Izhak Stern, 2006 CBC

SPLICED-GIRDER BRIDGES: THE WAY TO MAXIMIZE SPAN/DEPTH RATIO. Izhak Z. Stern, M.Sc. P.E. I. Stern Y.D.E. Engineers Ltd. 15 Gershon Street Tel Aviv 67017 ISRAEL Tel: 972-3-5611150 Fax: 972-3-5611087 e-mail: office@yde.co.il

Abstract
The designer can minimize the depth of the superstructure for a given span using spliced-girders with cast in place joint at low moment zone. This method allows a span/depth ratio of up to 30 versus up to 22 in other bridges composed of precast elements. This higher span/depth ratio is possible since unlike in other methods, the moments distribution due to the self-weight is similar to the moments distribution in continuous beam. This method can extend the maximum span of standard precast beam elements; for example, standard AASHTO VI section may be used for up to 200 ft span. Longer spans may be achieved using nonstandard sections. The spans length is limited only by the weight of the precast segments. Typical design problems are the small eccentricity of the continuous post-tension tendon at the pier and lack of concrete compression area for the ultimate negative moment. These problems can be overcome by optimization of the post-tension tendon profile. This paper will discuss in detail these issues; examples of a bridge made of standard AASHTO VI girders with 170 ft span and of a bridge with 177 ft span made of channel section 5-10 depth girders will be presented.

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Izhak Stern, 2006 CBC

Introduction
Short and medium span bridges are commonly made of precast concrete elements. The precast elements are placed at first as a non-continuous system, connected together and made continuous. There are three basic methods to do it (Figure No. 1): 1. Simple-span girders. Placing prestressed girders from pier to pier as simple-span beams and making them continuous by closing the joints above the pier with cast in place concrete and mild reinforcement or post-tensioning. 2. Precast segmental box girder. Placing and connecting precast segments from the pier up to the middle of the spans on each side of the pier, creating cantilevers with length of half the span. The continuity is obtained by closing the joint in the middle of the span with cast in place concrete and continuous post-tensioning. 3. Spliced-girders. Placing girders over the pier, cantilevered on the side of the pier at about 0.15 to 0.2 of the span, and then placing drop in girders on the two cantilevers. The drop in girders are pretensioned and the cantilevered girders are pre-posttensioned (meaning post-tensioned before placing them over the pier). The continuity is obtained by closing the joint at 0.15 to 0.2 of the span (low moment zone) with cast in place concrete and continuous post tensioning. In the first method, the static scheme for the self-weight is a simple-span beam. In the second method, the static scheme for the self-weight is a cantilever beam. In the third method, the moments distribution due to the self-weight is similar to the moments distribution of a continuous beam. As a result, the maximum moment carried by the bridge section in the spliced-girder method is less than the maximum moment carried by the section of the two previous methods, and it is similar to the maximum moment carried by a cast in place bridge.

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Izhak Stern, 2006 CBC

Figure No.1 - Continuous bridges composed of precast concrete elements

L1

L2

L3
max. self weight moment

Simple - span girder

max. moment

g L2 2 8 =0.125 g L2

max. moment

max. moment max. self weight moment

Precast segmental box girder

2 g (L2 / 2) 2 =0.125 g L2

0.15 L2

0.7 L2

0.15 L2
max. moment 0.064 g L 2
2 2

max. moment 0.061 g L 2 Spliced - girder

0.033 g L 2 (L1=0.7L2)
2

2 max. self weight moment = g (0.15 L2) + 0.7 L 2 x 0.15 L2 = 0.064 g L 2 2 2

For comparison

0.076 g L 2 0.049 g L 2
2

0.029 g L 2 (L1=0.7L2)

