National Highway Authority of India

Construction of 4 Lane Elevated Highway and At-Grade Improvements at

Gopalganj town from Design Ch; 384+000(Exist Ch.384+000) to Design
Ch.386+750 (Exist.Ch.386+410) on NH-28 Length 2.75 Km in State of Bihar on
EPC Mode

METHOD STATEMENT FOR LAUNCHING GIRDER

CONTRACTORS:

ASC Infratech Pvt Ltd

B-63, Sector-67,

Noida, Uttar Pradesh - 201301

DESIGN CONSULTANTS:

ASC Infratech Pvt Ltd

B-63, Sector-67,

Noida, Uttar Pradesh – 201301

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CONTENTS
 Introduction
o Requirement
o Safety
 Main Components of Launching Girder
o General
o Main Box Girder
o Front Support
o Middle Support
o Rear Support
o Rear trolley
o Slider Beam
o Hoist
o Platform
o Braking & Pushing Assembly.
 Scheme of Erection of span
o Check list
o Steps for Auto-Launching for 37.3m span.
 Stages of Auto-launching of Launching Girder
o Check list
o Erection Procedure for 37.3m Span.
 Temporary Pre-stressing

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Introduction

This document has been written for the Launching Girder to be used for “Construction of 4
Lane Elevated Highway and At-Grade Improvements at Gopalganj town from Design Ch;
384+000(Exist Ch.384+000) to Design Ch.386+750 (Exist.Ch.386+410) on NH-28 Length 2.75
Km in State of Bihar on EPC Mode”.

This document covers following sections: -

 Description of Launching Girder.

 Auto Launching & Erection of 37.3m Spans
 Temporary Pre-stressing.
 Description of Operations performed by various parts of Launching Girder.
 Safety.

Silent Requirement

This section includes requirements and information regarding the configuration of the Flyover and
Launching Girder.

The span is 37.3m from center line of pier and has a deck width of 21.0m with a span depth of
3.4m. Segments have varying length at end and running segment at mid of span. Maximum
weight of a segment is 80t.

Segment brings over trailor from rear end of the launching girder. After lifting the entire span over
launching girder first dry matching of face epoxy glue is applied all over the face of segment then
pre-stressing is done.

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Safety

Safety shall be ensured as per safety manual. This manual should include information on
the following: -

 Safety of Personnel’s.
 Site Training of the team operating the Launching Girder.
 Use of Personal Protection Equipment’s i.e. safety boots, safety nets, safety helmets
etc.
 Safety during lifting of parts and equipment’s.
 Safety during use of flame cutter and welding sets.
 Safety against Storm wind / Emergency conditions.
 Safety precautions to be executed while working in vicinity of High power cables,
overhead electric lines.

Components of Launching Girder

The main components shall be as per detailed drawings of the launching girder and the
specification of various materials indicated in the drawings.

General

This section gives a brief description of main parts of Launching Girder. Reference shall
be made to the detailed drawings.

This section is built up as follows:

 Main Box Girder & Truss

 Front Support
 Middle Support
 Rear Support
 Rear trolley
 Slider Beams
 Fixed Mounted Hoist

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Main Box Girder & Truss

Central portion of Launching girder comprises of Box Girder which has been split in 5 close plate
girder of depth 3.2m & width 2.5m while there are 2 trusses attached at rear end keeping the
depth and center line of the box and truss same. The total Length of launching girder including
trusses is kept as 84.0m. These are spliced at their ends with the help of 30mm Φ HSFG bolts
(10.9 Grade).

The clear distance between bottom of launching girder and top of segment (at bottom of
box) shall be taken as 3000mm.

Load Bearing stiffeners have been provided at all support locations. In addition, normal vertical
stiffeners are also provided.

The Main box steel grade is E350 while the truss has been taken as E250. There are runner rails
at top at center line of web and at center of box for slider and hoist movement. While there is
150mm and 100mm runner flat for guiding the middle support and rear support during erection
and auto-launching. These interfaces must be properly greased prior to any longitudinal
movement.

The Launching Girder main box structure rests on four supports viz.

 Front Support
 Middle Support
 Rear Support
 Rear trolley

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Front Support

Front Support consists of following parts: -

 Top Beam
 Top vertical leg
 Bottom Beam
 Jack beam
 Inclined leg
 Telescopic leg
 Hydraulic Jack

The front support is fixed support and has flexibility for variation of spans lengths and fixed
plan gradient or vertical gradient. The plan curve is negotiated by shifting launching girder
arrangement.

The Front support rests over pier cap and level adjustment and load transfer mechanism is
through 2 nos. stools which are fixed through beams protruding outwards from bottom
beam. The front support is anchored firmly with pier cap with 40Φ anchor bars which are
through the pier cap.

