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In the event of high vertical loads combined with large angle of rotations, rubber bearings are undesirable when compared with pot bearings. For instance, elastomeric bearings require large bearing surfaces so that compression can be maintained between the contact surfaces between the bearings and piers.
“Preset” is a method to reduce the size of upper plates of sliding bearings in order to save cost.
The normal length of an upper bearing plate should be composed of the following components = length of bearing + 2xirreversible movement + 2xreversible movement.
Initially the bearing is placed at the mid-point of the upper bearing plate without considering the directional effect of irreversible movement. However, as irreversible movement normally takes place at one direction only, the bearing is displaced/presetted a distance of (irreversible movement/2) from the mid-point of bearing in which the length of upper plate length is equal to the length of bearing + irreversible movement + 2 x reversible movement. In this arrangement, the size of upper plate is minimized in which irreversible movement takes place in one direction only and there is no need to include the component of two irreversible movements in the upper plate.
To determine the orientation of guided bearings, one should understand the movement of curved region of a prestressed bridge. Movement of prestress and creep are tangential to the curvature of the bridge (or along longitudinal axis) while the movement due to temperature and shrinkage effects are in a direction towards the fixed pier. If the direction of guided bearings is aligned towards the fixed bearing in the abutment, the difference in direction of pretress and creep movement and the guided direction towards fixed bearing would generate a locked-in force in the bridge system. The magnitude of the lock-in force is dependent on the stiffness of deck and supports. If the force is small, it can be designed as additional force acting on the support and deck. However, if the force is large, temporary freedom of movement at the guided bearings has to be provided during construction.
Epoxy adhesive is applied in these joints for the following purposes according to International Road Federation (1977):
(i) It seals up the joints completely between precast concrete segments to protect the prestressing tendons;
(ii) By filling voids and irregularities along the segment joints, it helps reduce stress concentrations otherwise it will be developed; and
In the method of stitching, it is a normal practice to construct the widening part of the bridge at first and let it stay undisturbed for several months. After that, concreting will then be carried out for the stitch between the existing deck and the new deck. In this way, the dead load of the widened part of bridge is supported by itself and loads arising from the newly constructed deck will not be transferred to the existing deck which is not designed to take up these extra loads.
(i) During the launching process the leading edge of the superstructure is subject to a large hogging moment. In this connection, steel launching nose typically about 0.6-0.65 times span length is provided at the leading edge to reduce the cantilever moment. Sometimes, instead of using launching nose a tower and stay system are designed which serves the same purpose.
Basically, there are mainly three reasons for this arrangement:
(i) The permanent structure is a statically indeterminate structure. During construction by using span-by-span construction, if the first phase of construction consists of the first span length L only, then the sagging moment in the mid span of the partially completed bridge is larger than that of completed two-span permanent structure. To avoid such occurrence, 0.25L of bridge segment is extended further from the second pier which provides a counteracting moment, thereby reducing the mid-span moment of the partially completed bridge.
The advantages in using in using lightweight aggregates in bridges:
(i) Owing to reduced dead load by using lightweight aggregates, there are savings in structural material such as the cost of foundation and falsework.
(ii) It brings about environmental benefits when industrial waste products are used to manufacture lightweight aggregates.
If a box-girder type bridge is purposely chosen because of its torsional strength, then the torsional stiffness and resistance should be considered in design. However, it is commonly accepted to assume that torsional stiffness of a beam to be negligible so that it saves the complexity to provide reinforcement to resist torsion. As such, this would result in higher bending moments induced in the beam.
At-rest soil pressure is developed during the construction of bridge abutment. Active soil pressure are developed when the abutment are pushed forward by backfilled soils at the back of abutment wall. A state of equilibrium shall be reached when the at-rest pressure is reduced to active earth pressure. Hence, at-rest pressure is considered when assessing the stability of abutment while active pressure is adopted when assessing the adequacy of structural elements of abutment.
Passive pressure is only considered in integral abutment which experiences passive pressure when the deck expands under thermal effects.
