Springer Tracts on Transportation and Traffic

Alp Caner
Polat Gülkan
Khaled Mahmoud Editors

Developments
in International
Bridge
Engineering
Selected Papers from Istanbul Bridge
Conference 2014
Springer Tracts on Transportation and Traffic

Volume 9

Series editor
Roger P. Roess, New York University Polytechnic School of Engineering,
New York, USA
e-mail: [email protected]

[email protected]
About this Series

The book series “Springer Tracts on Transportation and Traffic” (STTT) publishes
current and historical insights and new developments in the fields of Transportation
and Traffic research. The intent is to cover all the technical contents, applications,
and multidisciplinary aspects of Transportation and Traffic, as well as the method-
ologies behind them. The objective of the book series is to publish monographs,
handbooks, selected contributions from specialized conferences and workshops,
and textbooks, rapidly and informally but with a high quality. The STTT book
series is intended to cover both the state-of-the-art and recent developments, hence
leading to deeper insight and understanding in Transportation and Traffic
Engineering. The series provides valuable references for researchers, engineering
practitioners, graduate students and communicates new findings to a large interdis-
ciplinary audience.

More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/11059

[email protected]
Alp Caner · Polat Gülkan · Khaled Mahmoud
Editors

Developments in International
Bridge Engineering
Selected Papers from Istanbul Bridge Conference 2014

13
[email protected]
Editors
Alp Caner Khaled Mahmoud
Civil Engineering Department ODTU Bridge Technology Consulting
Middle East Technical University New York, NY
Ankara USA
Turkey

Polat Gülkan
Department of Civil Engineering
Cankaya University
Ankara
Turkey

ISSN 2194-8119 ISSN 2194-8127 (electronic)

Springer Tracts on Transportation and Traffic
ISBN 978-3-319-19784-5 ISBN 978-3-319-19785-2 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-19785-2

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015943363

Springer Cham Heidelberg New York Dordrecht London

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part
of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations,
recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission
or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or
dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt
from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this
book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the
authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained
herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made.

Printed on acid-free paper

Springer International Publishing AG Switzerland is part of Springer Science+Business Media

(www.springer.com)

[email protected]
Preface

The movement of people, goods, and services between urban settlements and
production facilities is the essential circulation that keeps regional and national
economies running. Bridges are the vital connectors that ensure that transportation
systems function safely and economically as intended by those who have planned
and conceptualized them. Bridge engineering is a special discipline within struc-
tural engineering that focuses on the design, construction, erection, assessment,
and maintenance of these connectors for the benefit of society. Bridges are often
durable symbols of technical prowess, economic power, and esthetic refinement.
Just as many ancient bridges that have become landmarks evoke in us a sense of
amazement at the creative skills of the old masters who built them, so do their
younger counterparts that display the flair of more recent builders who have com-
bined advanced analysis techniques with modern, high-performance materials
to craft structures that defy the heretofore unchallenged limits in terms of span,
height, or frugal use of material resources. Its many counterexamples notwith-
standing, bridge engineering is indeed a uniquely singular parade arena to display
technical experience and artistic maturity. It is sometimes a shared responsibil-
ity among engineers and the special breed of architects who have the craftsman-
ship to improve the technical attributes of the finished product. We hope that this
book will serve to give its readers an overview of the many problems that must be
resolved to produce bridge structures that will meet the challenges they will face
during their service lifetime.
The Turkish Group of the International Association for Bridge and Structural
Engineering (IABSE), in collaboration with Middle East Technical University
(METU), the Turkish General Directorate for State Highways (KGM), the General
Directorate for State Railways (TCDD), the Turkish Contractors Association, the
Turkish Association for Structural Steel (TUCSA), the Turkish National Committee
for Roads (YTMK), the Turkish Association for Seismic Isolation, the International
Association for Earthquake Engineering (IAEE), the Transportation Research Board
(TRB), American Concrete Institute (ACI), the Bridge Engineering Association, and
SIBERC served as host for the Istanbul Bridge Conference during August 11–13,
2014. The conference was generously supported by many sponsors, AGM, Arsan

