TECHNICAL PAPER

FORENSIC ENGINEERING OF CABLE BRIDGES- AN INNOVATIVE

APPROACH -A way forward

Satander Kumar*

abstruct
Forensic engineering in case of cable bridges is the investigation of materials required for their, components made from
them, structures or components that fail or do not operate or function as intended, causing personal injury or damage to
the property or alternatively it means offering evaluation, reporting, and expert witness testimony considering prevailing or
accidental Geotechnical and Environmental conditions.
Causes of failure may be of deterioration of cables, anchorages, fluttering of deck slab due to high wind speed, heavy rains
or poor workmanship, geological problems etc. These cable bridges must systematically be monitored with instrumentation
(health monitoring) since the inception of these bridges (like in case of signature bridge in Delhi) and protected them from
the risk of corrosion of cables, loosening of anchors and vibration etc.
Efforts shall be made to have consequences of failure to be dealt critically besides retracing processes and procedures leading
to accidents in operation of construction machinery before, during construction and after operation with a view to improve
performance or life of a component, or to assist in determining the facts of failure and its solution.
There are different types of suspension bridges (Punalur, Kerala, Laxman Jhula, Tehri Dam, Ramjhula etc) and cable bridges
(Vidyasagar and Nivedita Setu WB, Bandra Worli Seal Link, Yamuna Bridge Allahabad, Akkar Bridge Sikkim, Signature
bridge in Delhi, cable bridges in J&K and Indore etc) in India. The paper here describes problems experienced in India and
abroad in such/similar bridges and their solution, in context of finding real causes of failure of cable bridges.

1. Introduction Being a product made mostly in the field, where varying

There has been rapid increase in technologies in concrete
and composite construction during the past 2-3 decades.
Concrete is the second most widely used construction
material for civil engineering structures in the world.
Nevertheless, over the years, special types of cement,
concrete and admixtures have been in use in fibre reinforced
concrete, polymer concrete, high density concrete, high-
strength concrete, high performance concrete, ultra
high performance concrete etc. enabling to make a right
choice.
A keen engineer conscious of quality and economy of
these diversified materials and technologies have realized
concept of forensic engineering that this require proper
understanding to derive maximum benefit like strength,
durability, appearance and such other essential qualities
of concrete along with economy to avoid any accident
failure of the vehicles with structures or alone as structure.
*
Consultant, Ex. Scientist, CRRI, D 24, Amar Colony, New Delhi 110024
conditions exist, understanding of variations and their
influence of organizing strict control on quality and
ensuring total satisfaction is of paramount importance
with better performance.
It is extremely difficult to keep pace with the advancements
in concrete technology and translate them for useful
purposes on the construction projects. There is a great
need of forensic engineering in transportation technology
with current knowledge of standards.
2. Proposed New Technologies and
Materials Partly or Fully for
Making Cable Bridges
2.1. Following innovative technologies (some of
which partly or fully may be tried/used in cable
bridges) not only will make the environment
green but will make the project more cost effective
besides many added technical advantages:

