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BEARINGS & THEIR CONFIGURATIONS WITHIN BRIDGE SYSTEM

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 BEARINGS & THEIR CONFIGURATIONS
WITHIN BRIDGE SYSTEM

V. n. HEGGADE
Member-Board of Management
Gammon India Ltd,
Mumbai
venkat.heggade@gammonindia.com

V.N. Heggade, presently is Member, Board of Management of Gammon India Limited. He has more than
28 years experience of Designing and Constructing Bridges, Energy structures like Chimneys & Cooling
towers, Marine structures and Hydraulic structures etc. He is the first engineer to receive ‘IABSE-Prize’
(International Association for Bridge & Structural Engineering, Switzerland) from developing countries in
addition to National awards like Pt Jawaharlal Nehru Centenary award from IRC; Pre stressed concrete
design award from Institution of Engineers, and ICI awards for best publications.He has more than 70
papers to his credit and is a member of various IRC (Indian Roads Congress) and BIS (Bureau of Indian
Standards) committees. He is also a member of Indian Member Committee of Federation Internationale
Du Beton, IMC fib. He has been an invited and a keynote speaker in National and International Seminars,
Symposiums and Congresses. He has a passion for tall and long structures and he is an ardent advocate
of sustainability and aesthetics in construction.

Key words: Bearings, Bridge system, Translation. as such whether there will be another paradigm
Rotation, Deformation, Seismic Transmission, shift in technology or elimination of bearings
Teflon, Elastomeric. altogether will be resorted to in coming days is
to be seen.
Summary
Since the introduction of bridge bearings,
1. Historical evolution
prominently by railways somewhere in 18th Until the late eighteenth century, virtually all major
century, the bridge bearings have come long structures were built in stone, brick or mixed
way being in perpetual evolution from Plane masonry, which is strong in compression and
Bearings to Rotation Bearings to Deformation weak in tension. Consequently, the commonest
Bearings. Till the use of elastomer and Teflon structure built were arches, in which any expansion
in particular as a part of the bearing, the or contraction would change in the radius of
translation and rotation was achieved by pure arch, or accommodated by plastic flow within
steel components in Rocker and Roller bearings the very weak mortar used in between masonry
which increased construction depths of bridges. blocks, without any distress. These structures,
The induction of elastomer being confined in a generally of load bearing and massive in nature,
pot allowed rotation by deformation and the less are little affected by environmental factors. While
than 5% coefficient of friction of Teflon allowed arch bridges were dominant form of iron bridge
smooth translation and the same can be termed building for larger spans till early 19th century,
as paradigm shift in Bridge Bearing Technology. the engineers were very inventive in the case of
The bridge bearings help the engineers to suspension bridges that seemed to be the most
minimize the restraints in boundary conditions feasible solution of conventional materials like
and the engineers can configure them with in the wood, stone and cast iron were used. However,
bridge system to channelize the forces to follow for larger spans in early 19th century chain or
the functions. However Bridge Bearings require cable bridges were built. Changing forms of
regular maintenance and becoming expensive cables due to moving loads and changing lengths

