24-Oct-20

Abutment
• As a component of a bridge, the abutment
provides the vertical support to the bridge
superstructure at the bridge ends, connects the
6. Substructure Design bridge with the approach roadway, and retains
the roadway base materials from the bridge
spans.
• Though there are numerous types of abutments
and the abutments for the important bridges may
be extremely complicated, the analysis principles
and design methods are very similar.

Abutment Types
• Open-End and Closed-End Abutments
• From the view of the relation between the
bridge abutment and roadway or water flow
that the bridge overcrosses, bridge abutments
can be divided into two categories: open-end
abutment, and closed-end abutment

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Abutment Design Loads (Service Load Design)

Abutment Type Selection Cases
Abutment Design Loads I II III IV V
• The selection of an abutment type needs to consider Dead load of superstructure X X — X X
all available information and bridge design
requirements. Dead load of wall and footing X X X X X
• Those may include bridge geometry, roadway and Dead load of earth on heel of wall X X X X —
riverbank requirements, geotechnical and right-of-way including surcharge
restrictions, aesthetic requirements, economic Dead load of earth on toe of wall X X X X —
considerations, etc. Earth pressure on rear of wall including
Surcharge X X X X —
• Knowledge of the advantages and disadvantages for
the different types of abutments will greatly benefit Live load on superstructure X — — X —
the bridge designer in choosing the right type of Temperature and shrinkage — — — X —
abutment for the bridge structure from the beginning Allowable pile capacity of allowable soil 100 100 150 125 150
pressure in % or basic
stage of the bridge design.

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Fig. Typical abutment drainage system.

Fig. Configuration of abutment design load and load combinations.

Backwall and Wingwall

Abutment Slope Protection
• Flow water scoring may severely damage bridge
structures by washing out the bridge abutment support
soil.
• To reduce water scoring damage to the bridge abutment,
pile support, rock slope protection, concrete slope paving,
and gunite cement slope paving may be used.
• Figure below shows the actual design of rock slope
protection and concrete slope paving protection for
Wingwall bridge abutments. The stability of the rock and concrete
A wingwall is a side wall to the abutment back wall or stem designed to slope protection should be considered in the design. An
assist in confining earth behind the abutment backwall.
Backwall
enlarged block is usually designed at the toe of the
A backwall, sometimes called the stem, is the primary component of the protections.
abutment acting as a retaining structure at each approach.

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Abutment Design
• Stability of the abutment is determined by
considering:
Sliding
Overturning
Failure of the foundation soil
Slip failure of the surrounding soil
Structural design

Pier Types Selection Criteria

• Selection of the type of piers for a bridge
should be based on functional, structural, and
geometric requirements.
• Aesthetics is also a very important factor of
selection since modern highway bridges are
part of a city’s landscape.

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Pier Design Loads

Fig. Typical cross-section shapes of piers for overcrossings or
viaducts on land. • Piers are commonly subjected to forces and loads
transmitted from the superstructure, and forces
acting directly on the substructure.
• The effect of temperature changes and shrinkage
of the superstructure needs to be considered
when the superstructure is rigidly connected with
the supports.
• Where expansion bearings are used, forces
caused by temperature changes are limited to the
frictional resistance of bearings.

Pier Design Loads Live Loads

• Dead loads • Earth pressure • Live-load reactions obtained from the design of
• Live loads and impact • Stream flow pressure
from the superstructure individual members of the superstructure should
• Ice pressure
• Wind loads on the • Earthquake forces not be used directly for substructure design.
structure and the live • Thermal and shrinkage • These reactions are based upon maximum
loads forces
• Centrifugal force from the conditions for one beam and make no allowance
superstructure • Ship impact forces
for distribution of live loads across the roadway.
• Longitudinal force from • Force due to prestressing
live loads of the superstructure • Use of these maximum loadings would result in a
• Drag forces due to the • Forces due to settlement pier design with an unrealistically severe loading
friction at bearings of foundations
condition and uneconomical sections.

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Wheel load arrangement to produce maximum positive moment.