Heights of front support is measured from top of the support to bottom of its bottom beam
or stool if any and the max and min height of jacks included.

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The front supports rests between the front pedestals of the span to be erected and along
with middle support helps in erection of span.

The front supports along with middle support and rear support also helps in auto-launching
of launching girder to next span. (Refer the detailed scheme attached)

The movement of front support from one location to another is achieved easily by slider
beam which runs over the top rails. The front support is suspended by wire rope sling and
is attached to suspender bar through slider beam. Maximum height of the Front Support is
5820mm.

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SIDE VIEW OF FRONT SUPPORT OF LAUNCHING GIRDER

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Middle Support

The Middle Support is positioned on the Expansion Joint Segment of already erected span
and supports the Launching Girder together with the Front Support during the span
erection. The level of Middle Support can be varied using 4 number hydraulic jacks of
capacities 250t – 4 Nos. capacity single acting hydraulic jacks with lock nut and tilting
saddle.

The Middle Support consists of following main parts: -

 Main beam
 Bracket for jacks – 2nos.
 Launching bearing – 2nos.
 Longitudinal sliding bearing

 Knuckle bearing

 Cradle

 Longitudinal pulling / pushing assembly

 Braking assembly

Main beams brackets fixed with 300T capacity single acting hydraulic jacks with lock nut
and tilting saddle for supporting structure of Middle Support. 2 Nos Brackets are protruded
on either side of the Main beam (Welded), provided in transverse direction to the
Launching Girder. Main beam provide support and sliding surface (Stainless Steel top) for
the Launching Bearing.

Launching Bearing consists of three parts:-

 Longitudinal sliding bearing which consists of a sliding surface over which the Launching
Girder slides during auto launching process.

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 Knuckle bearing, it consist of a pin connecting four vertical plates. The Launching
Girder can be vertically rotated over this knuckle pin.

 Cradle consists of a vertical pin embedded into steel stool over which the whole
Launching Girder can rotate horizontally. It is provided with a PTFE sliding surface, at
its bottom side, which assists its transverse movement over Main beam.

The whole assembly of launching-bearing can be pulled when required by the help of HT
Stress bar connecting the Main beam & the cradle to ensure proper position of the
launching bearing with respect to the Main beam.

Longitudinal pulling / pushing assembly is an independent device attached to the monorail

on rear side of Middle Support through longitudinal movement jack connected to a steel
stool provided at centre of the two cradles over the Main beam. This assembly is free to
slide over the Main beam, however its overturning in longitudinal direction is prevented
with the help of U clips. This assembly is responsible for forward movement of Launching
Girder during auto launching operation. This assembly is fixed with mono-rail by pins.
Braking assembly is another independent assembly provided at the front side of Middle
Support. It is mounted on monorail by U clips through pin & connected to the Middle
Support through bottle nut with Square thread bolt. When this assembly is connected to
the support it restricts forward movement of Launching Girder with respect to the support.
Minimum height for working middle support is 3000mm.

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Rear Support

Rear Support is a more or less the same replica of Middle Support except that longitudinal
pushing assembly is not provided in this support and has 4 Hydraulic jacks in totality. As
Rear Support shares lesser load compared to load shared by Middle Support therefore the
capacity of supporting jacks has been reduced to 4nos x 100t Outer Jacks.

A hydraulic side shifting mechanism is installed to side shift the launching girder box
during curve span erection and auto-launching. Minimum height for working rear support is
3000mm.

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Slider Beams

Slider beams are independent assembly of two built up I sections connected together with
the help of steel diaphragms.

For move/shift the Slider beams PTFE plate fitted on bottom of slider beam which is
resting on 4 thick SS plate over 90R rail on top of Launching Girder.

The slider beams are provided with two suspender bars at each end, which can move on
either side in transverse direction while maintaining a constant distance through ISMC.
These suspenders are lifting the segment by Hollow Jack to suit 40Φ stress bar for level
adjustment of segment.

The suspender bars are connected to Temporary Pre-Stressing Beam connecting on Deck
Slab of pre-cast segment by stress bars. Vertical adjustment is carried out using the
vertical HT Stress Bars, while local transverse & longitudinal movement is done using the
horizontal jacks positioned on top of the Assembly-A & Assembly-B of slider beam.

Shifting of slider beam is carried out by two high tensile strands running through all the
slider beams and anchored at both ends with anchor blocks. The movement of slider
beams is achieved by mono strands jacks mounted on both ends and operated by power
pack. Each slider beam is provided with barrel and wedges on either face so that
whichever slider is to be moved is locked on one face of slider by engaging the wedge and
then pulled by two mono strands jacks fitted at extreme ends of the Launching Girder main
box. The same mechanism is used for locking the slider position anywhere along the LG
length.