Cast in place girder-self weight moments

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Izhak Stern, 2006 CBC

The moments in the spliced-girder method versus the moments in the simple span and segmental methods The moment due to self-weight in the spliced-girder method is about half of the moment due to self-weight in the simple-span girders method and the precast segmental box girder method (Figure No. 1). In all the three methods, the live load is applied on the continuous system. Assuming the moment due to live load is in the order of 0.6 of the dead load moment, the maximum total moment in the spliced-girder system is in the order of 0.65 of the maximum total moment in the other two methods. Distribution between negative and positive moments in the three methods The moments distribution in the simple-span girders method (interior span) is about 20-25% negative moment over the supports and 80-75% positive moment in the middle of the span from the sum of the negative and positive moments due to self-weight and live load (Figures No. 5 and 9). The moments distribution in the precast segmental box girder method is about 7580% negative moment over the supports and 25-20% positive moment at the middle of the span (Figures No. 6 and 10). The moments distribution in the spliced-girders method is about 50-55% negative moment over the support and 50-45% positive moment at the middle of the span. Fine tuning of the cantilever length may control the distribution between the negative and positive moments in the spliced-girder method. The design moments at service and ultimate condition in the spliced-girder method are 3040% less than the design moments in the other precast composed methods with the same spans lengths. Span length with the same section can be extended up to 40% more. Economical consideration for choosing the construction method: The simple span method is the most economical for short span up to 130' because no posttensioning is required . Standard section as AASHTO VI girders may be used. Although the simple-span girders method has been used for longer spans (References 1 & 2), the precast elements became very heavy and the handling and transportation are complicated. For the same span the spliced-girder may have much thinner and lighter section and each precast element is much shorter versus the simple span girder. The spliced-girder bridge versus the precast segmental bridge with the same span has a thinner and lighter section and much less prestressing is required. In most cases the spliced-girder bridge will be less expensive than the precast segmental bridge, in addition to the advantage of thinner super structure.

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Izhak Stern, 2006 CBC

Different spans numbers and lengths arrangements Almost any combination of span numbers and lengths can be solved using the splicedgirders method. Bridges with 3 spans and exterior span length about 60% of the interior span length can be solved by using 3 equal length girders. See example no. 1: Zohar Bridge, no temporary supports were required. Remez bridge, (Example No. 2) is an example of a longer 5 spans bridge with 2 short exterior spans and 3 long interior spans. In this case the interior cantilevered girders are short, they are placed asymmetrically on the piers and temporary supports are placed underneath the longer side. A third arrangement of spans, cantilevered girders and drop in girders is demonstrated in the proposed Hilazon Bridge (Figure No. 12). The spans lengths are 100', 160', 80', 160', 100', total length 600'. All the cantilevered girders and drop in girders have an equal length of 120'. No temporary supports are required. Creep Influence on the moments distribution in the three methods The numbers of the moments distribution described in figure 1 take in consideration only elastic distribution; in time the creep causes moment redistribution. The "creep moments" are obtained in the following way: The elastic moments distributions due to self weight, pretensioning and pre-posttensioning are calculated as if they were applied in the final continuous scheme. The difference between these moments distributions and the moments distributions calculated according to the erection sequence is calculated and multiplied by the factor (1-e-). The result should be added to the moments calculated according to the erection sequence.

The coefficient (Reference No. 3) is calculated from the concrete composition, geometry of the section, the environment and type of curing; the value of the factor (1-e-) is usually between 0.4-0.7. The "creep moments" are significant in the simple span girders method and in the precast segmental box girder method. In the simple span girder method the creep produces positive moment above the piers (Figure No. 2). If these moments are neglected, cracks at the bottom of the section will occur, reducing the stiffness of the continuous beam and the deflection due to live load will be larger than expected. In the precast segmental method the creep produces additional positive moments in the middle of the span. Neglecting these moments will result in underdesign of the section and the segments connections.

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Izhak Stern, 2006 CBC

Figure No.2 - Creep moments-simple span girder method (kip ft)

1.

L1 =97'
560 780

L2 =131'
780 7300

L3 =97'
560 4100

g=3.4 kip/ft

4100 Self weight moments

2.

