Footbridge Design Report

DESIGN CALCULATIONS - STANDARD RURAL SUSPENSION FOOTBRIDGES
Page 1 of Chapters 1 to 5
RURAL SUSPENSION FOOTBRIDGES

V.E.C
CALCULATIONS/ANALYSIS
1. INTRODUCTION AND GENERAL INFORMATION
Some rural areas of Zimbabwe are faced with communication problems in

as far as road infrastructure is concerned. In most cases the service
points like schools, clinics, business centres, etc are located far away
from some of the community catchment areas which they are meant to
serve.
Rural Zimbabwe has a net work of local streams and rivers which during
the rainy season become impassable due to high flood. The rivers in
most cases become barriers to the service points. Cases of school
children either missing school or being swept away by flooded rivers are
a common occurrence. It is important Therefore that suitable, safe and
affordable communication options be provided for these rural areas.
It is intended therefore to provide footbridges across these impassable

rivers in areas were communities are cut-off from essential services
during the rainy seasons. It is intended to adopt a common footbridge
type, adaptable on most bridge sites with little change of design.
The crucial aspects of the footbridge will be:-

- the footbridges will be built with the local community participation
- the footbridges should cater for the needs of the local community
- the design should be safe
- the structures should be easy to maintain
- the designs should be based on existing practice in Zimbabwe with
modifications where necessary
The footbridge designs should be suspension footbridge type designed

for low lying flood plains. The designs were to be carried out t twenty
metre intervals from a bridge span of twenty metres (20m) to a span of a
hundred and sixty metres (160m). The designs were to be carried out a
span interval of twenty metres between these two limiting spans. A total
of eight (8No.) standard designs was to be produced. The designs were
to include details of the substructure and superstructure elements and
Bills of Quantities and material specifications produced.
Engineer V.E Chipuru of Heart Geotechncial Engineers (Pvt) ltd was

commissioned by the client through ILO-ASSIST, the project monitors to
carry out the detailed design and production of the standard working
drawings which forms the basis of this project.
2. CHOICE OF BRIDGE STRUCTURE
2.1 Scope of Works
The client requested that the designs cover inter alia, the following major
aspects:-
(i) the designs will include three possible foundations conditions for the
substructures. The conditions being rock, good gravel (or sand) and poor
soil (especially active clays). The detailed ground treatment methods for
each case will be given as accompanying notes on the working drawings.
(ii) a sample of the calculations for the longest span (160m) will be
presented to the client first before a detailed design of the rest of the
bridges is carried out. The client has to approve in writing the design
concept and working drawing layouts first before the rest of the designs
are done
(iii) a sample of the calculations with the variables will be submitted so
that the client can in future carry out calculations without going through a
rigorous calculations
(iv) the design project was to take a total of twelve (12No.) weeks to full
reports presentation from written commission
2.2 Footbridge Geometry
The client requested for footbridges to cater for low lying areas. This was
taken to mean that the river channel crossings might not be very deep
such the footbridges might need to be elevated to gain enough freeboard.
It is intended therefore to adopt the suspension footbridge rather than the

suspended footbridge. The difference between the two types of bridges
is on the way the main cables are supported. The suspension bridge has
the bridge deck and main cables sagging and supported at the banks
with the walkway supported below the anchorages. This type of bridge
geometry is good on sites where the river has deep side banks such that
it would not be a problem to gain enough freeboard above the high flood
levels. This design project is for low lying river sites such that the banks
are taken to be relatively shallow. In this regard the suspended footbridge
becomes unsuitable due to the need to gain enough freeboard above the
flood level. The suspension footbridge is therefore adopted.
The suspension bridge has the deck supported from the main cables
which are in-turn supported on high rise towers. The towers enable the
requisite freeboard to be taken care of from the bridge rather than from
the river. The main disadvantage of the suspension bridge is the high
towers which may give construction problems since the erection of the
towers and cables might need the use of specialised contractors. The
community participation aspect in the bridge construction will therefore
fall away.
The bridge members will be selected such that the elements can be
manufactured or fabricated easily in a workshop without the need for
complex machinery. The bridge elements should be transported easily to
site and be erected with ease by manual means or by simple lifting or
handling equipment.
2.3 Choice of Bridge Materials

