PROJECT

Design and Construction of

Segmental Bridges for High-Speed Rail
by Jacques Combault, Finley Engineering Group Inc.

The famous Japanese Shinkansen rails (nosing effect, also known section about 13 m (43 ft) wide that
railway network started operating in as the coning action), as well as provides space for two tracks and
1964 and has been progressively acceleration and breaking forces, catenary supports. General design rules
i m p ro v e d w i t h t h e o b j e c t i v e o f cannot be neglected. for railroad bridges significantly differ
operating at a speed of 300 km/h (186 • The bridge design is unavoidably from those of road bridges. For example:
mph) or more. Since the Shinkansen’s impacted by the rail-structure • Heavy loads and corresponding
beginning, many countries have interaction when continuous dynamic effects cause the bridge to
implemented high-speed rail (HSR) as welded rails (CWR) are used, which be designed for a span length-to-
an easy link between cities. The first have be evaluated according to the depth ratio of 12 to 14.
section of the French TGV opened to International Union of Railways • The rail-structure interaction favors
traffic between Paris and Lyon in 1981. (UIC) code. the design of short spans. Long,
The operation of the 345-km-long (214- continuous spans require rail
mile) Taiwanese HSR, which runs most This last consideration is of fundamental expansion devices that impact the
of the time on viaducts at 300 km/h concern during the design of HSR behavior of the train on the track.
(186 mph), started in 2007. Today, HSR bridges. The track type, as well as the
has become a reality in Asia, Europe, configuration and mechanical properties This is why Taiwanese HSR viaducts,
and North America, resulting in the of the structure, govern the combined which are located on flat areas, mainly
construction of large infrastructures that response of the structure and tracks to consist of sections made of simply
are designed for dense and heavy rail • deflections and displacements of supported box girders. This means that
traffic at speeds never before reached. the superstructure under vertical the Taiwanese HSR viaducts have
and horizontal loads, • short span lengths, and
Since its creation in 1981, the French • differential deformations between • many piers and many bearing
TGV developed throughout France. rails and structure due to devices, but no rail expansion
The South Europe–Atlantic (SEA) temperature and acceleration or devices.
line is currently under construction breaking forces,
between Tour and Bordeaux, with the • variable horizontal forces generated High-speed trains may also have to cross
anticipation of daily operation at 350 along the rails, and large and deep valleys. In such cases,
km/h (217 mph). As part of this system, • stresses in the rails, which cannot pier spacing and span lengths have to
many bridges had to be built according impair the track strength and be increased. This also requires that the
to various construction techniques and profile. superstructure be continuous and rail
the latest refinements of the available expansion devices are unavoidable.
technology in the field of prestressed Available Concepts
concrete bridges. Due to the main design considerations For example, the HSR system near
previously mentioned, Taiwanese HSR Avignon, France, required two unusual
Design of Railroad Bridges bridges generally consist of a box cross HSR bridges made of 100-m-long (328-
The design of railroad bridges has many
unique considerations when compared
to the design of road bridges:
• The loads are sudden and heavy.
• The regular distribution of heavy
concentrated loads running at
various speeds may generate
substantial dynamic effects, which
cannot be ignored.
• Horizontal forces generated by
the moving loads, due to track
curvatures or swaying on the

The Taiwanese high-speed railway

running on a long series of viaducts.
Photo: VINCI Construction Grands Project-
France.

18 | ASPIRE, Fall 2013

 On the left, the Channel Tunnel rail link
viaduct crossing the the Medway River in
the UK. Photo: VINCI Construction Grands
Project-France.

Twin 1000-m-long (3280-ft), high-speed railway, viaducts crossing the Rhone River near
Avignon (France). Photo: VINCI Construction Grands Project-France.

ft) spans to cross the Rhone River. Incremental launching is well adapted
Similarly, the Medway River crossing in to the construction of constant-depth
the U.K. necessitated a bridge having box girders for HSR as long as the span-
a 152-m-long (499-ft) span for the to-depth ratios of these bridges are
Channel Tunnel rail link (CTRL) between much lower than those of road bridges.
Paris and London. The use of incremental launching for Full-span construction technique showing
building HSR bridges started at the end placing a precast concrete box unit.
Construction of of the 1970s when the first French HSR Photo: SYSTRA.
Concrete Railroad Bridges link was being constructed.
W ith easy access and good soil construction when span lengths were
conditions, short-span railroad bridges Incremental launching has been not compatible with incremental
can be readily built. Prefabrication of successfully implemented for many of launching capabilities. Balanced
full-span-length units and placing those the large HSR bridges that were built cantilever and incremental launching
units using appropriate launching as part of the French TGV extension were also combined when other
equipment is a construction method that linking Paris to the north and to the exceptional construction techniques,
is implemented frequently worldwide. southeast of France. Incremental such as rotation, had to be used to
launching was sometimes combined cross existing motorways with as little
Taiwan’s north-to-south HSR project link with cast-in-place balanced cantilever traffic disturbance as possible.
includes 251 km (156 miles) of elevated
bridge structures. Full-span precast
concrete components and launching
erection techniques have been used
on 73% of these elevated structures to
achieve speedy placement, shortened
construction periods, and better quality
control.