[email protected]
vi Preface

Kaucuk, Aydiner Inc. Company (Aybet), BERD, Besmak, Cengiz Nurol, Chodai
Co., Computers and Structures, Inc. (CSI), DOKA, DUYGU Engineering, EMAY
International Engineering and Consultancy Inc, EM-KE, Endem Construction, EPO
Construction Chemicals, FIP Industriale, FREYSAŞ, IC İçtaş Construction Co,
Ilgaz İnşaat, INPRO, JOTUN, KMG Project, KOBA Engineering and Consulting
Co. Ltd, LARSA, MAGEBA, Mapa İnşaat ve Ticaret A.Ş., Maurer Söhne GmbH
& Co., MEGA Engineering Consulting Co., Mistras Group, MOOG Gmbh, Otoyol
Yatırım ve İşletme A.Ş., Ozdekan Rubber Company, PERİ, Pitchmastic Pmb Ltd,
Sismolab, Strainstall, TEMELSU International Engineering Services, TESTART,
TNO Diana, TTS International Engineering and Architecture, WireCo Structures,
Wowjoint, Wuhan HIRUN Engineering Equipment Co., YAPIFEN Engineering, and
Yüksel Proje.
iBridge was attended by 250 participants representing 30 different countries.
The conference program included 96 papers. It was complemented by a visit to
the construction site for the third Istanbul Strait crossing, a major project that will
place the bridge among the top five long-span bridges in the world in several cat-
egories when it has been completed.
The 19 papers selected for this book represent a cross section of the breadth
of the topics that were taken up in the conference. The selection has been made
on the basis of scientific and technical relevance, timeliness, and expected added
value for practitioners. A few authors who were invited to finalize their papers for
inclusion in the book failed to do so on time, and a few others were eliminated
because they had been submitted elsewhere for publication. The papers represent
current concerns in bridge engineering as they exist in many countries and the
solutions for those issues that have been arrived at under codified constraints that
have echoes in other locations. Theory, experiment, and practice are presented in
balanced proportions in the texts that follow.
We have grouped them under four broadly defined thematic areas as follows:
• “Modeling and Analysis” (7 papers)
• “Construction and Erection Techniques” (3 papers)
• “Design for Extreme Events” (4 papers)
• “Condition Assessment and Structural Health Monitoring” (5 papers)
The book has been divided into four principal sections along these themes.
The editors would like to acknowledge the excellent cooperation that they have
received from the authors in revising their papers according to reviewer com-
ments and the tens of reviewers, from the Scientific Committee as well as exter-
nally named experts (many in multiple assignments), who willingly gave much of
their time in examining the papers for their content to ensure that this would be a
printed source with a positive impact, and provide guidance for their colleagues
in the broader engineering community. The editorial staff at Springer Publishers
has been unfailingly helpful in guiding us toward producing a book in their style.

[email protected]
Preface vii

We have received invaluable support from the staff at INTERCON that served as
the Conference Secretariat and doubled as providers for the initial screening pro-
cess of the written contributions.

Alp Caner
Polat Gülkan
Khaled Mahmoud

[email protected]
Contents

Part I Modeling and Analysis

Optimal Design of Pile Foundation in Fully Integral Abutment Bridge . . . 3

Jun Qing Xue, Bruno Briseghella, Bao Chun Chen, Pei Quan Zhang
and Tobia Zordan

Analysis of the Response Under Live Loads of Two New Cable

Stayed Bridges Built in Mexico . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Roberto Gómez, Raul Sánchez-García, J.A. Escobar
and Luis M. Arenas-García

Deriving a Load Model for the Braking Force on Road Bridges:

Comparison Between a Deterministic and a Probabilistic Approach . . . . 27
Joao Martins, M.-A. Fénart, G. Feltrin, A.-G. Dumont and K. Beyer

The Revisions for the Gusset Plate Load Rating Approach:

A Comparative Case Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Burak Boyaci and Burcu Guldur

The Use of Appropriate Finite Element Modelling Techniques

for the Idealization of a Novel Hybrid Multi-girder
Bridge Deck System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Donna Chen and Raafat El-Hacha

