Bridge Bearings

By
Sharad Kr. Agarawal
Prof.Br-1 IRICEN
7420041111

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 Outline
 General aspects of Bridge bearings : functions, type of
bearings and bearing layouts
 Conventional Steel Bearings : sliding and rocker & roller
 Elastomeric bearings
 Pot PTFE bearings
 Spherical Bearings

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 Important references
 Indian Railway References :
1. IRS steel bridge code
2. Bridge Rule
3. IRBM
4. BS 80_2006 ( design of Pot PTFE bearings)
5. BS 102_R1_2015 (guidelines for installation, inspection and maintenance of Bridge Bearings
6. BS 113 ( Inspection Arrangements)
7. RDSO standard drawings for Elastomer and Pot bearings for different spans
8. Bridge Bearings – IRICEN Publication
 IRC References :
1. IRC 83 Part2_2018 ( Elastomeric Bearings)
2. IRC 83 Part3_2018 ( Pot Bearings)
3. IRC 83 Part4_2014 ( Spherical and Cylindrical Bearings)
 EN references :
1. EN 1337_part3 (Elastomeric Bearings)
2. EN 1337_part5 (Pot Bearings)
3. EN 1337_part7 (Spherical and Cylindrical Bearings)
4. EN 1337_part10 (Inspection and maintenance of Bearings)
 UIC reference:
1. UIC 772-2R_1989 ( Elastomeric Bearings for Railway Bridges)
 Concrete Bridge Practice by Dr. V K. Raina
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 Bridge Bearing
Bridge Bearing is an structural element that creates interface between
superstructure and substructure and transfer superstructure loads to
the substructure while also accommodating displacements-
translation and rotation- of the superstructure.
 Bridge Superstructure Displacements - Causes

 Thermal expansion/contraction and bending

 Deformation under live load
 Longitudinal forces imposed by vehicles - tractive / braking
 Wind and Seismic forces
 Settlement of supports
 Creep and shrinkage of concrete
 Elastic shortening of concrete due to prestressing

All of the displacements relevant to a particular bridge must be

accounted for while designing Bridge Articulation System

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 Functions of bearing
1. To transmit the load effects in such a manner that the stresses
induced at the interfaces ( between bridge deck & bearings and
between bearings & substructure ) are within the permissible
limits.
2. To cater for rotational displacements due to deformation of
bridge deck both in vertical as well as horizontal planes.
3. To allow linear displacements of bridge deck in the desired
directions.
4. Bridge bearings may also be designed to not only perform above
mentioned functions, but also to act as seismic isolators to avoid
damage to bridge due to seismic forces.

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 Forces and Displacements at Bearings
Any joint in a 3-D structure can have maximum six degrees of freedom giving
rise to six types of displacements – 3 translations and 3 rotations. Restriction
of a displacement will give rise to the corresponding resisting force/moment in
the structure. The restraint could be complete or partial. It is attempted to make
bridge deck as free as possible commensurate with overall stability.
 It is conventional to define the X
axis as 'longitudinal’ ( along the
span) and the Y axis as
'transverse’.
 In case the bridge is on curve, the
rotational movement about
vertical axis ( Z axis) could also
be present.
 In case of support settlement or
bearing made of compressible
medium, there will be vertical
displacement also. This is
accounted for in the design of
important and torsionally rigid
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structures.
 How Desired Displacements at Bearings are
Achieved ?
 Translation can be achieved by the following modes of action
– By sliding action ( uni/multidirectional )
– By rolling action ( only uni-directional )
– By shear deformation (uni/multidirectional )

 Rotation can be achieved by the following modes of action

– By rocking/hinge action (multiplanar / uniplanar )
– By differential compression of bearing (as in elastomeric and
Pot bearings)
 Classification
 Depending on their ability to allow displacements and transmit
horizontal forces, the bearings can be divided into 3
fundamental categories:
• Fixed: The bearing transmits external horizontal forces both in
longitudinal and transverse direction. Rotations are allowed about
one or all axes.
• Guided-Sliding/rolling: The bearing accommodates the
translation in one horizontal direction and transmits horizontal
forces in the other. Rotations are allowed about one or all axes
• Free-Sliding: The bearing accommodates translation in any
direction in the horizontal plane. Rotations are allowed about one
or all axes.
 Note : Elastomeric bearings can be placed in a category of their own as
they permit displacements due to deformation of bearing ( translation by
shear deformation and rotation by differential compression) 9
 Bearing Layout
 Bearings are arranged to allow the deck to expand and contract as
freely as possible, but hold the bridge deck in its correct position
on the substructure.

 Above objective can be met if we hold the bridge deck by using

one fixed bearing and permitting movement in all radial
directions from the fixed bearing.