It is envisaged that as people gain experience in suspension footbridge
design and construction, some cost saving measures will be introduced
thus producing an optimum bridge for any site.
Rural footbridges will inmost cases be remote and isolated such that
maintenance of the bridges will be inconvenient and costly, thus it is
prudent during the design stage to take durability as a priority. The
bridges are sometimes exposed to unexpected and extreme loads, wind
action (especially long spans), water action and general weathering
deterioration such that maintenance can not entirely be ignored.
The design of the suspension footbridge is based on the catenary
equation for the cable designs and elementary design principles for the
rest of the bridge components
The engineering characteristics, material strengths and member sizes for
the various bridge members were obtained from local suppliers. In some
cases, the local suppliers hinted that the materials had to be obtained
from outside the country thus the cost implications on the total bridge cost
are paramount. The materials which need to be imported are highlighted
in the Bill Of Approximate Quantities.
The design was meant to accommodate the various types of bridge sites
to be expected. The deep and well defined river channels have no
problems in supports and clearance whereas for flat banked rivers, there
is need to gain artificial height clearance for the superstructures. These
two scenarios are represented schematically on the working drawings.
The gain in height can be achieved by raising the approaches by
construction of steps or sloping approach ramp.
In general the bridge supports might not be on the same level thus the
supervising engineer should carry out a design check to cater for the
localised conditions. This might entail combining more than one different
standard drawings.
3. DESIGN OF STANDARD SUSPENSION FOOTBRIDGES
3.1 General
Production of standard designs for use on different sites reduces the
design work load and ensures quality of drawings and construction by
using tested and tried methods. The standard drawings, however, need
to be modified to suit the prevailing site conditions. The site conditions
normally considered are:- accessibility to site, availability of local
resources (i.e materials and labour), the site geological, topographical,
geotechncial and hydrological conditions. These factors need to be
investigated for each site before adopting any particular standard design.
3.2 General Layout of the Footbridge

The site is assumed to have shallow banks by definition of being in a low
lying area. The suspension as opposed to the suspended bridge is thus
chosen especially for long spans.
It is proposed to support the bridge on reinforced concrete (RC) H-

frames or portals as the towers. It is not recommended to use this type of
supports for sites with different foundation elevations, i.e sites with river
banks at substantially different heights. The use of steel tubular posts
filled with concrete which are common with the Department of Roads are
not suitable with the suspension bridge type adopted for this design.
There exists special cases where the suspension bridge might have a
single tower at one end and a gravity foundation at the other end. For
long spans (spans more than sixty metres), the use of windguys (side
sway cables) to limit the sidesway of the bridge is a must for safety
reasons. The main cables are clamped at the top of the towers. There is
a gap between the walkway and towers (tower foundations) such that the
deck is free to 'swing' in all directions.
3.2.1 Section Along Bridge

SPAN = L
VERTICAL
HANGERS
MAIN
CABLES RC PORTAL
SAG = d
FREEBOARD
HFL
CABLE MASS CONRETE GROUND APPROACH

ANCHOR FOOTING LEVEL RAMP
BLOCK
3.2.2 Plan of Bridge

WINDGUY
WINDGUY
ANCHOR
CABLE
TOWER
MAIN
WALK WAY
CABLES
FLOW
3.3 BASIC DESIGN CONCEPTS
3.3.1 Foundations
The foundations will be designed to suit the site conditions. In this case
the foundations will be Gravity Anchored Foundations. Gravity
Foundations derive their stability from the foundation self weight. The
forces to be considered are the loads from the suprstructure,the wind
load acting directly on the footings, lateral earth pressure as well as the
foundation self weight. Loads on top of the foundations will be considered
only where the loads are guaranteed. The earth load on top of the
footings is therefore neglected in this design since in cases where the
load exists, the effect on the footing is stabilising and will be an added
advantage.
3.3.2 Walkway or Approach Ramp
An inclined ramp with rock masonry construction is adopted. In areas

were rock is not easily available, load bearing brick with little water
absorption characteristics may be used, otherwise a mass concrete ramp
has to be provided. The inclined ramp is preferred to the stepped
approaches because the bridge is meant to be assessable to pedestrians
pushing wheel burrows since this is a very common mode of transport in
rural areas.
Section Through Masonry Approach Ramp
200mm THICK SLAB
ROCK OR BRICK WALL WITH