Live Loads Contd.
• LRFD Section 3.6. For the calculation of the actual beam reactions
on the piers, the maximum lane reaction can be applied within the
design traffic lanes as wheel loads, and then distributed to the
beams assuming the slab between beams to be simply supported.
(Figure 6.16). Wheel loads can be positioned anywhere within the
design traffic lane with a minimum distance between lane boundary
and wheel load of 0.61 m (2 ft).
• The design traffic lanes and the live load within the lanes should be
arranged to produce beam reactions that result in maximum loads
on the piers.
• AASHTO LRFD Section 3.6.1.1.2 provides load reduction factors
due to multiple loaded lanes.
• Live-load reactions will be increased due to impact effect.
• AASHTO LRFD refers to this as the dynamic load allowance, IM. and
is listed here as in Table 6.4.

Design Criteria Design Criteria Contd.

• Like the design of any structural component, the design of a pier or • In current design practice, the bridge designers
column is performed to fulfill strength and serviceability
requirements. are becoming increasingly aware of the adverse
• A pier should be designed to withstand the overturning, sliding effects of earthquake.
forces applied from superstructure as well as the forces applied to • Therefore, ductility consideration has become a
substructures. It also needs to be designed so that during an
extreme event it will prevent the collapse of the structure but may very important factor for bridge design.
sustain some damage.
• Failure due to scouring is also a common cause
• A pier as a structure component is subjected to combined forces of
axial, bending, and shear. of failure of bridges. In order to prevent this type
• For a pier, the bending strength is dependent upon the axial force. of failure, the bridge designers need to work
In the plastic hinge zone of a pier, the shear strength is also closely with the hydraulic engineers to determine
influenced by bending. adequate depths for the piers and provide proper
• To complicate the behavior even more, the bending moment will be
magnified by the axial force due to the P-∆ effect. protection measures.

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Scour contd.
Scour
• Scour is the washing away of streambed material by water channel flow. • Scour protection is usually required where a
• Typically, scour occurs when the water channel becomes narrowed or
constricted. bridge is built across a meandering stream, when
• From basic fluid dynamics, we know that a smaller opening leads to a the natural stone protection is removed or when
greater velocity (Q = Av). some restriction to the flow of the design flood
• If constrictions in the channel are significant, the velocity of the stream
can increase such that the substructure footings and/or piles become occurs at a bridge. Protection measures can take
undermined. the form of:
• Sharp bends or curves in the water channel also increase velocity which
can create cross-currents and turbulence. riprap on slopes or river bed
• Scour can either occur locally at specific substructure components (local gabion or Reno mattress aprons or revetments
scour) or over the entire structure crossing the channel (general scour).
sheetpiled walls
• The removal of material from under a pier’s foundation, often associated
with scour, is known as undermining or undercutting. vegetation with deep roots
river training works

Scour Protection:
• Scour protection is required when some restriction is made to the
flow of the flood.
• Riprap:
• It is carpet of loose stones, which protects the loose bed material
for bed protection and loose bank or embankment material from
erosion by water current. The stone elements must be heavy
enough not to be carried away by water.
• Gabion and Reno mattresses:
• The standard gabion is a rectangular basket made of steel wire
mesh with sizes of 2m, 3m and 4m long by 1m wide by 0.5m or 1m
high. Reno mattress is a mattress - shaped version of the gabion for
Figure: An exposed pier footing shows evidence of undermining. use when the gabions height and bulk are not needed as in lining
river beds and banks. Their standard size is 6m length, divided in to
6 compartments of 1m width..

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Scour Protection contd. Scour Protection contd.

• Filter Blankets: • Sheet piling of prefabricated RC or steel shall
• If the river bed and bank material are non - be driven to form a continuous wall.
cohesive and fine, they may be washed away
through the spaces between the voids in riprap or • The resulting wall is less flexible than gabions
gabion lining. This can be prevented by using or riprap and may fail due to movements in
textile filter or using gravel filter. the ground.
• Vegetation: • To withstand the earth pressure it should be
• Many plant types can be used to protect river designed through calculations.
banks against erosion. The most successful ones
are almost always those found growing natural.1y • Only temporary sheet piling shall be made out
along t11e liver being bridged. of wood.