The Bridge and Structural Engineer Volume 43 Number 4 December 2013 23

due to temperature fluctuations necessitated other hand from shifting saddle examples of
shifting saddles normally placed on pylon top
made of stone. The shifting saddles ensured that
cables could permanently take shape without
inducing significant horizontal force on pylon top.
The structural make up of these devices were
perhaps the precursors for the bearings later to
be used in girder bridges.
Fig. 1: Shifting saddles for suspension
bridges-precursors to bearings
Meanwhile it was realized that wooden bearings
normally used for girder bridges were ineffective
and costly due to repeated replacements as
such girders were directly made to rest on cast
iron plates. Thus first form of iron bridge bearings
in technological terms was “plane bearings”
meaning upper and lower part shared a planar
area of direct contact.
Fig. 2: Ballysimon Bridge 1846-7, resting
on rollers (Osborne 1849)
Though the issue of material expansion was
known to engineers by the experience of arch
and suspension bridges, it took some time to
understand that the same is required for girder
bridges as initially girders were rigidly connected
to abutments and masonary supports. On the
24 Volume 43 Number 4 December 2013
suspension bridge, simultaneously there were
attempts to achieve free supporting by roller
bearings. (Fig. 2)
The plane bearings had inherent problems for the
superstructure under deflection. The load would
have reduced to a smaller bearing area or a like
load affecting the structural system of bearing
substructure and strength of superstructure.
(Fig. 3)
Fig. 3: Damage of lattice girder due to
plane support (Culmann 1852)
This led to the invention of rotating bearings
allowing the deflection of superstructure in the
form of rocker bearings and knuckle bearings.
In many railway bridges in eighties, riveted truss
joints were the state of the art, knuckle pins were
the bearing technology which worked as pivot.
These typical knuckle bearings (Fig. 4) were
extensively used up to twentieth century.
Fig. 4: Typical knuckle pin bearings
In case of rocker bearings, upper part
rocksoverthe lower part (Fig. 5) and the sliding
friction at knuckle locations is transformed into
rolling friction where the contact could be flat to
curved or curved to curved.
The available bearing technologytill now was
able to cater for temperature change and low
deflection for small to medium spans. However,
The Bridge and Structural Engineer
apart from increase in spans further the deck
widths had begun to be doubled and tripled to
cater for 2 and multiple tracks. This warranted
facilitation to absorb longer movements and
higher deflections in longitudinal directions and
also the same in transverse direction.
Fig. 5: Typical rocker bearings with flat/curved
& curved/curved contacts
The example of spherical sliding curved bearings
allowing the rotation in every direction could be
seen in the bridges along the railway like between
Halle and Huber of Germany via Sorave as back
as 1871 (Fig. 6).
Fig. 6: Example of spherical curved bearings in 1875
Transitional and rotational mechanism in
longitudinally and transversely to be inbuilt at
different levels made the bearings taller and
bulkier. In an attempt overcome this, way back
in 1891 engineer Claus Koepke employed single
layer of rollers diagonally as shown in Fig. 7,
providing a sort of breakthrough in the direction
The Bridge and Structural Engineer
of bearings configuration / arrangement to cope
with the movements in all direction.
Fig. 7: Arrangement of the bearings within the
bridge system (Mehrtens 1900)
There were also other solutions attempted like
ball bearings with freedom of movement in all
directions and multi roller bearings with rollers of
small diameter arranged in two orthogonal rows
to allow movement in all directions (Fig. 8) to
reduce the height and bulkiness of bearings.
Fig. 8: Multi ball (Left) and
multidirectional (Right) bearings
Path breaking breakthrough in bearing technology
is the introduction of rubber as bearings by
railways to absorb vibration. This gave rise to
the evolution of new family of bearings called
“Deformation bearings”.
Thus from 1840 to world war – II, the plane
bearings, rotational bearings in the form of the
steel dominated bearing technology. From
mid 1950s new generation of bridge bearings
outdated conventional steel bearings gradually.
The conventional rubber confined in a pot
replacing the sand in the pot could only allow
rotational movement, but still rollers were
to be resorted to accommodate longitudinal
Volume 43 Number 4 December 2013 25
and transverse translation as such the newly
synthesized polytetrafluoroethylene (PIFE or
Teflon) completed this generation. This new
Teflon offered friction resistance lesser than
5% of bearing pressure vis-à-vis steel to steel
contact of 40%. Teflon based sliding bearings
enabled small construction depth apart from
being anticorrosive and resistant under high
pressure.
The superstructure rotation had to be
accommodated by rocker mechanism that is
where, pot sliding bearings, deformation sliding
bearings (Fig. 9) and point rocker sliding bearings
came from.
Fig. 9: Deformation sliding bearing, Pot sliding
bearing, Point rocker sliding bearing
In spherical bearings, the rotation of the
superstructure was enabled by means of
sliding inside a ball joint. The increase in radii
