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Steel bridges retrofitting techniques

Article in International Journal of Earth Sciences and Engineering · October 2011

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 International Journal of Earth Sciences and Engineering 695
ISSN 0974-5904, Volume 04, No 06 SPL, October 2011, pp. 695-698

Steel bridges retrofitting techniques

Amir Abbas Fatemi
PhD Candidate, Islamic Azad University of Science & Research Campus & Faculty Staff, Pardis Branch, Islamic Azad University,
Pardis New city, Tehran, Iran
Zahra Tabrizian
PhD Candidate, College of Civil Engineering, Babol Noshirvani University of Technology, Babol, Iran
G. Ghodrati Amiri
Professor, School of Civil Engineering, Iran University of Science & Technology, Tehran, Iran
M. Hossein Ali Beigi
Assistant Professor, College of Civil Engineering, Babol Noshirvani University of Technology, Babol, Iran

ABSTRACT: Today transportation plays an important role in various aspects of advanced human life. Bridges are
known as one of the important parts of lifelines in the structural engineering and all means of economic infrastructures are
interdependent. With regard to large number of old steel bridges, sometimes as built maps and their construction data is
not available. In addition, because of the seismicity of Iran, development of technology and increased weight and volume
of vehicles, different suitable techniques that matches to vulnerabilities requires. So retrofitting of bridges is an important
issue. In this article tried to improve the seismic retrofit techniques and mechanisms of steel bridges.

KEY WORDS: Steel Bridges, Retrofitting, Techniques, earthquake.

INTRODUCTION
Modern bridge infrastructure comprises of mostly from strengthening. Some of those techniques are
concrete (reinforced or pre-stressed) and steel structures. explained in details in the following sections.
Over the service life of a bridge, its constituent materials
Why do we strengthen or retrofit buildings?
are continually subjected to fatigue and wear-tear due to
ƒ Increase in the applied loads.
dynamic vehicular loads. Overloading due to increase in
ƒ Mistakes or unsafe design.
wheel loads and regular exposure to aggressive external
ƒ Steel corrosion or insufficient number of bars.
environment may worsen the situation further. Poor
ƒ Cracks in concrete or stress less than design
quality of construction and lack of regular maintenance
stress.
could potentially lead to main retrofit in a bridge structure.
ƒ The settlement in the foundation is more than the
In addition, components facilitating expansion/
allowable.
contraction of bridge and load transfer to the sub-
To categorize the strengthening methods, steel bridge
structure, such as expansion joints & bearings, may also
divided in to part substructures and superstructures as
require retrofitting or replacement over time. Defects in
shown below:
the constituent materials may be visible in the form of
cracking - spalling of concrete, excessive deflection of For strengthening substructures include:
structure, corrosion of steel components/ reinforcement ƒ using steel jackets
etc. It is obvious that retrofitting of bridges involves ƒ External post-tensioning of pier crossheads;
addressing a many of problems and no single technique or ƒ Widening of blade piers;
retrofit method could offer a complete solution. Therefore, ƒ Widening of pier crosshead;
answer lies in being able to address each individual ƒ Infill walls between pier columns;
problem with an appropriate technique to result in a ƒ Bonding of steel plates to crossheads.
durable retrofit. This article aims at providing an overview
For superstructures strengthening methods include:
of a variety of structural retrofit techniques available to
ƒ Strengthening of steel girder halving joints;
retrofit steel bridges.
ƒ Providing shear connection between steel girders
and deck slab;
Retrofitting methods
ƒ Carbon fibers using to strengthen the deck slab.
Components of a steel bridge need to be continually
ƒ Using CFRP to strengthen Shear behavior
protected against environmental corrosion. Proper care
ƒ covering element by concrete
needs to be exercised to maintain critical elements such as
ƒ Using shotcrete
piles, piers, decks, suspension cables etc. Piles and piers
may be retrofitted using bonded steel plates or FRP
In this article some of these methods have discussed.
strengthening/ protection. Steel bridges are generally Steel jacket
covered with a concrete decking, which gets worn off over
time due to cyclic dynamic loads. It is a time consuming This technique is chosen when the loads applied to the
and weighty process to retrofit reinforced concrete decks pier will be increased, and at the same time, increasing the
with conventional methods. Many strengthening cross sectional area of the pier is not permitted. This
techniques are available depending on the purpose needed technique is implemented by the following steps:

