IMPERIAL COLLEGE OF SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND MEDICINE

Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering

ADVANCED STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING CLUSTER

MSc EXAMINATION 2010

DESIGN OF BRIDGES

ANSWER ALL QUESTIONS IN PART A (50 marks)

ANSWER ONE QUESTION IN PART B (50 marks)
Data Sheets are attached including extracts from BS5400

Wednesday 19 May 2010 : 10.00 - 12.00

2010 Imperial College London

1/ Bridge Design Examination : May 2010

Part A (50 marks) answer all THREE questions

Q.1

A highway authority requires a road access to and from a new residential estate.
The bridge is a 20m long single span and simply supported. It crosses an existing
road cutting. The deck structure consists of 10 No. class 1 M8 prestressed concrete
beams, with a composite deck.
The bridge details are shown on Figure 1.1 below and it has the following design
requirements
Span
Width
Loading
Surfacing
Beam spacing
Slab thickness

Figure 1.1

20m single span

7.3m carriageway plus 1.0m hardstrip & 2m footpath each
side
HA + 30 units HB
165mm average
1.275m
250mm

Section view of the bridge desk.

14100 OVERALL WIDTH

400

2000

1000
HARD
STRIP

7300 CARRIAGEWAY

1275

1000
HARD
STRIP

2000

400

1275

2/ Bridge Design Examination : May 2010

Figure 1.2

Plan view of the bridge desk

14100

Provide answers to the following questions using BS5400: part 2 clauses 3.2.9.1, 3.2.9.3.1,
6.2.2, 6.3.1, Figure 10 and Table 14 (all can be found in attached data sheet).
i)

Determine the number of notional lanes and lane width

ii) Calculate HA UDL and HB axle load

iii) Using your answers to i) & ii) above indicate (without calculation) on the
deck plan the HA (UDL & KEL) and HB loads (unfactored) which may
cause maximum bending moment at the mid-span. Three cases with
approximate position of loads to be shown
iv) Calculate HA lane factor for the first lane
(20 marks)

3/ Bridge Design Examination : May 2010

Q.2

It is proposed to build a new railway bridge and an Approval in Principle (AIP)

document will need to be prepared. The proposed bridge has two spans and either
two simply supported spans or a bridge with continuity over the support are being
considered.
a)

List the main headings you would need to consider within the AIP to
adequately document the proposed structure.

b)

Which span option would you recommend?

c)

What are the advantages of your chosen option compared with the other
option?
(12 marks)

Q.3

The cross section of a two-span continuous concrete beam is shown in Figure 3.1.
The beam is subjected to a positive temperature difference (T) shown in Figure 3.2.
The Youngs modulus (E) and the linear thermal expansion coefficient () of
concrete can be taken as 30 kN/mm2 and 10 x 10-6 per oC respectively. You may
assume the concrete section is uncracked under the specified positive temperature
difference.
a)

Determine the thermally induced bending moment of the beam at the central
support.

b)

Calculate the total thermally induced stresses of the beam section in (a).
(18 marks)
Figure 3.1

Area = 320 x 103mm2

200
I = 16.27 x 109mm4
Neutral axis y = 550 mm from bottom
Zt = 65.1 x 106mm3
Zb = 29.6 x 106mm3
600
All dimensions in mm

Figure 3.2

1000

20oC
0oC
200
y

Useful equations:
h
= bTdy
A 0

( )
M = E bT (y y )dy

bT y y dy

where = total strain at the centroid of the section

o = total strain at the bottom of the section
= section curvature
M = restraining moment

4/ Bridge Design Examination : May 2010

Part B (50marks) answer ONE of the following two questions
Concrete composite deck
Answer the questions (a) to (g), using Figure 1.1 and Figure 1.2, your answers to
the Question 1 of Part A and the information below, assuming simple static load
distribution,

Figure 4.1 showing an internal deck beam

the attached manufacturers literature for M8 beam
BS5400: Part 2 Table 1 for combination 1 load factors fl
BS4500: Part 4 clauses 4.2.2 & 4.2.3 for f3
Assume the weight of the concrete and the surfacing to be 24 kN/m3

Material properties
Precast concrete

fcu = 50 N/mm2

fci = 40 N/mm2

Insitu concrete

fcu = 40 N/mm2

Ec = 31 kN/mm2

Ec = 34 kN/mm2

Prestressing strand
(15.2mm 7 wire standard strand)
fpu = 1670 N/mm2
Area (per strand) = 139 mm2

Es = 205 kN/mm2

1275

1200

20 thk.
permanent
shuttering

Finishes

220

165
ave.