combined with Teflon with reduced friction loss
has improved the load transfer capacity to the
tune of 17,000tons in case of Signature Bridge
bearing which is under construction.
In recent development Disc bearing, which is
modified version of POT bearings is in vogue. •
In this, elastomer element is provided in a ring
from surrounding the centrally located shear
restriction mechanism of steel catering for the
horizontal loads acting on the bearing.
Another type of mechanism, shock transmission
unit, which absorbs the effect of regular thermal
movement and also distribute the load equally
throughout the bridge in case of sudden load like
earthquake is being talked about. This is very
useful for multi-span continuous decks where the
load sharing results into smaller design section
for the substructure and foundations.
26 Volume 43 Number 4 December 2013
2. Function & Types
The function of bearing is to transfer the forces
from one part of the bridge to another i.e.
superstructure to the substructure. Bearings
also relieve constraints i.e. movement and
rotation, which may generate additional forces
in the substructure and foundation. Sometimes
bearing is provided to remove indeterminacy
of structure, as in the case of cantilever
construction with suspended spans. We may
say, bearing is a component, which safeguards
the structure against, all external forces, effects
due to thermal movements and other adverse
weather conditions (creep and shrinkage) during
the lifetime. The judicious arrangement or
configuration of bearings may be used to direct
or guide the strain of the structural element in
a predefined fashion. In a way bearings are the
powerful structural tool of a designer to dictate
the flow of forces in the whole idealization.
Structural engineer in the past as described
earlier had to struggle with the design of
substructure and foundation for accommodating
stresses due to thermal strains. Larger the length
of structure, higher this movement, necessitated
the development of modern bearings.
While deliberating on the historical evolution,
though most of the bearing types are touched
upon, the bearing types can be broadly summed
up as below:
• Roller bearings.
• Rocker bearings.
• Knuckle pin bearings.
Leaf bearings.
• Link bearings.
• Hinge bearings
• Sliding bearings.
• Elastomeric bearings
• Pot bearings
• Disc bearings
• Spherical bearings
In the recent past, elastomer and especially Teflon
has become the integral part of all modern bridge
The Bridge and Structural Engineer
bearings by its combination allowing translation The disc is also highly resistant to environmental
and rotation in the desired directions outdating impacts, and remains effective at a very wide
pure steel bearings which were in vogue till range of temperatures. Further parts of the
1960s. Some aspects of modern bridge bearings bearing allow fixing to the structure, and resist
are discussed in succeeding paragraphs. horizontal loading or permit sliding movements
as necessary.
The use of elastomer and PTFE is illustrated by
an example of Pot-PTFE bearing (Fig. 10). The
main types of elastomer used in bridge bearings
are natural rubber, HDRB (High Density Rubber),
Neoprene, SBR, EPDM and NBR. This elastomer
are normally durable, high in impact absorption,
good bonding with metal if required, high
resistance to ageing, good tearing properties,
good physical properties and high resistance to Fig. 11: Typical Disc bearings
oil and chemicals.
Spherical bearings (Fig. 12) consist of an
assembly of precision-machined steel
components with spherical concave and convex
elements in its centre designed and sized
according to the specific requirements of the
project. These bearings transfer large vertical
loads while accommodating the structure’s
relative movement. Whether they are fixed,
unidirectional or multidirectional, spherical
bearings transfer vertical and horizontal load
Fig. 10: Pot-PTFE bearing components combinations as well as longitudinal and
& their functions transverse movements. They can also be
equipped with an uplift restraint device.
In the pot bearing, the elastomer which is
confined in the pot enables rotation by shear
deformation of elastomer and as elastomer is
confined within the pot compression as well as
translation does not happen. The translational
component is provided on top which is enabled
by Teflon. Teflon is a linear chain polymer of
high molecular strength, chemically inert, very
less friction coefficient, not easily oxidisable,
stable under all environments and resistant to all
common solvent.
The key component of a disc bearing is the disc Fig. 12: Various components of spherical bearings
at its centre (Fig. 11), which carries the load of
the structure above and allows rotations about The design principle of the spherical bearing
any horizontal axis. The disc is moulded from is that of a fixed bearing that allows rotation
high-strength Polyether Urethane (PU), an in any direction, the characteristic feature
aromatic thermoplastic with excellent mechanical being that rotational movements of the bridge
properties. The allowable compressive stress on superstructure about any axis (point-type tilting)
the disc is as high as 35 MP, and it does not are transformed into sliding movements between
require confinement, as does, for example, the the convex and concave plates of the bearing.
elastomeric pad at the heart of a pot bearing. The bottom component is a regular steel plate