Free Vibration Analysis and Seismic Performance Assessment

of Two Approach Viaducts of Bosphorus Suspension Bridge . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Selcuk Bas, Nurdan M. Apaydin and Zekai Celep

Turkish Solar Radiation Zones for Segmental Box Girder Bridge

Design Under Temperature Gradient Loading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
A.I. Yilmaz, U. Albostan, A. Caner and O. Kurc

ix

[email protected]
x Contents

Part II Construction and Erection Techniques

Risk Assessment and Management for Bridges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Xin Ruan

Construction of the Nhat Tan Bridge Superstructure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

M. Nakayama, T. Tokuchi, H. Kawashima, S. Kaifuku, K. Matsuno
and T. Nishi

Balanced Lift Method—A New Bridge Construction Technique . . . . . . . . 121

J. Kollegger and S. Foremniak

Part III Design for Extreme Events

Third Bosporus Bridge Aerodynamics: Sectional and Full-Aeroelastic

Model Testing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Alberto Zasso, M. Belloli, T. Argentini, O. Flamand, G. Knapp,
G. Grillaud, J.-F. Klein, M. Virlogeux and V. de Ville

Seismic Response of Bridges Considering Different Ground Motion

Selection Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
X. Liang, S. Günay and K.M. Mosalam

A Proposal for the Improvement of the Earthquake Resistance

of Multi-span Precast I-Beam Bridges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Ioannis A. Tegos, Sevasti D. Tegou and Mihail A. Tsitotas

Topographic Effect on Seismic Response of a High-Pier Bridge

Subjected to Oblique Incidence Waves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Yin Gu, Chung C. Fu and M.S. Aggour

Part IV Condition Assessment and Structural Health Monitoring

Influence of the Primary Bridge Component Condition

on the Overall Bridge Condition Rating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
R. Hamid, Y. Khairullah and A.R. Khalim

Evaluation of the True Behavior of the End Supports

in the Carbajal de la Legua Old Bridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
A. González, E. Covián, M. Casero and M. Celemín

Bridge Instrumentation: Needs, Options, and Consequences . . . . . . . . . . 199

A. Shamsabadi, F. Abazarsa, S.F. Ghahari, R. Nigbor and E. Taciroglu

[email protected]
Contents xi

Fatigue Damage of a Diagonal Member in a Steel Truss Bridge

Due to Wind-Induced Vibration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
S. Nakamura, T. Okumatsu, T. Nishikawa and T. Okabayashi

Structural Health Monitoring of a Curved Continuous Steel

Box Girder Bridge Under Marine Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
Airong Chen, Zhen Zhang and Rujin Ma

[email protected]
Balanced Lift Method—A New Bridge
Construction Technique

J. Kollegger and S. Foremniak

Abstract The economic performance of concrete bridges can be improved in cer-

tain design situations by using the balanced lift method, a new bridge construc-
tion method developed at the Vienna University of Technology. This method
proposes to build the bridge girders in a vertical position and to rotate them into
the final horizontal position with the aid of compression struts. The compression
struts decrease the span of the bridge and allow lighter bridge girders, compared
to bridges built by the balanced cantilever method or incremental launching, to be
obtained. The balanced lift method can be applied for bridges with high and low
piers enabling the construction of bridges over deep or low valleys. The first appli-
cation of the new method is the construction of two bridges with low piers for the
Austrian road management company (ASFINAG) crossing the rivers Lafnitz and
Lahnbach on the S7 motorway in the south-east of Austria.

1 Balanced Lift Method

In conventional applications of precast concrete elements in bridge engineering,

either match-cast elements are installed by using gantries or heavy bridge girders
are lifted with mobile cranes [1, 2]. In a research project at the Vienna University
of Technology a different approach was investigated called the balanced lift
method. The main advantages of the balanced lift method are enabling an acceler-
ated construction by using precast elements and decreasing the spans of a bridge
through the usage of compression struts. The underlying idea was to construct the
whole bridge in a vertical position and then rotate the bridge girders from the ver-
tical into the final horizontal position with the aid of compression struts. A quick

