 42 mile/hour winds and collapse into
the cold waters of the Puget Sound. The disaster – which
luckily took no human lives – shook the engineering community
and forever changed the way bridges were built around the
world.

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 Selection of Bridge Types

• Mainly based on structural requirement

• Other important factors:
– Economic
– Aesthetic

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 Economic Aspects
• Use less material
• Utilize local material and labour
• Less labour cost
• Less transportation cost
• Less maintenance cost
• Vulnerability of bridge component to damage from
accidents

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 Economic Aspects

• Selection of materials and structural form for the

superstructure: complex task
- must consider all factors affecting the design of a
particular bridge
- the choice is a function of the span

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Span Lengths for Various Types of
Superstructure

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 Aesthetic Aspects
• A bridge is a part of life for everyone in the
community who comes within sight of it.
• Type and location of bridge – significant impact on
surrounding landscape.
- design to harmonize with natural
surroundings and neighboring structures
- aesthetic generally achieved through
i. Structural honesty, simplicity of form,
slenderness
ii. Conformity with surroundings, etc.

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 Aesthetic Aspects
• Appearance of the bridge: views from 5 vantage points
should be considered:
i) Travelling on the bridge at slow speed.
Ex: pedestrian
ii) Travelling on the bridge at high speed.
Ex: car driver
iii) Travelling under the bridge at slow speed.
Ex: person in row boat
iv) Travelling under the bridge at high speed.
Ex: car driver
v) Viewing the bridge from one side and from a good
distance away, say 2 X Span
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 Quality in Bridge Design

• May be measured by success in satisfying the basic

objectives implicit in its design:
i) functional
ii) structural
iii) economic
iv) aesthetic
v) durable

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 Quality in Bridge Design
• Efficient structural design of a bridge is of major
importance and will affect its feasibility, life cycle cost,
functionality and appearance.
• Nevertheless, structural sufficiency is often taken not as
a quality which needs to be evaluated and balanced
against other features, but as an essential pre-requisite
for a sound and good design.

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Materials of Bridge Construction

Type of materials

Concrete – major component of bridge construction

Steel– major component of bridge construction

Wood – used more often in small bridges

Other materials (elastomer, aluminium, plastic, rubber, special

resin, etc) – employed in specific secondary components such as
barriers & bearing
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 Concrete
• Material for curbs, sidewalks, parapets and substructure as well as
for bridge deck
1

• Readily formed to almost any shape with various compressive

strength
2

• The compressive strength at 28 days range from 21-35 Mpa

• Satisfactory for deck slabs, curb, sidewalks & substructures
3

• For girders of medium span cast in place or prestressed concrete

bridges: strength up to 42 Mpa are common
4

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 Steel
• Several grade of structural steel available for use in
bridge construction.
• Common structural steels: 3 classification

Heat treated
High strength Low
Carbon steels Alloy Steels
constructional
Alloy Steels

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 Trends in Design & Construction of
Highway Bridge

• Recent design of highway bridges have demonstrated

that the objectives of:
- low initial cost
- high aesthetic value
- minimal maintenance demand

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Trends in Design & Construction of
Highway Bridge

• Recently constructed highway bridges tend to be smaller

in member sizes and longer in span.
• Note: must balance carefully against other potential
undesirable consequences:
- pedestrian comfort
- dynamic amplification on vehicle loads due to
increased flexibility

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 Trends in Design & Construction of
Highway Bridge

• Can be achieved by considering the use of:

- composite material/construction
- continuous span
- light weight materials
- limit state analysis & design concept
- more realistic load model

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