The Bridge and Structural Engineer Volume 43 Number 4 December 2013 27

with a spherically concave top face. This concave
face is covered with a recessed PTFE sheet. The
top component is a solid anodized aluminium or
stainless steel plate with a spherically machined
convex bottom face. When sliding components
are added, the fixed bearing becomes a mobile up of dissimilar materials, which can give rise
bearing that can accommodate horizontal
movement. This horizontal movement can be
multidirectional or unidirectional if a guiding
system is provided. These sliding components
consist of a polished stainless steel sheet welded
to the underside of a steel plate and a PTFE disc
bonded to the upper surface of the convex plate.
In order to increase its load-bearing capacity, the
PTFE disc is recessed into the steel to a depth
equal to approximately one-half of its thickness.
The PTFE disc has small cavities (lubrication
dimples) that contain a special lubricant to ensure
permanent lubrication of the sliding surfaces.
The currently under construction Signature
bridge at Delhi has two fixed spherical bearings
to support its peculiar pylon whose capacity
whose capacity under service conditions is as
high as 17,000 metric tonnes ( Fig. 13).
Fig. 13: 17,000 t capacity fixed spherical bearing
being tested for Signature Bridge, Delhi
The longevity of bearing depends upon the
material constitution as steel bearing last up
to lifetime of structure whereas elastomeric
bearing may require to be replaced many times
in the lifetime of a structure. The maintenance
is very important factor for durability and regular
maintenance and inspection is necessary. For
the purpose of the regular maintenance, the
provision of cage ladder to access the location
of maintenance gallery / platforms should be
made in the piers and abutments. Maintenance
28 Volume 43 Number 4 December 2013
should include check for smooth movement and
damage due to undue rotation. The physical
forms of the bearings shall be devoid of crevices,
recesses that can house or entrap moisture, dirt
and oil. The bearings also should not be made
to corrosive currents. Generally the present
structures are constructed with provision of future
replacement. Another special condition, where
the structure is expected to settle or hog due to
creep, provision should be kept for the insertions
of shims under the bearing, this do not affect
structure adversely however it provides smooth
riding surface. The different types of bearings
are symbolically reproduced on the basis of their
functions universally as given in the Fig. 14.
Fig. 14: Symbolic representation
of bearing functionality
Selection Criteria
The forces on the bearings depend upon the
construction methodology, its position, degree
of indeterminacy and geometry of structure. The
bearing should be designed for all permanent
loads, time dependent loads, displacements,
rotations and transients loads.
Following are the forces, which may act
coherently, or separately:
• Permanent load including superimposed
load.
• Pedestrian and vehicular load, including
dynamic effect.
• Transient load such as earthquake load and
vehicular impact load.
• Wind load (Transient)
The Bridge and Structural Engineer
• Erection load
• Forces developed due to restraint
structure.
• Due to settlements.
Along with these forces, bearings would
experience movements and rotations, in different
directions due to following actions:
• Thermal actions – uniform temperature cause
linear movement only, whereas temperature
gradient may cause rotation also at bearing
location.
• Creep effect.
• Shrinkage effect.
• Structural configuration.
• Tilt, settlement or movement of ground.
• Axial and flexural strains arising from dead
load live load and pre stressing etc.
Permanent load also includes forces developed
due to pre stressing effect in continuous
construction or cantilever construction.
Fig. 15: Selection of bearing on functionality
The location of bearing has great influence on
the structure as well as forces and movements
developed in the structure. If a continuous
bridge has a fixed bearings at one abutment
and free / roller bearings at other abutment, free
bearings would require combination of very large
movement with less vertical load, whereas fixed hinge bearings (Fig. 16) have traditionally been
bearing for intermediate pier would require heavy
horizontal forces for the design of sub structure