 The number and layout of the three types of bearings ( on the

basis of functions) is a key feature of the bridge articulation
system.
Bearing Layout for 4I girders for 24.4 m span for DFCCIL
loading ( Pot PTFE bearings)

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Bearing Layout

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Bearing Layout

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Bearing Layout

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Bearing Layout

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Ref. IRICEN Book: Bridge Bearings
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 Selection Of Bearing
The selection depends upon a number of factors
 Functional requirement – in terms of permitted movements,
load bearing capacity & load transmission
 Expected life – compatible with life of bridge
 Maintenance efforts- should be minimum
 Cost
 Other factors
– Height of the bearing
– Management of horizontal force transferred to the
substructure
– Performance under seismic loads
Ref. IRICEN BOOK – BRIDGE BEARINGS
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SLIDING BEARINGS
Articulated sliding
Bearing

Installation gap B
= 1.5 to 2 mm

Expansion gap A = 12 to 20 mm
Expansion of a 30 m steel girder will be about 12 mm for 35 degree temperature change
 Types Of Sliding Bearing
 Ordinary flat sliding bearings: It has two flat steel surfaces
only.

 Centralized articulated bearings: Similar to flat bearing but

bearing having articulation or chamfer at the end to
accommodate rotation of the girders.

 PTFE sliding Bearings: PTFE is an extremely low friction

material, especially if continuous lubrication is ensured. It is used
in combination with Pot Bearings or Elastomeric bearings to
allow longitudinal and/or lateral movement.

 Phosphor bronze Bearings : On one end of girder, which is the

‘free’ or ‘expansion’ a bearing strip slides over phosphor bronze
plate fixed over bed plate. The other end can have steel to steel
ungreased contact to act as ‘fixed’ end.
Coefficient of Sliding Friction for Different
Materials
Common materials being used and their co-efficient of friction

Material 

Mild steel over mild steel 0.25

Mild steel over phosphor bronze 0.15

PTFE over stainless steel Less than 0.08

Concrete over concrete with bitumen layer 0.50

in between
ROLLER BEARING
 ROCKER & ROLLER BEARING

Rocker and Rocker & Roller bearings:

Required in longer spans ( 30.5 m or more ) to cater for larger

displacements
Lateral movements are prevented by guides/ sleeves in different
components. However, lateral clearances between moving parts of
bearing are sufficient to meet requirement of lateral expansion for
railway bridges.
Rollers are Forged steel of Class-3 as per IS:2004
USFD test is conducted to ensure there are no internal flaws in
rollers.
COMPONENTS OF KNUCKLE AND SADDLE TYPE
ROCKER BEARING
COMPONENTS OF KNUCKLE AND SADDLE TYPE
ROCKER & ROLLER BEARING
 Link Bar connects rollers with each other to ensure all rollers
move together & maintain clear gap between them.
 Tooth bars provided to arrest movement of rollers beyond a
point (as per design movement)
 Rib and Notch is provided to arrest transverse movement
between rollers and base of knuckle plate. Notch is in the
middle of the roller and a matching rib in base and top plate
( knuckle slab). The rib guides the rollers to roll only in
longitudinal direction.
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Segmental Rollers :
For large span bridges (span greater than 45.7 m) more than two
rollers are required. This increases the size of the base plate. Full
periphery of rollers is never utilised during the rolling action. It is,
therefore, prudent to cut the sides of the roller to save not only
the weight , but also to reduce the size of the base plate.

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 INSTALLATION OF ROLLER AND ROCKER
BEARINGS
Preparation of bedding:
•Proper functioning of bearings requires proper installation.
Proper position, at proper longitudinal / lateral levels and on proper
support such as to ensure uniform load on all bearings.
•The bearing should have uniform seating on the bed block. It is a
common practice to provide a felt packing dipped in coal tar under
the base plate. It has added advantage of damping the vibrations and
impact forces and thus increasing the life of the bed block.
•Cement or cementitious epoxy grout are also used as an alternative
for levelling the bed block top surface.
•Use of materials such as lead sheets which tend to flow under
loads is not recommended.

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 Mean Position of rollers :

• The rollers should be set in mean position at the specified mean temperature
and loading condition.
• It is common to prescribe that the rollers are set in mean position at the
specified mean temperature and under DL+LL+impact. In such a case, the
rollers will take a position towards the inside of span at mean temperature.
• Since there is no scope for adjusting the position of the base plate ,
positioning of the anchor bolts must be done with a very high level of
accuracy.
• If the correct position of rollers at mean temperature and DL condition is
known it will be a very useful reference point for monitoring proper
functioning of roller bearing. It is easy to check the bearing position by
measuring the longitudinal distance between top and bottom contact points of
rollers.

