Avoidance of Collapses of Prestressed Concrete Elevated Structures & Bridges

during Construction in collaboration with National Highways Authority of

India (NHAI)

Prevailing construction and kind of failures

witnessed in last couple of years including
proposed mitigation measures
Mr P.G. VENKATRAM, Formerly the Chief Executive of L&T
Infrastructure Engineering Limited, and currently the Chief Technology
Officer in the same company, has more than 35 years’ experience in design
of all kinds of bridges ranging from simple slab bridges to complex Cable
stayed and extradosed Bridges. He is a graduate in Civil Engineering from
IIT, Madras and a Master’s degree holder form Carnegie Mellon
University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, and is currently a member of
IRC B2 and B4 committees which formulate the Design Standards for
Bridge loading and Concrete Bridges designs.

In his Professional career, he has designed Aqueducts, Chimneys, TV

Towers, Natural Draught Cooling Towers, Aircraft hangars and many long
span bridges.

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 Types of Constructions

Types of
Construction

Cast Insitu Precast

Girder Box
Girder and Segmental Spine and
Slab Type and Slab Girder
Slab Type Box Type Wing Type
Type Type

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 Failure statistics

Total = 123 cases

Source :Analysis of bridge failures in India from 1977 to 2017, Rajeev Kumar Garg ,
Satish Chandra and Aman Kumar ,CSIR-Central Road Research Institute, New Delhi,
India; RTC Institute of Technology, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India

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 ROB Near Gwalior- 2002

Cause of Failure – Incorrect Prestressing and

Construction Sequence
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Surat Bridge Collapse - 2014

Cause of Failure - Instability

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Nandnagari ROB Failure - 2014

Cause of Failure – Poor Quality of Concrete

October 28, 2021 6

 Varanasi Flyover Collapse – May 2018

Cause of Failure – Inadequate Bracings in temporary

condition & poor temporary supports
October 28, 2021 7
 Karamnasa River Bridge – Dec 2019

Cause of Failure – Improper Reinforcement Detailing

and Incorrect Bearing Installation
October 28, 2021 8
 Farakka Bridge – Feb 2020

Cause of Failure – Launching girder failure

October 28, 2021 9

 Sohna Road Flyover (Pkg. 2) – July 2020

Cause of Failure – Poor Quality of Concrete & Segment

Gluing operation
October 28, 2021 10
 Sohna Road Flyover (Pkg. 1) – Aug. 2020

Cause of Failure – Poor Quality of Concrete & Segment

Gluing operation
October 28, 2021 11
 NH Bypass near Thalassery – Aug. 2020

Cause of Failure – Inadequate Bracings in temporary

condition
October 28, 2021 12
 Ghagra River Bridge– Dec. 2020

Cause of Failure – Poor Quality Segment Gluing

operation/ Cable profiling
October 28, 2021 13
 Tirupati Flyover– Jan. 2021

Cause of Failure – Instability during lowering

operation
October 28, 2021 14
Dwaraka Expressway (Pkg. 3)– Mar. 2021

Cause of Failure – Poor Quality of Concrete & Segment

Gluing operation
October 28, 2021 15
 Vishakhapatnam Flyover – Jul. 2021

Cause of Failure – Inadequate Bracings in temporary

condition & poor temporary supports
October 28, 2021 16
Madurai Natham Road Flyover – Aug. 2021

Cause of Failure – Inadequate Bracings in temporary

condition & poor temporary supports
October 28, 2021 17
Santacruz - Chembur Link Road– Sep. 2021

Cause of Failure – Inadequate temporary Support &

poor temporary Bracings
October 28, 2021 18
 Pardi Flyover, Nagpur – Oct. 2021

Cause of Failure – Incomplete Deck Continuity over a

long time interval
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 Learnings

Causes of Failures are generally

1. Design
2. Temporary Works
3. Quality of Concrete
4. Quality of Workmanship
5. Inadequate precautions / Unsafe practices

Most of the failures happen during construction

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 Mitigation Measures

Mitigation measures can be classified under the

following categories:
1. Design control – involving systematic check and
review of the details as they say the “Devil is in the
Detailing”
2. Construction Control – “Say no to adhoc (Jugaad)
processes. Carry out works only in the well defined
manner.
3. Material and Concrete production control – This
process should include checks from procurement,
production, placement and handling stages.

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 Conclusions

Absolute commitment to the processes and procedures

at all stages of the Project and this can only be
achieved by believing and growing to the sage where

Designers understand the Site work fully

in the office and the Site Engineers
understand the Design aspects fully at
site.

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