and foundation in seismic case.
The Bridge and Structural Engineer
The structure governs bearing and bearing
governs structure, both are true. The designer
of
should keep in mind, the type of bearing,
while designing substructure, for example, the
elastomeric bearing, which attracts additional
force (Vr . lt) due to shear rating, may have
considerable effect specially if there is difference
of height of substructure or erection condition
governs design.
The deflection of the substructure, especially
slender and very long, may require additional
provision of movement in the free bearing.
The designer should do the correct analysis of
the bearing reactions, by modeling the bearings
at the points where they are actually situated and
in combination with structure, as sometimes the
stiffness of the bearings has influence on the
structural behavior.
Bearings initially may be decided on the basis of
span, however detail analysis should be carried
out keeping in mind structural requirement,
durability and maintenance / inspection. Therefore
in very inaccessible terrain, it is apt to provide
metallic bearings or POT / PTFE bearings.
Generally tar paper or felt layer is adequate for
simple spans on rigid supports up to 7.5 m, mild
steel or neoprene bearings are adequate between
span range of 7.5 m to 15 m. For spans in excess
of 15 m, other types of bearings may be used
or adequately designed laminated neoprene
bearing can be provided. In special case, use
of neoprene bearing is not recommended such
as suspended spans on flexible cantilever
ends, where metallic or POT / PTFE bearings
are appropriate to cater for large deflections,
movements and rotations. Also hinge bearing
is provided between two cantilever ends, where
bearing is required to take very large rotations
and movements, allowing transfer of shear
without transferring any moments. However
smooth functioning of hinges isvery imperative
for the successful behavior of structure.
Pendulum hinge or Plunger plate type central
used at the hinge location, but have exhibited
severe fatigue distress in practice due to
continuous load reversal. In a conventional
Volume 43 Number 4 December 2013 29
plunger type hinge bearing, the load transfer
takes place through line contact of metallic
components. The hinge bearings (i.e., the line
contact zones) are subjected to quick reversal of
stress during the passage of vehicles, resulting
in continuous hammering action.
Fig. 16: Top left: Conventional plate type central hinge,
Top right: Modified central hinge,
Bottom: Installation of modified central hings
The line contact zones are also subjected to
wear and tear caused by frequent reversible
longitudinal movements of the bridge deck due
to sway during the passage of each vehicle.
This dynamic effect aggravates the continuous
impact, which together with the wear and tear
at the line contact zone quickly produces a gap
between the plunger and the plate due to fatigue.
The dynamic behaviour of the cantilever arm
due to the semi-hinged condition (resulting from
the gap between plunger and plate) will further
aggravate the fatigue and thereby the distress.
The gap then grows quickly, producing a ‘no
hinge’ condition within a short period. The effect
of continuous impact also produces continuous
and quick reversal of both shear and tensile
stresses on the bolts which anchor the plunger
plate type bearings, often resulting in failure of
the bolts due to fatigue.
In order to overcome these problems of central
hinges, a special central hinge bearing consists
of interlocking male and female parts, which are
anchored tothe tips of the cantilevering deck
sections by means of tensioned high strength
Macalloy or equivalent PC bars are developed
and successfully used in 2nd Varanasi bridge
and Shitalakshya bridge in Bangladesh. Special
30 Volume 43 Number 4 December 2013
bearing devices are housed at the top and
bottom of the male hinge, which slides over the
stainless steel plate provided in the female hinge.
The special bearing devices also feature pre-
compression applied during bearing assembly in
order to ensure perfect contact throughout the
proposed service life.
The problem of cantilever mating or articulation
is overcome by a smart arrangement of bearings
in Nivedita Setu extradosed bridge in Kolkotta.
A pair of structural steel box girders is placed
inside the concrete box girder and they span