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 TECHNICAL PAPER
2.1.1 Amorphous Metallic Fibre Reinforced
Concrete: As compared to conventional concrete,
steel fibre as macro fibres reinforced concrete
combining with fibres amorphous metallic fibres
or micro fibres reinforced concrete) with very high
bonding characteristics , a substantial increase in
flexural strength (up to maximum of 6.4 MPa at
28 days) (about 50% more than conventional),
improve ductility, and post cracking performance
resulting in ductile regime in the load deflection
response of the concrete. It has been reported that
this hybrid mix consists of both fibres about 15kg/
m3 allowing very thin sections.1
2.1.2 Accelerated Bridge Construction (ABC) and
Use of Dowel bars in Connections: In this
utilizing precast bridge construction in planned
manner to promote accelerated bridge construction
in high seismic regions, connections between pre
cast I shaped Girders and Precast Inverted Tee
Cap Beam are provided with ducts through the
interface between the girder bottom flange and the
lower regions of the cap beam and then grouted in
place. (Caltrans).
2.1.3 Incrementally Pre-stressed Concrete: Further in
Korea IPC (Incrementally Pre-stressed concrete)
girder, is in practice widely with gaining potential
advantages of short girder height, light weight,
the smallest span to depth ratio, and economical
girder of all kinds of bridges.
2.1.4 Cement-Reduced Concrete Technology:
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) (HS
Muller) and Institute of Concrete Structures and
Building Materials (IMB) Karlsruhe (M Haist
and M Vogel) in Germany developed cement-
reduced concrete technology independent of
cementitious materials by using design process
centre on packing optimization of the granular
mix constituents, thereby reducing the cement
content by nearly two thirds.2
2.1.5 High Strength Self-Compacted Concrete: In
China high strength self-compacted concrete
(M 70/C 70) is being used with suitable dosage
of super adsorbent polymer (SAP) which shows
much better performance than the use of shrinkage-
reducing admixtures prepared with expansive
agent. The slump is 240 mm and the flow was
700 mm and flow loss was less than 10%. This
material has been used in highest building more
than 600 m in China.
2.1.6 White Silica Fume Produced from Zirconium
Industry: In Italy, very high performance concrete/
mortar has been in use having compressive
strength of 60 MPa at 1 day and 100 M Pa and
flexural strength 10 MPa at 28 day.
2.1.7 Nano silica: It is recent addition which is
synthesized artificially in powder or colloidal
form. By addition of 0.2 kg of concrete, nano
silica fume gives same effect as of 1 kg of silica
fume. In other words, increase in strength is about
3 times than the increase with silica fume when
content was about 5-7% by weight of cement. Its
main product i.e. ultra-high performance concrete
has minimum compressive strength of 150
MPa (ACI sub-committee 239-A) and has less
pre-stress loss in pre-stressed girder. With this
strength of concrete the cover will not be less and
there is more contribution of transition zone than
conventional concrete.
2.1.8 Current Standards on Cement and Aggregates:
IS: 16415-2015 on composite cement containing
slag, fly ash and some portion of cement, IS; 269-
2015 on all Ordinary Portland cements, IRC: 109
on thin dia piles and IS:383- 2016 on aggregate
specification,
3. Brief about Forensic Engineering
for Investigating and Evaluation
of Materials for Cable Bridges
3.1. Forensic engineering may be considered to be
helpful in supporting new technologies, as forensic
engineering helps in avoiding future failures of
structures thereby saving a lot of natural materials,
cement and potential energy required for their
manufacturing or getting into the shape of their
use.
3.1.1 History of Forensic Engineering: In the 18th
century, the term civil engineering (Second oldest
engineering) next to Military engineering (1st
oldest Engineering) was coined to incorporate all
things civilian as opposed to military engineering.
The first civil engineer was John Smeaton (Father
of civil engineering), who constructed the Eddy
stone Lighthouse during 17th century. As the field
of engineering has evolved over time, so has the
field of forensic engineering. Early examples
include investigation of bridge failures such as the
Tay rail bridge disaster of 1879 in Scotland and
the Dee bridge disaster of 1847 in Chester.
3.1.2 Forensic engineering is the investigation of
materials, products, cable bridges or components
INDIAN HIGHWAYS FEBRUARY 2019 17
 TECHNICAL PAPER
that fail or do not operate or function as intended,