CEMENT MORTAR
ROCKFILL MASONRY WITH

COMPACTED EARTH MATRIX
TOWER FOOTINGS
3.3.3 Windguy (Lateral Stays)
Windguys are provided to reduce sidesway and improve lateral stability of

long bridges (with spans greater than sixty metres). The arrangement has
parabolic cables anchored into the banks and fixed laterally to the bridge
deck by windtie cables. Cross bracing members are provided underneath
the walkway to transmit the wind loads along the whole bridge.
For spans less than eighty metres (80M), direct windguys might be
provided. These are discussed more in subsequent detailed designs.
3.3.4 Walkway Deck

The 3mm thick mild steel chequer plate is chosen as the deck walkway.
The plates are chosen ahead of the corrugated iron roofing sheets
because of the durability. Experience with existing bridges has shown
that the mild steel chequer plate deck is more user friendly and
serviceable than the iron roofing sheets. The choice of deck is supported
by pictures of existing bridges attached in Appendix. The mild steel plates
are supported on flat iron cross beams which act as lateral bracings
across the deck.
4. LOADING
4.1 General
The main load cases to be considered for this bridge are:- live load, dead
loads, wind loads and temperature effects. Special and unexpected loads
will also be considered.
4.2 Live Loads

4.2.1 Nominal Live Loads
The nominal live load on bridges is given in design codes as:-

w = (3 + 50/L)x bridge width KN/m
where, L = span length of bridge in metres for spans greater than 50
metres. For spans less than 50m metres,
live load is given by:- w = 4.00 x bridge width
The longest span is 160m, therefore

Ultimate load on bridge = (3 + 50/160)x1.2
= 3.98KN/m
4.2.2 Unexpected Crowd Loads
An unexpected crowd load occupying the whole bridge will be considered.

This crowd loading will be taken as two people per metre length of bridge
with each person weighting 85kg.
The maximum crowd loading will therefore be:-

Mass per run of bridge = 2 x 85 = 170kg
Weight per metre run = 1.7KN/m at SLS
Applying a load factor of 1.92 on live load, then
ULS live load = 1.7 x 1.92
= 3.26KN/m
This crowd loading is 82% of the calculated ultimate load from literature.
It is therefore assumed safer and within design limits to design for the
worst load case of live load from literature. The crowd load will only be
taken as the design load in cases where the assumed live load becomes
less that the crowd loading.
4.2.3 Unusual Point Loads

The unexpected case of say an individual pushing a wheel burrow across
the bridge will be considered. The loads will be taken as point loads
across the bridge. This load will be checked especially for the
connections which are likely to shear under concentrated loads.
4.3 Dead Loads
The dead load will be calculated from all basic components of the bridge
structure. The effect of eccentric loading on the bridge during
construction will be considered. The bridge will be loaded non uniformly
during construction from one end or from both ends thus the stability will
be investigated.
4.4 Wind Loads
Wind loads will be considered only on long spans. Only the horizontal
component of the wind will be considered. The wind load is taken as a
uniformly distributed load along the bridge.
4.5 Temperature Effects
The length of the steel cable depends on temperature. Variations in

temperature cause variations in the cable sag hence the cable tension.
The effects of different construction temperatures will be investigated.
4.6 Other Loads

Snow and seismic loads are peculiar to this country and will not be
considered in this analysis.
4.7 Load Combinations