between the cantilever ends of the two units.
They are fixed to one unit with fixed disc bearing
while the other end rests on sliding bearing. Thus
the longitudinal differential movement between
two superstructure units freely takes place. The
girders are roughly 12 m long. It can be observed
from Fig. 17 that with the arrangement of disc
bearings at top and bottom face of the steel
box girders, differential vertical displacement
or rotation between the two units is eliminated.
Therefore longitudinally the units act like one
continuous beam. A modular expansion joint
is provided at the bridge deck level. Movement
of vehicular traffic would not produce any
undesirable deformation at the expansion joint.
Figure 6 shows a photograph of the joint location
during construction.
Fig. 17: Top left: Articulation arrangment in Nivedita
Setu, Bottom: Installation of Articulation
in Nivedita Setu, Kolkotta
In crux the following are the some of the criteria
for the selection of bearings:
• The functions to be performed. (Fig. 15)
• Simply supported or continuous decking.
The Bridge and Structural Engineer
• Straight or curved decks.
• Flexibility of substructure and climatic
conditions.
• Prescription as to the constraining manner of
superstructure.
• Vertical and lateral axial capacities.
• Compatibility requirements with deck joint
movements in vertical and transverse
directions.
• Locations, e.g. in an inclined superstructure,
the fixed bearing are preferably located @ grooves / wedges in the pre cast construction at
lower ends.
Positioning and Layout of bearings with
in bridge system
The urban flyover and also some bridges horizontal alignment.
have longitudinal gradients from the functional
requirement. In such cases, the bearings could
be aligned (Fig. 18) horizontally irrespective of
sloping superstructure or could be aligned parallel
to sloping superstructure. Both alignments have
its ownmerits and demerits. The horizontal
alignment transfers only vertical reactions and
no permanent horizontal reactions on bearing.
Despite being on the slope, since there is no
dead load horizontal reaction, the clamping of
the spans may not be necessary during erection
of superstructure. However, this arrangement
requires steps at the locations of expansion joints
to cater for movement and greater the elongation
and movement, bigger is the step.
Fig. 18: Bearing positioning for sloping bridges
Also in case of pre-cast construction, the provision
of groove of wedge in the girders or segments in
an inclined manner, to accommodate top bearing
plates becomes cumbersome, in the casting yard.
The Bridge and Structural Engineer
However, this arrangement requires steps at
the locations of expansion joints to cater for
movement and greater the elongation and
movement, bigger is the step.
Also in case of pre-cast construction, the provision
of groove or wedge in the girders or segments in
an inclined manner, to accommodate top bearing
plates becomes cumbersome, in the casting yard.
On the other hand, the inclined bearing
arrangement has the slope of the expansion joint
independent of movement and the provisions of
the casting yard are quite simpler. However, the
permanent horizontal force may cause crooked
piers due to displacement by creep of concrete
and soil. Though, both types of arrangement
are in practice, the IRC strictly advocates for
Hitherto, for the simply supported bridges up to
two lanes, fixed bearings (rocker) with a small
play provision on one end and free bearings
(roller) in the longitudinal direction having fixity in
transverse direction has been successfully used
for straight superstructure. This arrangement
for the bridges with small deck widths can be
still successfully adopted as the expansion /
contraction taking place in superstructure and
pier caps in transverse direction are same.
Nevertheless, to avoid the transverse restraint
likely to be caused by thermal effects and
wind force, the practice of providing statically
determinate systems as shown in Fig. 19 is
replacing the earlier system.
Fig. 19: Top I: Arrangement for lesser width decks,
Bottom: Arrangement for large width decks
Volume 43 Number 4 December 2013 31
In the classical layout, shown Fig. 20 as the
left hand bottom corner bearing is restrained in
the longitudinal direction, it becomes difficult to and important activity for the durability of the
estimate the internal forces due to the external
