Fundamentals of Bridge Design – Practice questions
HAWASSA UNIVERSITY - INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING
1. Justify the suitability of site selected for the Omo river
truss girder bridge by giving two points. (2 pts)
2. Give any two points in favor of the type of superstructure
selected for the main span of the bridge at the outskirts
of Awash Melka. (2 pts)
3. Give any four advantages of continuous girder bridges over
simply supported girder bridges. (2 pts)
4. Explain the suitability of box girder bridges for flyover
construction in road alignments curved in plan. (2 pts)
5. Explain how arch rib is structurally advantageous to reduce
BM at a section when compared to a simply supported girder
for the same span condition. (2 pts)
6. What is a spandrel wall? (2 pts)
7. Mention the two major structural advantages by which a
truss girder bridge derives economy? (2 pts)
8. (a) What do you mean by orthotropic deck? (2 pts)
(b) Explain how can it be fabricated? (2 pts)
9. What do you understand about multiple presence factor?
Explain. (2 pts)
10.A slab bridge is proposed to be constructed with a carriage
way width of 6.5 m. Determine the number of design lanes.
(2 pts)
11.According to ERA design manual, what is the criterion to
decide whether a bridge deck is wind sensitive or not? (2
pts)
12.How can you characterize a structural component as ductile?
(2pts)
13.At what situation the STRENGTH III limit state should be
checked? Explain. (2 pts)
14.World’s longest span bridge:
Name: ______________________________________ (0.5 pts)
Main Span (in meters): ____________________ (0.5 pts)
Type of Superstructure: ___________________ (0.5 pts)
Country in which located: _________________ (0.5 pts)
15.Classify the bridges based on the method of clearance for
navigation. (4 pts)
16.Give any four factors to be considered while selecting an
ideal site for a proposed bridge. (4 pts)
17.(a) Mention the main purpose of constructing culverts.
(b) What is the span range for culverts? (2 pts)
1
Fundamentals of Bridge Design – Practice questions
18.Give any two comparisons between continuous girder bridge
and balanced cantilever bridge with respect to their
structural behavior. (2 pts)
Continuous Girder Bridge Balanced Cantilever Bridge
1. 1.
2. 2.
19.Mention any four types of arch bridges. (2 pts)
20.Structurally how the first constructed Tacoma Narrows
Bridge was unstable and how it collapsed during 1940?
(2 pts)
21.What are the two sources for dynamic effect of vehicles
over the bridge? (2 pts)
22.Mention any two differences between the wind load
calculations for bridge structures and that for building
structures. (2 pts)
23.Match the following. (5 pts)
Question: Answer:
Clear road way Cable stayed
width of bridge bridge
World’s tallest Multiple
bridge presence factor
Non-earthquake Number of
prone region design lanes
World’s longest Continuous
span bridge girder bridge
Average daily Suspension
truck traffic bridge
24.For what reasons the two lane bridge width in urban area is
specified to be a minimum of 10.3m, while that for rural
areas is specified as 7.3m? (2 pts)
25.Mention any three types of superstructures of the bridges
that you have seen during the educational visits of this
semester. Indicate the place where the bridge is built and
across what sort of obstacle (name of river if it is river
bridge) (3 pts)
No. Place Across/obstacle/river Type of super
structure
1
2
Fundamentals of Bridge Design – Practice questions
2
3
26.What is the major advantage of bow string girder bridge
over arch bridge? Link your answer with structural
behavior of these two types of bridges. (2 pts)
27.What are the major differences between the live load
consideration for bridges and that for building structures?
(3 Pts)
28.List any three main advantages of steel truss girder
bridges (3 pts)
29.In river bridges, vertical clearance to the superstructure
is based on __________________ of the water in
__________________ units. (2 pts)
30.Arrange in the ascending order of economical span ranges of
the following bridges.
Cable stayed bridge, box girder bridge, culvert,
suspension bridge, T-beam bridge, slab bridge, steel
trussed arch bridge, concrete ribbed arch bridge (2
pts)
31.How can you differentiate the purpose of pipe culvert with
that of slab culvert? (2 pts)
32.How the moving effect of design vehicles encountered in the
live load calculations of bridges? (2 pts)
33.(a) What is the purpose of spandrel wall? (2 pts) (b) In
what type of bridge is it used? (1pt)
34.Give a note on how the wind load effect to be considered
for bridge structural components differ from that for
building structures? (2 pts)
35.Based on what criteria, the values of multiple presence
factor are given in ERA design manual? (1 pt)
36.Give any three advantages of continuous girder bridge over
simple span girder bridge. (3 pts)
37.What do you mean by strategic road? (2 pts)
38.What do you mean by strategic bridge? (2 pts)
39.How do the design live load criteria for bridges differ
from that for building structures?
40.The limit states given as per EBCS 2 for the design of
building structure are strength limit state and
serviceability limit states. What are the limit states
given in ERA design manual for the design of bridge
structures?
41.For the following bridges, mention in which country is it
located, what type of super structure is it and some
additional information about each.
(a) Royal Gorge Bridge
(b) Confederation Bridge
(c) Millau Viaduct
3
Fundamentals of Bridge Design – Practice questions
(d) George Washington Bridge
(e) Golden Gate Bridge
(f) Firth of Fourth Bridge
(g) Normandy bridge
(h) Alamillo Bridge
42.Give the difference between strength III and strength V
limit states as given in ERA design manual.
43.Give explanatory note on redundancy factor and ductility
factor pertaining to modifying the design force effect on
bridges.
44.What is the significance of fatigue limit state in bridge
design?
45.As per ERA design manual, what is the design working life
of bridges and that of culverts?
46.Give the specification regarding the cross fall and
longitudinal slope to be provided in bridges as per ERA
standards.
47.What is the justification behind the provision of 1.5m
width of pedestrian lane protected by a barrier, as per ERA
design manual?
48.Define free opening, overall length and span length as per
ERA design manual.
49.In what way, a culvert at a very low level while the road
way at a very high level is disadvantageous?
50.What are the types of bearings used in the steel bridge you
visited near the Modjo Port?