Section moduli of composite section

= 0.807 m,
I = 0.183 m4
3
Bottom of beam, Zbbeam = I/ = 0.227m
Top of beam, Ztbeam = I/(1.2- ) = 0.467m3
Top of slab, Ztslab = I/(1.2-0.03+0.25- ) = 0.328m3

250
Slab

Q.4

Figure 4.1
4

5/ Bridge Design Examination : May 2010

Q.4 (continued)

a) Complete Table 4.1

b) Using your SLS factored load in Table 4.1, verify the bending moments in Table
4.2 for the longitudinal mid-span for an internal beam due to HA loading.
c) Using the material properties and section moduli of the composite section provided
below complete Table 4.3. by calculating the stresses at the beam top & bottom as
well as the top of slab.
d) Using the strand arrangement below calculate the eccentricity, e, between the
neutral axis of the composite section and the strands.
2No @ 1080 mm
2No @ 1030 mm
10No @ 110 mm
13No @ 60 mm

above bottom of beam

above bottom of beam
above bottom of beam
above bottom of beam

e) Assuming the above eccentricity and 30% losses calculate the prestress force, P,
using the formula below and the total stress at the bottom of the beam, assuming
limiting tension to be 0N/mm2 (Class 1)
= P/A + Pe/Zb
f) Using 27 No 15.2 mm diameter wire standard strands and assuming 162.5 KN
initial tension per strand, check SLS stress limit at transfer for Class 1 (Part 4 cl.
6.3.2.4 b(1) and assuming allowable compressive stress at transfer to be 0.4fci) by
using relaxation and shortening losses at transfer. Assume 2.5 % relaxation loss
(half of this occurring at transfer) and 7.5% loss due to elastic shortening.
g) Check stress limits after final prestress losses by calculating shrinkage, creep and
remaining relaxation losses using BS5400 Part 4 Table 29 for cs value (pre-tension
& normal exposure). Assume allowable final compressive stress to be 0.4fcu. Use
formulae below for calculating shrinkage and creep losses.
Shrinkage loss
PS = cs x Es x As
Creep loss
Pcr = k x c x x Es x As
Assume k = 1, = 48x10-6 per N/mm2
c = P/A + Pe2/I - Mself wt. e / I
I = modulus of beam alone

6/ Bridge Design Examination : May 2010

Table 4.1
SLS

In-situ
slab

M8
Beam

(kN/m)

N/A

Surfacing

HA
UDL

HA
KEL

(kN/m)

(kN/m)

(kN/m)

(kN)

N/A

N/A

Load for 1.275m wide slab/m

Lane factor (Lane 1)
fL sls
3 sls
fL uls
3 uls
Factored load (SLS)

Table 4.2
SLS
Mid-span BM SLS (kNm)

In-situ
slab
371.7

Table 4.3
Mid-span stresses due to
(N/mm2)
Dead load M8
Dead load in-situ slab

M8
Beam
490.5

tslab
-

HA (UDL+KEL)
+ surfacing
1501.7

tbeam

Total
2363.9

bbeam

HA surfacing
Total

7/ Bridge Design Examination : May 2010

Q.5

Steel Composite deck

A 20 m span railway bridge is to be designed, it has a 7.5 m wide 250 mm thick deck
slab supporting a ballasted track (as figure Q5.1). There are four steel plate girders at
1500 mm centres. The steel grade is S355K2. The bridge will be painted. The area of
the bottom flange has been determined, and should be at least 18,000 mm2. The shear
force diagram for a girder is given in figure Q2.2. The web of the girder should be
1400 mm deep. A minimum of two shear connectors at 150 mm centres should be
used. A precamber of 100mm is required. m and f3 may be taken as 1.15.

a) As your first estimate what is the area of the top flange?

b) What top and bottom flange plate sizes would you recommend and why?
c) What type of stability bracing would you use for the construction stage of the
bridge and at what spacing would you estimate they should be placed?
d) Calculate what web size and stiffener spacing would you use if the girder is
designed to BS5400?
e) Sketch an elevation of the girder with a table of information suitable for sending to
a steel fabrication works.

Figure 5.1

Figure 5.2

Data Sheet - Bridge Design

Extracts from British Standard BS5400

Part 2 (BS5400-2:2006)

Part 2 (BS5400-2:2006)

Part 2 (BS5400-2:2006)

Part 3 (BS5400-3:2000)

Part 3 (BS5400-3:2000)
Figure 1 Geometric notation for beams

Part 3 (BS5400-3:2000)
Figure 1 Geometric notation for beams (Continued)

Part 3 (BS5400-3:2000)

Part 3 (BS5400-3:2000)

Part 3 (BS5400-3:2000)

Part 4 (BS5400-4:1990)

Part 4 (BS5400-4:1990)
6.3.2.4 Cracking

10