J. Kollegger () · S. Foremniak

Institute of Structural Engineering, Vienna University of Technology, Karlsplatz 13/E212-2,
1040 Vienna, Austria
e-mail: [email protected]

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016 121

A. Caner et al. (eds.), Developments in International Bridge Engineering,
Springer Tracts on Transportation and Traffic 9,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-19785-2_10

[email protected]
122 J. Kollegger and S. Foremniak

Fig. 1 Balanced lift method for high bridges top. Balanced lift method for low bridges bottom

way to describe this bridge building method is by comparing it to the process of

opening an umbrella—with the bridge girders being the ribs and the compression
struts being the stretchers. The compression struts are important load carrying
members during the construction process and also in the finished bridge structure.
As a result, much lighter bridge girders are obtained compared to bridges built by
the balanced cantilever method or incremental launching.
The method has been primarily invented for bridges over deep valleys, mean-
ing bridges with high piers, but can be—with minor changes—used for bridges with
low piers. The example displayed in Fig. 1 (top) is suited for a valley bridge with high
piers. The application of the balanced lift method for bridges with piers of small height
is possible, if an auxiliary pier is used as is shown in Fig. 1 (bottom). The amount of
force that is needed for the rotation process during the bridge construction depends, if
one sets friction and eccentricities aside, on the weight of the bridge girders and the
compression struts. Due to the importance of the weight of the different bridge ele-
ments the Institute for Structural Engineering at the Vienna University of Technology
started working on different approaches for the usage of thin precast elements in col-
laboration with in situ concrete. The underlying idea is to minimize the weight of pre-
cast elements during transport and lift operations, then filling the elements with in situ
concrete to create monolithic structures. Due to the very competitive costs compared
to in situ concrete, the precise executions and the economic value, using precast ele-
ments reduces not only the construction period but also construction costs.
The international patent application procedures for the balanced lift method are
running smoothly. The discussions with the examiners are restricted to formal issues
and national peculiarities in the respective patent laws. Patents have been issued
for Germany (DE 10 2006 039 551), USA (US 7,996,944), Russia (RU 2436890),

[email protected]
Balanced Lift Method—A New Bridge Construction Technique 123

China (CN 1204627), Japan (JP5302195), Australia (AU2007288151) and Canada

(CA2661311). The patent application procedures in Europe, Norway and India are
still in progress. The first application of the new method is the construction of two
bridges for the Austrian road management company (ASFINAG) crossing the rivers
Lafnitz and Lahnbach on the S7 motorway in the south-east of Austria.

2 Application of Balanced Lift Method for Low Bridges

When designing bridges with low piers constructed with the balanced lift method one
must keep in mind that the span of the balanced lift part must be held between 40 and
80 m [3]. Due to these small spans, a plate girder with a pre-fabricated bridge girder as
shown in Fig. 2 is convenient as a cross section. In this case, the balanced lift method
substitutes a construction either by incremental launching or by using falsework [4].
The design of bridges with piers of small height according to the balanced
lift method will be described in this section for the example of the bridge across
the river Lafnitz in the southeastern part of Austria. For the new S7 motor-
way “Fürstenfelder Schnellstraße” between Riegersdorf and the national border
between Austria and Hungary, the rivers Lafnitz and Lahnbach must be crossed.
The lengths of the Lafnitz Bridge and the Lahnbach Bridge are roughly 120 and
100 m, respectively. The cross section of the S7 motorway (Fig. 2) in this line sec-
tion is traced out for two separate directed lanes, therefore the bridges across the
rivers should be erected separately each with a width of 14.5 m, regarding pro-
spective reconstruction measures.
The construction areas where the two bridges for the S7 motorway are to be
built are ecologically sensitive and part of the nature reserve “Natura 2000”. The
bridges are basically needed to cross the rivers and to provide options for a deer
pass. To avoid encroachment into the natural habitat, an erection on falsework is
not accepted by the highway management company ASFINAG. The construction
site should be as small as possible and kept to the central pier and abutments. To
meet all these requirements a construction of the bridges would only be possible by
the balanced cantilever method, incremental launching or the balanced lift method.
Before the alternative design using the balanced lift method was introduced,
the plan was to build the bridges by incremental launching of steel bridge girders