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FRONT VIEW OF SLIDER BEAM

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Fixed Mounted Hoist

It is an electrically operated device fixed over launching girder and lifts the segment to
desired height and shift to slider beams. It is meant for lifting of pre-cast segment during
erection stage.

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Braking & Pushing Assembly

Braking assembly is provided on middle support and rear support as per the drawing
attached here. The purpose of braking assembly is to lock the launching girder for any
longitudinal movement. The operation of the same is very simple and requires engaging
and dis-engaging of a pin between the braking assembly and the monorail.

Pushing assembly is similar to braking assembly except that a hydraulic jack is provided in
place of turn buckle. Launching girder is moved in longitudinal direction and then pin is dis-
engaged, jack is retracted, pin is engaged and next stroke is taken and so on.

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Auto-launching of Launching Girder

The term auto launching means forward movement of Launching Girder from already
erected span to the next span to be erected.

This section provides a simplified step-by-step sequence of auto launching of Launching

girder in chronological order of auto launching activity. Extracts from various drawings
have been incorporated for ready reference to site engineers.

In order to avoid any confusion at site during auto launching detailed check list is prepared
along with the following details, which must be strictly followed by the Launching
engineers.

It is recommended not to adjust the jacks of middle support after the auto-launching
has started, therefore the heights required at various support shall be adjusted at
this stage.

 Ensure anchoring of all the supports with anchor bars stressed to induce an Initial
tension of 5 to 8 tons per anchor bar.
 Supporting jack of Middle is locked using lock nut provided in the jacks.
 Brakes are applied at Middle Support using braking assembly.
 Note that after erection only Front support and Middle support is active.

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Auto-launching Scheme

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Check List before Auto-launching

 Ensure that Front, Middle & Rear Supports are properly anchored with the
erected span / pier cap.
 Ensure anchoring of Rear & Middle supports with anchor bars stressed to
induce an Initial tension of 5 to 8 tons per anchor bar.
 Supporting jacks of middle & Rear Support are locked using lock nut provided
in the jacks.

 Ensure that the jacks of front support are properly closed.

 The Launching Girder Working Height with respect to super-structure should
not be altered during Auto-Launching.
 The Level of Launching Girder at both the knuckle bearing location should be
same and ideally it should be horizontal.

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Erection Scheme

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Check List before Erection

 All Supports are properly anchored with the erected span / pier cap.

 Supporting jacks of Front, middle & Rear Support are locked using lock nut
provided in the jacks.

 Brakes are applied at Middle Support using braking assembly provided at

their front side.

 Middle Support cradles are anchored using the HT Stress bars provided
over the Main beam so that it doesn’t move in transverse direction during
erection of pre-cast segments.

 After installing 2 pairs permanent cables, install hydraulic jacks (span jacks)
beneath the end/ diaphragm segments and activate it, so that after
stressing is done for 3ed pair of cables and the span hogs, the load won’t
be transferred to the end sliders or suspenders and will get dissipated to
the Span jacks over pier caps.

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Procedure for Transferring the Weight of Segment from Hoist to Suspender Bars

 Lift the suspenders by mono jacks and transfer a force of not more than 0.5
ton per suspender in order to remove initial slackness in the suspender
bars.

 Release the weight of segment from the hoist so that the weight is
transferred automatically on the suspenders of the slider beam.

 After transferring complete load from the hoist to the suspenders remove
the pins connecting the Lifting beam and the Temporary Pre-stressing
beams.

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TEMPORARY PRESTRESSING

In order to achieve a uniform compressive stress of 0.3Mpa across segment joints,

temporary pre stressing bars will be provided at top of deck slab and top of soffit slab
which will be stressed to a force so as to achieve the required uniform compression across
joint.

These bars will be anchored to a frame which will be provided at deck level as well as
soffit slab level. This frame will be vertical anchored to the box segments top frame will be
anchored to the deck slab & bottom frame will be anchored to the soffit slab. The same top
frame will be also used to hang the segment from LG.

For applying horizontal pre stressing force for jointing the segments, beam made of Steel
plate structural members shall be fixed with deck slab & soffit slab of the box segment. To
make the beam stable against any horizontal movement during application of horizontal
pre stressing force, friction has to be generated between the pre-stress beam and the
concrete surface and to generate the friction; vertical pre stressing force has to be applied.
In each pre-stressing steel beam, vertical force to be generated by fixing and stressing
bars in vertical direction.

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