The following load combinations will be considered:-
LOAD CASE 1: CABLE DEAD LOAD ONLY
LOAD CASE 2: CABLE DEAD LOAD + DECK
LOAD CASE 3: CABLE + DECK + LIVE LOAD
The following Factors Of Safety will be adopted:-
Cable Tension on Breaking, F.O.S = 3.5
Foundation Sliding, F.O.S = 1.5
Ground Shear failure, F.O.S = 2.0
Structure Overturning, F.O.S = 1.5
Slope Failure (where applicable), F.O.S = 1.3 - 1.5
5. MATERIALS SPECIFICATIONS
5.1 Steel Wire Ropes

Nominal Diameter = 48mm
Construction = 1/61
Breaking Tensile Strength = 1750KN
Coating = Galvanised
Modulus of Elasticity = 138MPa
Not available on the local market

Construction = 6/7(6/1)
Breaking Tensile Strength = 694.7KN
Core = Wire
The cable specification details were obtained from the local suppliers of
industrial ropes
5.2 Cable Connections and Terminals
The cable terminals for the main cables are anchored into mass concrete
by means of round mild steel pipes which are embedded into the
concrete. The cables form a loop around the steel pipes. The cables
might have bull dog grips or thimbles between joints. The bolts and nuts
should be hot-dip galvanised.
5.3 Concrete
All structural concrete to be grade C25 or better. A proper mix design has
to be made and trial mixes done before actual construction. The density
of reinforced concrete should be taken as 24 KN/m3
THIS DESIGN IS BASED ON, VOLUME A 'DESIGN' OF:-

SUSPENSION BRIDGE PROJECT, NEPAL
'SURVEY, DESIGN, AND CONSTRUCTION OF TRAIL SUSPENSION
BRIDGES FOR REMOTE AREAS'
Any other references are acknowledged in the relevant sections of

the design. Any formulae used in this design will not be derived but
reference should be made to the above manual for more literature.

Footbridge Design Report

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DESIGN CALCULATIONS - STANDARD RURAL SUSPENSION FOOTBRIDGES

RURAL SUSPENSION FOOTBRIDGES

Some rural areas of Zimbabwe are faced with communication problems in

It is intended therefore to provide footbridges across these impassable

The crucial aspects of the footbridge will be:-

The footbridge designs should be suspension footbridge type designed

Engineer V.E Chipuru of Heart Geotechncial Engineers (Pvt) ltd was

2. CHOICE OF BRIDGE STRUCTURE

2.1 Scope of Works

2.2 Footbridge Geometry

It is intended therefore to adopt the suspension footbridge rather than the

2.3 Choice of Bridge Materials

3. DESIGN OF STANDARD SUSPENSION FOOTBRIDGES

3.2 General Layout of the Footbridge

It is proposed to support the bridge on reinforced concrete (RC) H-

3.2.1 Section Along Bridge

CABLE MASS CONRETE GROUND APPROACH

3.2.2 Plan of Bridge

3.3 BASIC DESIGN CONCEPTS

3.3.2 Walkway or Approach Ramp

An inclined ramp with rock masonry construction is adopted. In areas

Section Through Masonry Approach Ramp

200mm THICK SLAB

ROCK OR BRICK WALL WITH

ROCKFILL MASONRY WITH

3.3.3 Windguy (Lateral Stays)

Windguys are provided to reduce sidesway and improve lateral stability of

3.3.4 Walkway Deck

4.2 Live Loads

The nominal live load on bridges is given in design codes as:-

The longest span is 160m, therefore

4.2.2 Unexpected Crowd Loads

An unexpected crowd load occupying the whole bridge will be considered.

The maximum crowd loading will therefore be:-

4.2.3 Unusual Point Loads

4.3 Dead Loads

4.5 Temperature Effects

The length of the steel cable depends on temperature. Variations in

4.6 Other Loads

4.7 Load Combinations

5.1 Steel Wire Ropes

Not available on the local market

5.2 Cable Connections and Terminals

THIS DESIGN IS BASED ON, VOLUME A 'DESIGN' OF:-

Any other references are acknowledged in the relevant sections of

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