Fig. 2 Cross section of the S7 bridges

[email protected]
124 J. Kollegger and S. Foremniak

(Fig. 3). The cross section was, in order to withstand the bending moments during
the launching process, very high compared to the cross section height achieved
with the balanced lift method. The big difference in heights, 4.6 versus 2.0 m,
can be achieved due to the compression struts which reduce the span lengths
immensely (Fig. 4). The alternative design for the post-tensioned concrete bridges
was based on a cross-section with a plate girder as shown in Fig. 2 [5]. It was
proposed to build the central section of the webs by the balanced lift method as
shown in Fig. 4, to install the end sections of the webs by mobile cranes placed
behind the abutments, and to build the deck slab similarly to the original design by
a formwork carriage. In the course of the preparation of the alternative design, the
abutments and the locations of the central piers were rotated in plan by 30° with
respect to the longitudinal axis of the bridge in order to react to the location of
the riverbed and to provide an improved design for the deer pass. These changes
resulted in a bridge design with two equal spans.
It could be shown that the construction costs for the post-tensioned concrete
bridges erected with the balanced lift method amounted to only 70 % of the cal-
culated costs of the composite bridges. When the Austrian highway management
company ASFINAG became convinced of the financial benefits from a design
based on the balanced lift method, a detailed design for the two bridges for cross-
ing the rivers Lafnitz and Lahnbach was commissioned.

Fig. 3 Original design: a

steel-concrete-composite
bridge over the river Lafnitz

Fig. 4 Design based on

the balanced lift method for
a post-tensioned concrete
bridge over the river Lafnitz

[email protected]
Balanced Lift Method—A New Bridge Construction Technique 125

2.1 Large Scale Tests

During the design of the S7 bridges it was decided to construct a bridge test structure
with a total length of 50.4 m. The design of the test structure was based on a 70 %
scale of the design of the S7 bridges. Scaled down hollow reinforced concrete ele-
ments with small element thicknesses were prepared for the different elements of the
bridge. For the 25 m long bridge girders, the side walls were 70 mm thick concrete
elements. These elements were assembled on a steel form and then connected by a
120 mm thick slab of reinforced concrete. The height of the U-shaped sections of the
25 m long bridge girder was 1.26 m but the width varied from 700 mm to 1.4 m; the
larger width was required at the point of connection with the compression strut.
The thin-walled bridge girder with its U-shaped cross section would have been
too fragile for transport, assembly and the lifting process. Therefore, a truss made
of reinforcing bars was welded to reinforcing elements protruding from the precast
side wall elements at the top of the U-section. The U-section was hence converted
to a box section which proved very robust in assembling and lifting operations.
For the installation of tendons, the bridge girders were equipped with transverse
concrete beams for future post-tensioning operations. Two 25 m long sections of a
tower crane, equipped with guide rails, served as an auxiliary pier. Figure 5 shows
the assembly of the compression struts in the vertical position. The bottom ends of
the compression struts were equipped with 30 mm thick steel plates which were
positioned quite accurately on concrete-filled steel tubes with an outer diameter
of 150 mm, to provide an inexpensive hinge connection. The lifting of the second
bridge girder is shown on the right of Fig. 5.
The lowering operations of the top points of the bridge girders with the aid of two
mobile cranes are shown in Fig. 6. The maximum lifting force had been calculated at

Fig. 5 Auxiliary pier and assembly of compression struts with the aid of a mobile crane left.
Assembly of the second bridge girder right

[email protected]
126 J. Kollegger and S. Foremniak

Fig. 6 Lowering of the top points of the bridge girders with the aid of mobile cranes

270 kN, which corresponded well with the lifting force measured by the cranes. On
a real bridge, the compression struts would then be filled with cast in situ concrete.
In this case, where the structure is intended as a demonstration project, only the node
above the pier was filled with concrete to provide some wind resistance.