3980

7140

3980

Pretension moments on the precast girders

4480 3760 3700

4480 3700 3760

3.
2820 Self weight moment distribution, continuouse structure

4.
3980 3980

L1 3980

7140

L2
760

7140

3980 L3

3980

3980 2180 2180 6160 6380 6380 6160 Pretension forces applyed on the continuous structure moments distributions

920

Creep moments

[(3+4)-(1+2) (1-eo)

950

920

o (1-e )=0.5

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Izhak Stern, 2006 CBC

The designer has to consider the two conditions before and after the creep moment redistribution, resulting in design for more than 100% of the sum of the negative and positive moments. In the spliced-girders method, because of the similarity of the moments distribution between the non-continuous and continuous systems, the influence of the creep is small. See example No. 1, Zohar Bridge. (Figure No. 5). Design of the post-tensioning tendon profile The typical sections of bridges have a high center of gravity and more concrete area at the top of the section then at the bottom. While designing the spliced-girders bridge, the designer may encounter two major problems: 1. At service condition, the eccentricity of the tendons at the section over the piers is very small. 2. At ultimate condition, the bridge section maximum negative moment capacity is limited because of the small compression area. These two problems can be overcome by optimum design of the tendon profile to exploit the magnitude of the secondary moments (Reference No. 4). Using this method, the total positive moment produced by the posttensioning will be significantly larger than the primary moment due to the force multiplied by the geometric eccentricity. The high secondary positive moment above the support improves the service condition stresses and reduces the total ultimate negative moment using safety factor 1 (Reference No.5). Example no. 1: Zohar Bridge Zohar Bridge (Figures No. 3 and 4) is known as the lowest bridge in the world. This is due to its location by the Dead Sea in Israel, about 400 meters (1300 ft) below sea level. The unique structural design of this bridge is such that it is probably the bridge with the longest span (170 ft) utilizing standard AASHTO VI section precast girders. Figure no 5 describes the moments distribution of the dead load and live load. Tendon number 3 is a continuous tendon stressed after placing the top slab. The profile of tendon number 3 is specially designed to produce high positive secondary moments in the beam sections above the piers. The geometrical eccentricity of the tendon is only 6 above the center of gravity of the composite section (the tendon placed in the precast section and not in the top slab for ease of construction). The primary moment is 219 kip-ft, as the total moment due to tendon No. 3 is 1823 kip-ft, like having eccentricity of 50. In addition to keeping the stresses in the section above the pier in the allowable range, this high secondary moment reduces the ultimate design moment to be within the capacity of a composite AASHTO VI section for negative moment.

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Izhak Stern, 2006 CBC Theoretically, using the same precast section as a simple span beam made continuous results in 170 ft long precast girders weighing 90 metric tons (200 kips), with maximum positive ultimate moment of 12583 kip-ft, above the maximum ultimate moment capacity of the section (Figure No. 6). Using the precast segmental box girders method (Figure No. 7) will cause high negative moment and the need to increase the weight and the depth of the superstructure section. In the Zohar Bridge the pier segments and the drop in segments were 123 long. The pier segments were posttensioned in the plant requiring their transportation as cantilever beams. The transportation of all these typical AASHTO VI beam segments from the plant to the construction site included descending from an elevation of 600 meters above sea level to an elevation of 400 meters below sea level in a hard terrain road. No stabilizing frame was needed during the transportation.