#020410354 Copyright © 2011 CAFET-INNOVA TECHNICAL SOCIETY. All rights reserved

 696 Amir Abbas Fatemi, Zahra Tabrizian, G. Ghodrati Amiri, M. Hossein Ali Beigi
1. Removing the concrete cover.
2. Cleaning the reinforcement steel bars using a wire
brush or a sand compressor.
3. Coating the steel bars with an epoxy material that
would prevent corrosion.
4. Installing the steel jacket with the required size and
thickness, according to the design, and making
openings to pour through them the epoxy material
that would guarantee the needed bond between the
concrete pier and the steel jacket.
Filling the space between the concrete pier and the steel
jacket with an appropriate epoxy material.
Sprayed-up FRP
The installing procedure of the sprayed-up strengthening
is as follows:
1. Base arrangement; Surface of concrete is polished by
a disc-sander and cleaned by air.
2. Primer resin coating; Primer resin is applied to the
surface in order to make highly adhesive between
concrete and putty/resin.
3. Putty arrangement; Dent areas and steps on concrete
surface are filled with putty and make the surface flat
in order to prevent from partial stresses of FRP and
air voids on concrete. After putty dried, the surface is
sanded.
4. Resin coat; In order to make fibers more adhesive,
resin is coated first by a spray gun.
5. Resin and short fiber are sprayed on concrete at a
same time by a spray gun. The lengths of the carbon
fiber and glass fiber are 5.0 cm and 3.75cm,
respectively.
6. Entrapped air is rolled out.
Retrofitting the Steel Bridges for Fatigue
The causes of fatigue of steel bridges may be classified as:
ƒ Welding defects were built-in at the time of
fabrication.
ƒ An incorrect structural detail of low fatigue
strength had been assumed.
ƒ Deformations and Stresses unexpected in design
occurred at joints of elements.
ƒ The structure behaved in a behavior not expected,
such as due to vibration.
There are two approaches to strengthening and
reinforcing:
1- To remove the reason of damage or to improve it.
2- To increase the fatigue strength of the detail concerned
in members.
Thorough explanation of the reasons of damage is
indispensable in selecting methods of repair and
strengthening for the bridges. Depending on the damage,
there are cases when it is acceptable to leave the
component untouched. On the other hand, some cracks
which will be dangerous except a remedial measure is
immediately applied. Some style of repair cases (Table 1)
and cause of Fatigue in steel bridges (Table 2) is shown ;
International Journal of Earth Sciences and Engineering
ISSN 0974-5904, Volume 04, No 06 SPL, October 2011, pp. 695-698
Table 1 style of repair cases
1 Field of application
2 Circumstances of repair
3 Type of structure
4 Detail of loading
5 Description of damage
6 Repair method applied
Table 2 Cause of fatigue in steel Bridges
1 Welding defects were included at the time of
fabrication
2 An inappropriate structural detail of low fatigue
strength had been adopted
3 Stresses and deformations unforeseen in design
occurred at joints of members
4 The structure behaved in a manner not expected
such as due to vibration
Table 3 The repair measures are classified into eight
categories from “A” to “H” as shown in
Table 3 Repair Methods
A Removal of crack
B Re-weld
C Surface treatments such as TIG dressing
D Re-weld + post weld surface treatment
E Bolted splice
F Shape improving
G Stop hole
H Modification of connection detail
Repair “F” or “shape improving” means to repair the weld
part and any nearby part to improve the joint itself such as
a full penetration weld. In addition, repair “H”
corresponds to revising the connection details where
spreads from the joint location to the whole structure. But,
repair “H” is different from repair “F” due to the detail of
the repair target and the scale of repairing scale.
Generally, there are many cases where strengthening was
done by a combination of measures rather than only a
single measure. Depending on the strengthening cases
included in this database, “stop hole” is normally assumed
as an emergency repair by considering the crack
propagation, and there are many cases where permanent
repair permits other methods. In such cases, the
strengthening method adopted as a stable measure is
recommended here.
Using CFRP to strengthen Shear behavior
To increase the shear capacity of a section CFRP is
applied on the appropriate location, shown in Fig 1.
 Steel Bridges Retrofitting Techniques 697