2.2 Designs According to the Balanced Lift Method

for Bridges with Low Piers

In the last years, several additional conceptional bridge designs according to the
balanced lift method have been prepared. As an example, the two bridges for the
city bypass of Wieselburg are shown in Fig. 7. The cross-section for the bridges
was designed as a plate girder with a width of 16 m, quite similar to the bridges
on the S7 motorway described above. The location of the bridges is also situated
in an environmentally sensitive area and it could also be shown to the owner that
the application of the balanced lift method would have economic advantages com-
pared to a design based on the incremental launching of steel girders.

Fig. 7 Bridge design of two Erlauf bridges according to the balanced lift method

[email protected]
Balanced Lift Method—A New Bridge Construction Technique 127

3 Application of Balanced Lift Method for High Bridges

When designing bridges with one high central pier constructed with the balanced
lift method spans from 40 up to 125 m can be achieved. In this case the balanced
lift method substitutes the balanced cantilever method. San Leonardo viaduct
(Fig. 8) is a perfect example for a bridge that could have been constructed by the
balanced lift method with one central pier only. The San Leonardo viaduct has
two equal spans of 105 m. The bridge was built from 1968 to 1970 as part of the
Palermo-Catania motorway in Sicily. If a deep and wide valley is spanned the bal-
anced lift parts can be added enabling spans from 100 to 250 m (Fig. 9). In com-
parison to the plate girder cross sections of the bridges with low piers box girder
cross sections are needed for spans larger than 100 m.

3.1 Bridge Girders Out of Hollow Wall Elements

and Ultra-Thin Precast Elements

As it has been mentioned before the weight of the bridge girders and compression
struts is of utmost importance during the lifting operation. Due to the large spans of
the bridges bigger cross sections must be constructed. Therefore the cross sections
as used for the S7 bridges could not be applied, but the idea of using precast ele-
ments in collaboration with in situ concrete was refined to create light box girders.

Fig. 8 San Leonardo viaduct in Sicily

Fig. 9 A bridge across a deep, wide valley

[email protected]
128 J. Kollegger and S. Foremniak

Fig. 10 Cross section of the bridge girder out of hollow wall elements and ultra-thin precast elements

Fig. 11 Reinforcement cages for the hollow wall elements. Top reinforcement cage using curved
steel elements. Bottom reinforcement cage using lattice-girders

The webs of the bridge sections are made out of hollow wall elements and are held
together by ultra-thin precast elements. In this state, the elements only have one
fourth of the weight of a finished bridge girder with the same length (Fig. 10).
For a research project, two sections, each with a different kind of separation-
reinforcement in the hollow wall elements, were built and tested. One set of
hollow wall elements, which are used as the webs of the bridge girder, were manu-
factured using conventional lattice-girders (Fig. 11), the second set used curved
steel elements (Fig. 11).
The construction of the precast elements starts with the manufacture of the webs.
The hollow wall elements are manufactured fully automatically on a rotary produc-
tion. Owing to the production process, the maximum width of the hollow wall ele-
ments is limited to 500 mm, the maximal height and length are limited to 3.40 and
12.00 m respectively. Due to limited space between the two slabs of the hollow wall
element, all reinforcement and all of the ducts required for subsequent prestressing
should be attached to the reinforcement cage before the hollow wall elements are cast.
While the wall elements are being manufactured the reinforcement cage for the
floor slab and the deck slab can be produced. To reduce the weight of the precast
section the floor slabs width is held to a minimum of 70 mm, with a stabilizing
beam every two meters to strengthen the slab. The hollow wall elements are placed
upright on a casting table and the floor slab including the stabilizing beam are cast

[email protected]
Balanced Lift Method—A New Bridge Construction Technique 129

Fig. 12 Hollow wall elements are placed upright and the reinforcement cage for the floor slab is
installed left. Casting of the floor slab right

Fig. 13 Deck slab on the casting table left. The finished precast bridge girder right

(Fig. 12), creating a u-shaped section. The length of the bridge girder segments
is not limited by the length of the hollow wall segments (12 m). The hollow wall
elements can be put side by side before the floor slab is cast, therefore creating a
bridge girder segment with any desired length.
The deck slab is cast separately on a casting table with a stabilizing beam out
of steel [Fig. 13 (left)]. After hardening the deck slab can be placed on top of
the u-shaped section. Through welding parts of the deck slab and the stabilizing
beam together with the u-shaped section, the precast bridge girder has reached
its final state and is ready for transportation [Fig. 13 (right)]. Once the precast
elements reach their destination and are installed in their final position, the filling
of the floor slabs and the hollow wall elements with in situ concrete can begin.
For the casting of the deck slab the thin precast element must be supported.