Continuous HSR bridges undoubtedly

offer interesting opportunities in terms
of construction methods. At the end
of the 1990s, seven HSR viaducts were
built between Lyon and Marseille in
Southern France. Classical construction
methods were used for these viaducts;
the most frequent method used was
incremental launching.

Approaches of the Mediterranean

high-speed railway Ventabren Viaduct
in southeast France during launching.
Photo: VINCI Construction Grands Project-
France.

ASPIRE, Fall 2013 | 19

 developed and implemented for the first
time by Campenon Bernard at the end
of the 1970s.

Indeed, progressive segment-by-

segment construction using temporary
stay cables is a competitive alternative
to incremental launching because
• it does not require heavy
equipment,
• segment placing is easy and fast,
and
• there are no creep effects because
segments are assembled in their
final configuration.

In addition, this method is well adapted

to external prestressing and bridges built
that way are typically of high quality.
Balanced cantilevers of the main bridge of the Ventabren Viaduct to be rotated across
one of the most congested motorways in France. Photo: VINCI Construction Grands
Conclusion
For more than 40 years, the construction
Project-France.
of large bridges has been marked by
prefabrication of box-girders in match-cast
Precast Concrete part of France, which is presently under sections and assembly of these segments
Segmental Construction construction. All seven bridges are using powerful equipment, either cranes
of Railroad Bridges similar. Each is about 500 m (1640 ft) or movable launching gantries, or
The most significant achievement long and mainly consists of 47-m-long temporary stay cables. Associated with
in the construction process of large (154 ft) spans. The box girder for each modern, well-designed prestressing
HSR bridges happened at the end of bridge is 3.9 m (12.8 ft) deep. systems (combining both internal and
the 1990s with the construction of external post-tensioning tendons),
the 1500-m-long (4921-ft) viaducts The 1340 precast concrete segments this technique has been continuously
crossing the Rhone River near Avignon. that are necessary for the project are improved and is, nowadays, extremely
Consisting of 100-m-long (328- being produced in a plant located successful thanks to the quality and
ft) spans, these viaducts are made of near Poitiers. The assembly of these reliability of the structures built that way.
precast concrete segments that were segments is being done according to
assembled according to the balanced the segment-by-segment, progressive- Several millions of square meters of
c a n t i l e v e r c o n s t r u c t i o n p ro c e s s . placing method, a construction process road bridges have been built all over the
Segments were erected using a
225-m-long (738-ft) launching gantry
with a capacity of 170 metric tons
(187 U.S. tons) and external continuity
post-tensioning tendons. Match-cast
segments were designed and assembled
according to the state-of-the-art in the
field of precast concrete segmental
construction, which meant that there
was no sand blasting of the match-cast
faces and no thick epoxy joints.

The good performance of the Avignon

Viaducts lead to the use of precast
concrete segmental technology for
seven bridges of the extension of the
French TGV towards the southwest

Placing the first spans using the

progressive construction technique
with temporary cables on the South
Europe-Atlantic Viaducts. Photo: VINCI
Construction Grands Project-France.

20 | ASPIRE, Fall 2013

world using precast concrete segments,
with the increased demand for better
performances in terms of erection speed
and quality.

For more than 15 years, most of the

elevated rail structures have been built
using the span-by-span assembly method
for the placing of precast concrete
sections. Clearly, the seven bridges of the
SEA HSR will require prefabrication and
assembly of a huge number of segments.
The progressive placement method is
yet another way that HSR bridges can
be built. Over the years, precast concrete
segmental construction has proved to be
applicable to any kind of railroad bridge.

____________

Jacques Combault is technical director

at Finley Engineering Group Inc. in
Tallahassee, Fla.

Fo r a d d i t i o n a l p h o t o g r a p h s o r
information on these or other projects,
visit www.aspirebridge.org and open
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ASPIRE, Fall 2013 | 21