Fig. 1 Strengthening of Westminster Bridge in London

with CFRP

External post-tensioned crossheads

In order to restore flexural strength to the crosshead, an
external post tensioning option consisting of high strength
bars stressed is used. This method is applied against
prefabricated steel stressing heads located at either end of
the crosshead, as shown in the Fig2.

Fig. 3 Strengthening of Warburton Bridge with Concrete

covering
Steel stitching
Steel stitching is a common method for strengthening of
steel bridges (Fig 4). Some advantages of this method are
listed below:

1. Executable for any location

2. Minimal interruption of traffic
Fig. 2 Strengthening of Hellyer River Bridge with post- 3. It is also cost-effective and economical method
tensioned crossheads

Concrete covering

This method is same as shotcrete. Also Concrete covering

avoids the member buckling.
The installing procedure of the Concrete covering
strengthening is as follows:

1. Surface of concrete is polished by a disc-sander

and cleaned by air.
2. Preparation for filling concrete consists bar
installation and concreting.

One example of this method is shown in Fig 3.

Fig. 4 Strengthening with steel stitching

International Journal of Earth Sciences and Engineering

ISSN 0974-5904, Volume 04, No 06 SPL, October 2011, pp. 695-698
 698 Amir Abbas Fatemi, Zahra Tabrizian, G. Ghodrati Amiri, M. Hossein Ali Beigi

CONCLUSIONS
Strengthening of bridges especially steel bridges is
important. To achieve this aim bridges should be
categorize so more damaged one can retrofit sooner.
Sometimes bridges can be repaired only with the
conditions of a temporary fix. Selection of retrofitting
method depends on Traffic delay costs, simple
application; focus on damage and local retrofitting.
So, by focusing on the vulnerabilities of members
appropriate retrofitting method can select.
Finally, it is necessary to consider circumstances, even
with the passing of vehicles be forbidden. Classification of
damages and related retrofitting methods is essential to
assume the proper design.
REFERENCES
[1] Bruneau,M., Marson,J.,(2004). Seismic Design of
Concrete-Filled Circular Steel Bridge Piers, J.Bridge
Engineering, ASCE, January/February, pp24-34
[2] Federal High way Administration Washington D.C,
(2007), Bridge Inspector’s Training Manual
[3] Highways Agency. (1996). The appearance of bridges
and other Highway structures.
[4] L.Kenndy Reid, L., David M.Milne, D., Ecraig, R.,
(2001). Steel Bridge Strengthening.
[5] Miki C.(1998) Repairing and reinforcing of fatigue
damaged steel bridges, WRC Proceedings IIW, pp. 286-
298.
[6] Utpal.K Ghosh . (2000). Repair & Rehabilitation of steel
bridges.
[7] Waheed,A., Kowal,E., Loo,T.,(2004). REPAIR OF
BRIDGE STRUCTURAL STEEL ELEMENTS MANUAL.
Bridge Engineering Section Technical Standards Branch
Alberta Transportation, Version 1.

International Journal of Earth Sciences and Engineering

ISSN 0974-5904, Volume 04, No 06 SPL, October 2011, pp. 695-698

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