lateral loadings.
Fig. 20: Classical & Determinate systems
For straight continuous bridges, normally two
bearings are used at abutment and piers location.
If the torsional stiffness of the deck is very high like
in box girder, intermediate piers can have single
bearing (Fig. 21). As shown in the same figure,
for curved continuous bridges, the longitudinally
guided bearings shall be placed in such a way
that the main movement of bearing should be
in the axis of the traffic. The movement of other
bearings shall have the same angle between the
polar line and moving direction.
Fig. 21: Bearing Layout for straight/curved
continuous spans
32 Volume 43 Number 4 December 2013
Proper layout of bearings on a curved span
along with estimation of movement is a critical
structure. Due to continuity in superstructure the
longitudinal forces due to braking, tractive effect,
temperature, creep & shrinkage movement will be
transferred to the bearings, not only depending
on the shear rating of the bearings but also on
the stiffness of the pier and foundation. In case
of straight continuous span the distribution of
horizontal force can be carried out effectively
with relative simple computation. Whereas for
curved continuous span the transverse stiffness
of deck due to curvature along with the location
and direction of movement of bearing becomes
an important factor. All stresses in the bearing
and as well on the superstructure will be of
normal nature and the system can be effectively
designed for all loading conditions. The span
length and the loading pattern will determine
the size of bearing. Similar to that of straight
continuous girders, for a stiff system single
bearing guided in all directions can be provided
on intermediate piers of curved spans.
Shock Transmission Units (STU) or Lock
Up Devices (LUD)
In case of multispan continuous bridges, the
horizontal forces due to seismic in longitudinal
direction is mainly absorbed by fixed pier as
such there is no uniform distribution of horizontal
forces among the piers. One way of achieving
this is by integral bridge without bearings so
that seismic distribution is uniform on all piers.
But this gives rise to provision of very large
expansion joints which may not be feasible. The
shock transmission units designed to connect the
superstructure with substructure( Fig. 22) to form
a temporary rigid link provides an opportunity to
distribute the sudden loads due to seismic and
braking etc. uniformly on all piers apart from
allowing the movement for slowly induced loads
due to temperature, creep and shrinkage.
Within the cylinder provided in STU as shown
in the Fig: 22, viscous fluid passes from one
compartment to another through a small
designed passage. Under the sudden load
like seismic and braking it gets locked as the
The Bridge and Structural Engineer
fluid cannot pass from one compartment to The effective utilization of STUs is illustrated
another suddenly as such superstructure and below by the example of Brahmaputra Bridge
substructure is integrated for structural response. (Fig. 23) under construction at Guwahati. The
For other slowly applied loads like temperature, total length of the main bridge of 1.50 km is
creep and shrinkage, there is little resistance for conceptualized by a single girder between piers
the passage of fluid as such the movement is P6 to P18 having 12 spans (2*105 + 2*150
accommodated in STUs. The STU was first used + 4*130). The example provision at P6 & P18
by Steinman for Carquinez Bridge in California in locations being 450 mm, the construction is being
1927 and in India first time; the same was used done by cantilever construction method.
for 2ndBassien Road Bridge in Mumbai.
The central pier P12 is equipped with fixed and
longitudinally guided bearingswithout STUs, while
the other piers are provided with 3 numbers STUs
of 4.5 MN capacity and 2 numbers longitudinally
guided bearings.
As the structure is idealized to originate
expansion and contraction from pier P12, on
either side as the piers are moving outwardly,
longitudinal movement absorption capacity of
STUs as well as bearing keeps on increasing as
can be seen from the Fig. 24. In the absence of
STUs, the central pier would have to be catered
Fig. 22: STUs for Brahmaputra bridge at for approximately 80 MN instead of 6.3 MN and
Gouhati under construction the expansion provision requirement at P6 and

