CHAPTER 5

Superstructure
REINFORCED CONCRETE BRIDGES:
RC bridges possess several advantages over steel bridges.
- adaptability of concrete wide variety of structural shapes
- Low maintenance cost
- Long life and better resistance to temporary overloads
and dynamic loads than steel bridges.
- Cast-in-place Reinforced concrete structures are
continuous and monolithic, which translate into easy
construction, low cost and good seismic resistance.
-They can also be given the desired aesthetic appearance.
Disadvantages
 - large dead weight

 - difficulty to widen

 - longer construction time

 - requires formwork and false work

1. SLAB BRIDGES

 Slab Bridge normally requires more concrete

and reinforced steel than Girder Bridge of the
same span but the formwork is simpler and
less expressive, hence they are economical
when these cast factor balance favorably.
 Slab bridges are most commonly used to span
short spans up to 12 meters.
SLAB BRIDES

It is the most common forms of

bridges in Ethiopia, and economical
for spans:
 6 m to 15 m [ERA] (and if >15m
they can be ribbed)
 6-12m [AACRA]

 10-12m [AASHTO]
LOAD DISTRIBUTIONS:
 The equivalent width of longitudinal strips per
lane for both shear and moment with one lane,
i.e., two lines of wheels, loaded shall be
determined as:
FLOW
CHART
FOR THE
DESIGN
OF SLAB
BRIDGES
T-GIRDER BRIDGE:
T-GIRDER BRIDGE:
 T- Girders are used for bridges spanning from
about 10meters-25 meters.
 These usually consist of equally spaced beams
(generally with spacing of 1.8-3.6m) spanning
longitudinally between supports.
 The slab is structurally continuous across the top.

 The slab serves dual purpose of supporting the

live load on the bridge and acting as the top flange
of the longitudinal beams.
T-GIRDER BRIDGES
They shall be used for span lengths
 10 – 25 m [ERA]
 10 – 20 m [Design of RC Bridge]
 10-25m [AASHTO]
 12-18m [Bridge Eng’g Handbook].
DIAPHRAGMS

 Diaphragms are provided transversely between

the beams over the supports and depending on
the span, at mid-span and other intermediate
locations.
 The purpose of providing diaphragms is to
ensure lateral distribution of live loads to
various adjacent stringers,
 Design of T- girder bridges consists of deck slab
analysis and design, and the T-girder analysis
and design.
 Structural analysis of the deck slab involves
taking a continuous strip perpendicular to the
girders (AASHTO Art.9.6.1) and analyzing by
moment distribution or using design aid given
by AASHTO.
 The width of equivalent interior transverse strip
over which the wheel loads can be considered
distributed longitudinally in cast - in - place
concrete decks is given as [Table Art. 4.6.2.I .3-
1]
LOAD DISTRIBUTION FACTORS FOR THE GIRDERS:

For moment:
 The live load flexural moment for interior and
exterior beams with concrete decks shall be
determined by applying the lane fractions
For shear:
 The live load shear for interior and exterior
beams shall be determined by applying the
lane fractions
FLOW
CHART
FOR THE
DESIGN OF
GIRDER
BRIDGES
BOX GIRDER BRIDGE:

 Concrete box girder bridges are economical for

spans of above 25 to 45m.
 They can be reinforced concrete or prestressed
concrete.
 Longer span than 45m will have to be prestressed.