causing personal injury or damage to property.
The consequences of failure are dealt with by the
law of product liability. The field also deals with
retracing processes and procedures leading to
accidents in operation of vehicles or machinery.
The subject is applied most commonly in civil
law cases, although it may be of use in criminal
law cases. Generally the purpose of a Forensic
engineering investigation is to locate cause
or causes of failure with a view to improve
performance or life of a component, or to assist
a court in determining the facts of an accident.
It can also involve investigation of intellectual
property claims, especially patents.
3.1.3 Alternatively, Forensic engineering means offering
evaluation critically, reporting, and expert witness
testimony considering accidental geotechnical
and environmental conditions with regard to cable
bridges. Vital to the field of forensic engineering
is the process of investigating and collecting data
related to the materials, structures or components
that failed. This involves inspections, collecting
evidence, measurements, developing models,
obtaining case studies, and revising future
design.
3.1.4 As per National Academy of Forensic Engineering
Florida, Forensic Engineering is "the application
of the art and science of engineering in matters
which are in, or may possibly relate to, the
jurisprudence system, inclusive of alternative
dispute resolution. “
3.1.5 There are Guidelines for Forensic Engineering
Practice 2012 by ASCE, USA which describes the
technical, ethical, business, and legal components
of the professional practice in forensic civil
engineering in the United States. (http://www.
asce.org/templates/publications-book-detail.
aspx3D7049). These may be applied in cable
bridges with some modification.
3.1.6 As per Wikipedia, Forensic engineering is the
investigation of materials, products, structures or
components that fail or do not operate or function
as intended, causing personal injury or damage to
property.
3.1.7. ASTM (2015) is making the Case for a New
Main Committee on Forensic Engineering (Adele
Bassett). Forensic engineers depend on their
education, training and experience to investigate
18 INDIAN HIGHWAYS FEBRUARY 2019
incidents that result in claims or litigation. A
new ASTM International main committee is
creating standards that will provide guidelines for
experts who investigate product defect, vehicular,
electrical and industrial process incidents.
3.1.8 Now, there are two International Journals on
Forensic Engineering that is “International Journal
of Forensic Engineering” and “International
Journal of Forensic Engineering and Management”.
Haijian Shi of Pepco Holdings in Washington DC
and Kong Fah Tee of the Department of Civil
Engineering, at the University of Greenwich,
in Kent, UK, explain that barriers can protect
property and save lives during hurricane season.
Flood walls, gates and joints are the mainstays
of their design; however budgetary constraints,
geographical limitations and constructability often
limit the implementation of the most effective
barriers in some regions.
3.1.9 President of the Board of Engineers Malaysia
reported in May 2004 in the Bulletin that no one
would want to see a structure collapse or fail, but
the fact remains that failures do occur. When a
structure collapses, the finger is invariably pointed
at the structural engineer. But what is needed in
the first place is to determine the exact cause of
the failure through forensic engineering. The goal
of a forensic programme is to positively identify
the sequence of events leading to ultimate failure.
Within the broad field of engineering, the practice
of forensic engineering involves the investigation
of failures of structures. Forensic engineers
examine broken parts and bring together a list of
probable failure mechanisms to be investigated.
The final step in forensic engineering is to use
analytical and testing tools to confirm the findings
of fact. A good forensic engineer will investigate
any incident in a structured, scientific manner.
He will be skilled in collecting and recording
evidence in a manner that will withstand scrutiny.
There is a need to develop this area of forensic
engineering.
3.1.10 Considering highway projects, as per FHWA/TX-
03/1731-3F - The University of Texas at Austin
the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT)
supported a research project on “Development of
A Formal Forensic Investigation Procedure for
Pavements” designed to develop formal procedures
for conducting forensic investigations on failed
pavements. The procedure is based on a scientific