Fig. 23: Bearing & STU Layout Brahmaputra bridge at Gouhati under construction

The Bridge and Structural Engineer Volume 43 Number 4 December 2013 33

 Fig. 24: Top left: Girder C/S of Brahmaputra bridge, Top right: Longitudinal section of STU showing
the location of viscous liquid with in cylinder. Bottom: Bearing forces & movements

P18 locations would have been unmanageable.
Perhaps the largest single girder bridge of 1.5 km
in India would not have been possible without the
provision of STUs.
Management and Standardization
Formerly, when neoprene, rocker and rocker-
cum-roller and PTFE (sliding) bearings were
popular, the same used to be designed and
drawn by the bridge designer himself and the
vendors were chosen only for manufacturing.
Since different vendors have their own type of
arrangements or configuration for POT / POT necessary to standardize top and bottom plate
cum PTFE bearings, the design is done by
the vendors for the given forces, rotations and
movements.
This warrants very high lead-time. Generally,
forces, translations and rotations are supplied
to approved vendors. Designs and drawings
are obtained from them and necessary approval
for the same is sought from clients. Once
the drawings are approved from the clients,
bearings are ordered for fabrication and load
testing is carried out in the presence of clients.
Especially, in item rate jobs it is imperative to
realize the importance of lead-time required
for bearing manufacturing and the details of
forces, translations and rotations are supplied
to the contractors in the inception of the project
itself. Bearing designer shall be also apprised
with the grade of the concrete in the pedestal
and superstructure as the same determines the
sizes of the bottom and top plates apart from
the position of pre stressing cables or strands to
avoid the clashing of studs and sleeves with the
cables /strands. The early finalization of bearing
size is essential to size up pier cap dimensions,
though in cast-in-situ construction, it is not
dimensions and bolt positions.
Just to highlight the complexity, in a particular
project of pre cast segmental construction,
there were 32 types of bearings aggregating to
468 nos. of bearings to be bolted to 234 nos. of
segments. If all these 32 types bearings have
different top and bottom plate dimensions and
also different bolt positions, it is almost impossible
to monitor and control the mismatching of
bearings with segments at casting yard. Hence
it is imperative to standardize the top and bottom
plate dimensions and bolt platforms from the
constructability point of view.

34 Volume 43 Number 4 December 2013 The Bridge and Structural Engineer

 Conclusion
The application of synthetic materials like
elastomer and Teflon led to the evolution of
3rd generation of bearing technology since
1950s outdating pure steel bearings extensively
developed for railways later used for road bridges
too. The combination of elastomer and Teflon in indeterminate
various ways sliding, rolling and rocking of steel
bearings by deformation which was a paradigm
shift in a way. Will there be a 4th generation of
bearings in the form of new materials or will it be
dispensed with as the analysis of the structures
without bearings has become easier these days
and also manufacturing and maintenance of
bearings have become expensive?
References
1. Volker Wetzk, From the German by Barthold
Pelzer, Berlin, pp 3333 to 3355.
Bridge, IABSE-JSCE Joint Conference on
Advances in Bridge Engineering-II, August
8-10, 2010, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
4. N. Bandyopadhyay, A. Ghoshal & A.
Sengupta, Relevance of bearings and
expansion joints – case studies for
bridges, IABSE-JSCE
Joint Conference on Advances in Bridge
Engineering-II, August 8-10, 2010, Dhaka,
Bangladesh.
5. ‘Gunter Ramberger’, Structural Bearings
and Expansion Joints for Bridges by IABSE
Publication.
6. ‘JE Long’ Bearings in structural Engineering,
Newnes-Butterworths Publication.
7. ‘David J. Lee’, Bridge Bearings and
Expansion joints, E & FN SPON
Publication.

2. V N Heggade & Sandeep Pattiwar, Bridge
Bearings, National seminar on Bridge
Appurtenances, Pune-2003.
3. T. Spuler & G. Moor, C. Ghosh, Supporting
economical bridge construction – the central
hinge bearings of the 2nd Shitalakshya
8. ‘Dr. V.K. Raina’ Concrete Bridge Practice,
Tata McGraw-Hill Publication.
9. ‘V.N. Heggade’ Key note address on Bridge
bearings, IABSE-ING work shop on Bridge
Bearings & Expansion joints @ Bhopal on
29th September 2002.

The Bridge and Structural Engineer Volume 43 Number 4 December 2013 35

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