3.2 Large-Scale Tests on the Bridge Girders

Large-scale tests were used to provide valuable insight into the stability of the
girders and for checking how precisely the weight of the actual girders corre-
sponded with the calculated weights. The experimental girders were subjected to
loading tests to assess their performance during transport and lift operations. The
experimental setup of the large-scale tests is shown in Fig. 14.

[email protected]
130 J. Kollegger and S. Foremniak

Fig. 14 Test setup in longitudinal and in profile

Fig. 15 Deflection of the

deck slab during 5 load steps

The bridge girder sections were placed on 3 bearings and the load was applied
with four hydraulic jacks. In order to apply a linear load instead of a punctual load
the jacks were placed on wooden beams. The deflection of the deck and floor slabs
was measured with a set of linear variable differential transformers (LVDT’s).
Each precast bridge girder section was instrumented with 18 LVDT’s, of which
nine LVDT’s measured the deflection of the deck slab and the other nine measured
the deflection of the floor slab. Both precast bridge girder sections demonstrated
the same load bearing behavior.
Since the only goal of the test was to provide an insight into the stability of the
sections the experiment stopped at a load of 45 kN. At a load of approximately 45 kN
the maximal measured deflection of the deck slab was approx. 12 mm. The mean
of the deflections of the deck slab in correlation with the load is shown in Fig. 15.
The stiffness of the precast bridge girder sections can be therefore calculated to be
EI = 7.9 MNm2. The results confirm that the elements have enough stability to be
transported and installed but will need extra support while the deck slab is being cast.

[email protected]
Balanced Lift Method—A New Bridge Construction Technique 131

4 Conclusions

By employing the balanced lift method, the spans of the bridge girders are reduced
by the compression struts, thus enabling considerable savings in construction
materials. The proposed method will be especially advantageous for bridges with
high piers and span lengths between 50 and 250 m. The usage of temporary piers
enables an economic application of the balanced lift method for bridges with piers
of modest height, as for example the two bridges on the S7 motorway.
Another advantage of the balanced lift method is the fact that all assembly and
mounting operations are concentrated at the pier and that the rotation of the bridge
girders can be carried out much faster than by horizontal launching of the bridge
girders. The small space requirements and the high construction speed might be
of advantage when an obstacle like a railway line or a busy motorway has to be
spanned by a bridge and the interruption of the traffic routes has to be kept to a
minimum. Different cross sections out of thin precast elements have been devel-
oped and tested allowing a construction of bridges with the balanced lift method in
lengths between 50 and 250 m.

Acknowledgments The financial support of the large scale test by Österreichische

Forschungsförderungs-gesellschaft (FFG), ASFINAG, ÖBB Infrastruktur AG and Vereinigung
Österreichischer Beton- und Fertigteilwerke (VÖB) is gratefully acknowledged. The good
cooperation with Schimetta Consult GmbH during the detailed design of the bridges for the S7
motorway, and with Franz Oberndorfer GmbH & Co KG during the construction of the large
scale test structure in Gars am Kamp, is also gratefully acknowledged.

References

1. Rosignoli M (2013) Bridge construction equipment. ICE Publishing, London

2. Construction practices handbook for concrete segmental and cable-supported bridges (2008)
American Segmental Bridge Institute
3. Gmainer S (2010) Brückenklappverfahren – Untersuchungen zur Entwicklung eines praxis-
tauglichen Bauverfahrens. Dissertation, Vienna University of Technology
4. Wimmer D (2014) Entwicklung eines neuen Brücken- Bauverfahrens durch die Kombination
von dünnwandigen Betonfertigteilen und Vorspannung. Dissertation, Vienna University of
Technology
5. Wimmer D (2013) Thin-walled precast concrete girders for bridge construction and civil engi-
neering. BFT International 79(8):44–51

[email protected]