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ELASTOMERIC BEARINGS
 Saw cut open Elastomeric Bearing

Steel reinforced elastomeric bearing is often called as SERB

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Typical Cross Section of an Elastomeric Bearing- Type B

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Elastomeric bearing For
18.3 m PSC twin I girders
for 25 T loading

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Elastomeric bearings offer a number of advantages:
1. Minimum maintenance- as no moving parts
2. Installation is easy
3. Permits movement in all directions
4. Occupies small space
5. Serves as a shock absorber due to anti-vibrations properties of elastomer
 ELASTOMERS
 IUPAC defines elastomer as a polymer (synthetic or natural) that
displays rubber like elasticity. It’s basically a viscoelastic material
and has generally low Young’s modulus and high failure strain.
 For making it suitable for bridge bearings it is put through the
process of vulcanization, which refers to range of processes for
hardening of rubbers .
 As a result of vulcanization, elastomer molecules are cross linked
with sulfur , making it stronger
 Elastomer possesses rubber like properties i.e. ability to regain
shape almost completely even after large deformations
 These are very flexible in shear but very stiff in bulk
compression ( Shear modulus about 1MPa and bulk modulus
about 2000 MPa)
 Some Important Provisions of IRC 83, Part II-2018

 IRC 83 part II- 2018 applies to normal (low damping with

an equivalent viscous damping ratio < 0.06) elastomeric
bearings only.
 Use of special (high damping) elastomeric bearings are not
covered in this code, for which specialist literature
international code may be consulted.
 This code deals with bearings for use in operating
temperatures ranging from -100C to + 500C.

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 IRC code permits use of both Natural Rubber (NR) or
Chloroprene Rubber (CR). Blending with 5% of other
polymer is permitted. No reclaimed or ground vulcanized
rubber shall be used. EPDM and other similar elastomers not
permitted.
 Neoprene WRT, Bayprene 110, Skyprene B-5 And Denka S-
40V are some of the proprietary CR elastomers used for
elastomeric bearings.
 Natural Rubber is highly reactive with ozone which causes
surface cracks. NR based bearings should be avoided.
 Combination of NR and CR is permissible. Top bottom and
side layers can be made of CR while inner layers can be of NR
with both parts being vulcanized simultaneously. This way NR
is protected against damage by ozone.
 Polymer content  50% and ash content  5%
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Nominal Temperature 230C 20C
IRHD – International rubber Hardness Degree. The Shore
hardness A is approximately equal to IRHD values, thus
both can be used interchangeably.

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 Deformations of Elastomeric Bearings

Elstomeric bearings have good compression stiffness, there is always

resistance to differential compression. This induces restraining
moments in the adjoing structures. Such moments should be
computed and accounted for in the design 45
 Elastomeric bearings can be used both as a movable or
fixed bearing.
 In the first case ( movable bearing) deformation of rubber
absorbs both rotation and translation. In the second
case( fixed) it is necessary to install special equipment
preventing tangential or shear deformation.
 Elastomeric bearings can also be designed with a PTFE
layer fixed to top of bearing.

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SERB with Central Pin

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Important point:

Elastomers are almost incompressible, so when a steel-laminated

bearing is loaded in compression, the elastomer expands laterally due
to the Poisson effect.
The expansion is partially restrained by the steel plates to which the
elastomer layers are bonded, and the restraint results in bulging of
the layers between the plates.
The bulging creates shear stresses at the bonded interface between
the elastomer and steel. If they become large enough they can cause
shear failure of the bond or the elastomer adjacent to it.
This is the most common form of damage in steel-laminated
elastomeric bearings, and is the reason why limitations on the shear
strain in the elastomer dominate the design requirements.
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Factors Affecting Performance of Elastomeric Bearings :

Correct function of elastomeric bearing requires sufficient

vertical load to prevent creep/slip and sufficiently high
vertical deformation under normal loading to ensure that
rotation of deck does not result separation between bearing
and mating surface of the structure.
Elastomeric bearings are not advisable, if they are required to
undergo simultaneously light loading and considerable
longitudinal movement. This would apply, for example, to
steel rail bridges with short and medium spans.
Elastomeric bearings do not distribute the vertical loads
uniformly over the contact surface. Pressure at centre can be
as high as 1.5 to 2 times the average pressure. This should be
kept in mind while designing the bed block.

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 To account for increase of rigidity ( shear modulus) of
bearing due to ageing and low temperature, it is
recommended to increase the stiffness of bearing by 50% in
design of substructures and foundation(UIC 772-2R).
However, while calculating interaction effects due to
presence of LWR the analysis should be performed for
both extreme values.