 They are similar to T-beams in configuration except

the webs of T-beams are all interconnected by a
common flange resulting in a cellular
superstructure.
BOX GIRDER BRIDGE:

 The top slab, webs and bottom slab are built

monolithically to act as a unit, which means
that full shear transfer must be provided
between all parts of the section.
 Reinforced concrete box girders have high
torsional resistance due to their closed shape
and are particularly suitable for structures with
significant curvature.
BOX GIRDER BRIDGE:

Concrete box girder bridges have several

advantages over other types;
 The relatively shallow depth of box girders is all
advantage where headroom is limited like in
urban overpasses.
 Monolithic construction of the superstructure
and substructure offers structural as well as
aesthetic advantage.
BOX GIRDER BRIDGE:
 They provide space for utilities such as water
and gas lines, power, telephone and cable
ducts, storm drains and sewers, which can be
placed in the hollow cellular section.
 When the exterior webs are inclined their slope
should preferably be IH: 2V.
BOX GIRDER BRIDGE:

Interior Girder Exterior Girder

DESIGN CONSIDERATION:
 The structural behavior of box girders is similar
to T-beams.
 Box girders are essentially T-beams with
transverse bottom flange resulting in a closed,
torsionally stiff multi-cell configuration.
 The interior webs resist shear and often only a
small portion of girder moments
 Consequently they are usually thinner than the
webs of T-beams.
 In the case of continuous T-beams, the webs
must resist the negative girder moments as
well as all the shear, and contain all the
reinforcement for positive moments
 The bottom slab (soffit) contains reinforcement
for the positive moment and also acts as a
compression flange in the negative moment
regions of continuous spans.
ADVANTAGES CONTINUOUS RC BRIDGE:
 - Less number of bearings than simply
supported bridge since one line of bearings is
used over the piers
 - Reduced width of pier, thus less flow
obstruction and less amount of material
 - Requires less number of expansion joints due
to which both the initial cost and maintenance
cost become less. The rigidity quality over the
bridge is thus improved.
 - Lesser depth of girder, hence economical
supports.
 - Better architectural appearance
 - Lesser vibration and deflection

Disadvantages
 - Analysis is laborious and time consuming
 - Not suitable on yielding foundations
RC RIGID FRAME BRIDGES:
In rigid frame bridges, the deck is rigidly connected to the
bridge and piers. All the advantages of a continuous span
bridge are present here.
Additional advantages of rigid frame bridges over
continuous ones are
 More rigidity of the structure
 Less moments in deck being partly transferred to the
supporting members
 No bearings are required
 Better aesthetic appearance than the continuous span
structure
As in continuous span bridges, these structures also
require unyielding foundation materials. The analysis is
however, more laborious than the former.
STEEL BRIDGES
Steel bridge construction consists of rolled steel
beams, plate girders or trusses with reinforced
concrete deck or steel plate deck-beam bridges.

Steel has got several advantages.

 It is a high quality, homogeneous, isotropic
material that is perfectly elastic to its yield
point.
 It has high tensile and compressive strengths.
STEEL BRIDGES
Advantages ….
 faster construction time

 They can be erected with ease and this

minimizing construction costs.
 Steel superstructures are usually lighter than
concrete superstructures which translate into
reduced substructures costs
STEEL BRIDGES

Some of the disadvantages are:

 Corrosion of steel

 high maintenance cost

 Corrosion can reduce cross section of

structural members and weaken the
superstructure also.
STEEL BRIDGES

 Some steel bridge types:

 - Rolled steel beam bridge

 - Plate girder and steel box girder bridges

 - Steel truss bridges

 - Plate Deck-Stringer Bridges

ARCH BRIDGES

 Arches are generally characterized by the

development of inclined rather than vertical
reactions under vertical loads.
 Cross-sections are designed for thrust, moment
and shear, with magnitudes depending on the
location of the pressure line.
 If the pressure line coincides with the axis of structure,
(as in a uniformly loaded parabolic arch), all cross
sections will be subjected to compression.
 if shape of structure and pressure line differs moment
may become dominant.
 Compared to the girder bridges, arch bridges
are economical because the dead load
moments in arch bridges are almost negligible
 The main parameter of an arch is the rise to
span ratio, r/L (1/6 to 1/10).
CABLE STAYED BRIDGE S

 Cable stayed bridges are ideal for spanning

natural barriers of wide rivers, deep valleys
Span arrangement types:
 - Two span (symmetrical or asymmetric)

 - Three spans

 - Multi Span
SUSPENSION BRIDGE