 TECHNICAL PAPER
method that can ensure that future investigations
are completed more efficiently and effectively.
The main advantages of a successful forensic
investigation include (1) determining the cause
of the distress, (2) selecting the appropriate repair
strategy, (3) determining how fast the distress is
propagating, (4) prioritizing distressed pavement
sections, (5) improving design practices, and (6)
updating construction techniques.
3.1.11 There are 42 engineering colleges which cover
Forensic Science and many of them have been
introducing Forensic Engineering in India.
International Forensic Engineering, Education
Department (Govt. of India & Govt. of Maharashtra
Regd., ISO 9001-2008 Certified & Regd. with
DUNS & U.S. Federal Govt. CCR database);
affiliated with bodies recognized, approved and
promoted by the Planning Commission, Govt. of
India, Indian Parliament etc, BSS NDA Aff. No.
MAHA/5097 started Forensic Engineering (2012)
on the following topics:
i.) Introduction to Forensic Science,  Intro. to
Branches of Forensic Science
ii.) Introduction to Forensic Experts,  Introduction
to Crime Investigation,  Brief information about
terminologies related to Forensic Sciences etc…
iii.) Forensic Engineering, Fire/Arson Investigation,
Vehicle Accidents, etc.
4. Major Cable Bridges In India
A cable-stayed bridge has one or more towers to support
the bridge deck using the cables, Basically Cable-Stayed
Bridges are longer than cantilever bridges and shorter
than suspension bridges. There may be extremely high
wind speed, highest flood level, severe temperature and
relative humidity. Such parameters may be accidently
altered from their design values or design limits, such
values shall be taken care seriously by the forensic/design
engineers (during construction temporary form work or
enabled form work and before or after the design life of
the structures) with higher factor of safety as compared
to conventional bridges considering the above mentioned
basic facts of cable bridges both either cable stayed or
suspension including extra dosed bridges and very high
cost of these bridges.
There is a need to regularly health monitoring of Cable
Bridges in India, as is being done in case of Signature
Bridge by CPWD, M/S Gammon India Limited and
MAGEBA. Major of these are listed as under:
i. Rajiv Gandhi Sea Link is one of the most stunning
bridges in India, connect Bandra with Worli
and part of the proposed Western Freeway. The
Bandra–Worli Sea Link is a civil engineering
marvel with 5.6 kilometer long,420 ft high towers
which crosses the Arabian Sea.
ii. The Second Hooghly Bridge is known as
Vidyasagar Setu, A Cable-Stayed bridge over the
Hooghly River in West Bengal. Vidyasagar Setu
is longest cable–stayed bridge in India and one of
the longest in Asia
iii. The New Yamuna Bridge is one of the longest
cable-stayed bridge in India, connecting the city
of Allahabad to its neighborhood of Naini in
Allahabad. New Yamuna Bridge is constructed
across the Yamuna river.
iv. A cable-stayed bridge over Hooghly River next
to Vivekananda Setu and marvelous attractions
of West Bengal. Nivedita Setu is the first bridge
in the country that is a single profile cable-stayed
bridge.
v. Akkar Bridge is Indias first cable stayed bridge
located in Jorethang, Sikkim. The Cable-stayed
concrete bridge is built over Rangit River on a
single tower.
vi. A Cable-Stayed Bridge is located at Haridwar-
Rishikesh Road over Ganges river. Haridwar
Cable-Stayed Bridge is Asia’s only bridge that
suspends on mere Cables.
vii. Raja Bhoj Cable Stay Bridge was inaugurated
on 26 May 2017, Connecting Kamla Park to VIP
Road Crossing. The 220 metre long cable stay
bridge is Madhya Pradesh’s first cable stay bridge
on the Upper Lake of Bhopal.
viii. Ram Jhula cable-stayed bridge in Nagpur Railway
station yard  is a six-lane cable-stayed bridge,
recently opens for traffic evening.
ix. Surat Cable Stayed Bridge- A cable-stayed bridge
connecting Bhavnagar to Bhal region, The bridge
that has reduced distance to Bhavnagar by 30 km.
x. Kota Chambal Bridge in Kota, Rajasthan over
the Chambal River, supported by the National
Highways Authority of India just outside the city.
Such types of brides shall be constructed in some
very serious manners as Crocodiles are there in
the Chambal Rivers, the similar accidents shall
not happen again in future construction
xi. The Chiraiyatand over bridge in Patna
xii. Country's highest and 2nd longest span Cable
Stayed Bridge built by SP Singla at Basohli in
J&K on 24th Dec'2015.
xiii. Cable-stayed bridges over the river Kosi between
Chhapra and Arrah in Bihar
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