 Dr. V K Raina suggests increasing the shear modulus by

100% to account for effect of rapid application of live loads
for Railway Bridges while considering movements due to
live loads.

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POT BEARING

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 WEARING STAINLESS
SURFACES STEEL
PLATE
PTFE

PISTON External
ELASTOMER seal
Internal Se
POT

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 POT cum P.T.F.E. Bearings:
 The structural rotations are facilitated by elastomeric pad, which
responds with high vertical stiffness and low rotational
resistance.
 The sliding at the free ends is provided by stainless steel surface
sliding over PTFE surface.

 Slide guides provide restraint in

the desired direction.
 The coefficient of friction in these
bearings is quite low - at par with
the friction in rollers.
 These are highly efficient
bearings with minimum moving
parts.
Pattern of Dimples in Sliding Material – Dimples are filled with
silicon grease to ensure constant lubrication
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 PTFE

 A Linear chain polymer of high molecular strength

 Chemically inert
 Low coefficient of friction – can be as low as 0.01 which
compares with ice sliding on ice.
 Not oxidized easily
 Remains stable at extreme atmospheric temperatures
 Resistant to all common solvent.

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Mechanical and Physical Properties of PTFE

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 Mechanical and Physical Properties of
Elastomer ( CR or NR)

Elastomers when effectively confined, behave as semi-viscous fluid

and can easily accommodate required rotations and high level of
compressive stresses. These bearings can safely accommodate 0.01
rad. rotation about any axis. Normally Pot bearings are designed to
bear pressure of 60 MPa at ULS and to allow rotation of 0.03 rad.

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 Internal seals

 Internal seals are one of the most important component of POT

bearings.
 Internal seals prevent extrusion of confined elastomer between
POT and Piston under vertical load. Four type of seals are
available :
 Stainless steel seal
 Brass seal
 POM ( poly oxy methylene ) seal
 Carbon filled PTFE seal

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 External Seal

 External seals are made of silicon rubber or

Chloroprene rubber
 These seals prevent ingress of dust and moisture through
the gap between Piston and Pot

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 Accumulated slide path (ASP)
 Defined as the sum of the relative movements of the seal on the
pot wall due to cycles of rotation of the bearing caused by traffic
loading
 ASP = 2000 m for POM and carbon filled PTFE seals
= 1000 m for Brass seal
= 500 m for stainless seal
 The characteristic contact strength of elastomer in Pot bearings is
limited by the effectiveness of internal seal in preventing
extrusion of elastomer. It is taken as 60 Mpa at ULS.
 ASP determines the life of a POT Bearing. RDSO is still
designing Pot bearings with Brass seal. Metal seals have a
problem of turning into knife edges due to wear and then tend to
shave the elastomer, resulting into failure of the seal.
 We may use POM seals for better life of POT bearings. 69
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SPHERICAL BEARINGS

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 Spherical Bearings
 These bearings consist of steel concave/ convex surfaces having
low friction sliding interface in between which permits rotation
by incurve sliding.
 These bearings allow rotation in all directions.
 The sliding arrangement is similar to the one in POT-PTFE
bearings and material for sliding interface may be PTFE or
Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene (UHMWPE).
 Slide guides provide restraint in the desired direction.
 SPHERICAL BEARING
This bearing which consists of a set of concave & convex mating
steel backing plate with a low friction sliding interface in between
thereby permitting rotation by incurve sliding. For the purpose of
providing the movement ability, the bearings may be combined
with flat sliding elements, guides and restraining rings.

Fixed Sliding: externally guided in one

direction 73
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Life of POT-PTFE/ Spherical/ Bearings ?

Indian Railways’ experience with these bearings is limited and so the design life
of these bearings can’t be laid down as yet. The decision regarding replacement
shall be taken based on results of inspection.

One factor that needs to be considered, however, is that the materials like PTFE/
UHMWPE have limited design life when expressed in terms of total sliding
distance travelled. Most of this sliding takes place under the thermal variations
while a smaller part takes place under the effect of traffic loads.

The sliding travel of PTFE is of the order of 10 KMs whereas that of UHMWPE
is higher, which can go even upto 50 KMs. The approximate daily travel based on
thermal variations in different seasons can be computed to determine approximate
life of the sliding material and when the life thus computed nears completion, a
few sample bearings can be inspected to determine if the wear and tear of the
sliding surface is within limits or not.
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Important Note:
Bridge Bearings is a difficult subject and in many cases, the cause
of defects can’t be easily determined especially if there are more than
one reasons contributing to the problem.
It is quite possible that the further necessary actions cannot be
determined by the inspecting person or the field bridge engineer. In
such cases, the design engineers/ manufacturer should be consulted.
Joint inspection of site shall be arranged, if required.

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