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Izhak Stern, 2006 CBC

Figure No. 3: Zohar Bridge

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Izhak Stern, 2006 CBC

Figure No.4

Zohar bridge

100' 123'

23'

370' 170' 124'

23'

100' 123'

120'

Longitudinal Section
46'

Stage 1

Stage 2

120'

Stage 3

C.I.P. Slab

Transversal Section

Erection sequence

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Izhak Stern, 2006 CBC

Figure No.5 Zohar bridge - moment distribution (kip ft)

3520 3520

840 3150 Typical beam - self weight moments (service) 1857 1857 335 313 1495 1909 Typical beam - Live load moments (service) 8085 8085

840

335 1495

3718

7655

3718

Typical beam - Gravity load - ultimate moments

1800 1553 219 Tendon no 3 - primary moments 634 1604 Tendon no 3 - secondary moments 1553 1166 197 1823 219 1800 1800 1553

1604

634 1166 1553

1823 Tendon no 3 - total moments 6481

6481

4352

9259

4352

Typical beam - Design ultimate moments

281 101 Creep moments 101 281

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Izhak Stern, 2006 CBC

Figure No.6

Zohar Bridge -Theoretical moment distribution if designed as simple -span girder made continuous with the same precast sections

6670 Typical beam - self weight moments (service) 1857 1857 335 313 1495 1909 Typical beam - Live load moments (service) 3157 5773 12583 3157

2308

2308

335 1495

5773

Typical beam - Gravity load - ultimate moments

Figure No.7 Zohar bridge -Theoretical moment distribution if designed as segmental -box girder made continuous with the same precast sections

6670

6670

Typical beam - self weight moments (service)

1857 335 313 1495 1909 Typical beam - Live load moments (service) 1857 335 1495

12495 570 532 12495 2542 3245 Typical beam - Gravity load - ultimate moments

570 2542

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Izhak Stern, 2006 CBC Example No. 2: Remez Bridge Remez Bridge (Figure No. 8) is designed for crossing Remez Street over the new route 431 in a suburb of Tel Aviv. The superstructure depth was required to be minimized as much as possible. Because the crossing is close to an interchange and a railway tunnel was planned to be built underneath, the three interior spans have to be long. The solution was splice-girders composed of standard precast channel beams. The maximum possible interior span utilizing this type of precast channel beams and using the simple-span girders made continuous method is 130 ft. Using the splicegirders method increased the maximum possible span to 177 ft, 36% more. Figure No. 9 describes the moments distribution of the dead load and the live load. Tendons no. 3 are continuous tendons to be stressed after placing the top slab. In order to avoid them to be very long, tendons no. 3 are spliced in the central segment with stressing bulkheads. Tendons no. 3 profile is designed to provide high positive secondary moment in the beam sections above the pier in order to keep the stresses within the allowable range at service condition and to reduce the ultimate negative moment to be within the negative moment capacity of the concrete section. The maximum length of a segment is 115 and weight 85 metric tons (190 kips). Theoretically, using the same precast section as a simple span beam made continuous leads to 177 ft long precast girders weighing 130 metric tons (290 kips), with maximum positive ultimate moment of 25281 kip-ft, above the maximum ultimate moment capacity of the section (Figure No. 10). If the precast segmental box girders method had been used (Figure No. 11), it would have required significantly thicker and heavier concrete sections.

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Figure No.8 Remez Bridge

167' 115' 57' 115' 57' 177' 167' 88' 115' 115'

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Izhak Stern, 2006 CBC

88'

future railway tunnel future expansion

26'

Longitudinal Section

66' 40'

14
Transversal Section

Stage 1
Temporary support Stage 2 Temporary support Stage 3

Stage 4 C.I.P. Slab

Erection sequence

Izhak Stern, 2006 CBC

Figure No.9

Remez Bridge-moments distribution (kip ft)

6043 724 4731

7800 5205

7800 4731

6043 724

Typical beam - self weight moments (service)

3900 2675 860 3747 4259 4259 860 3747 3900 2675

Typical beam - Live load moments (service)

15090 5562 13000

18160 13000

15090 5562

Typical beam - Gravity load - ultimate moments

6772 3587 328 3587 328 328 3587 328 3587

Tendon no 3 - primary moments

2675 3535 3535 3237 3863 2675

Tendon no 3 - secondary moments

2471 3003 3863

3003

2471

Tendon no 3 - total moments

12415 4446 16105 16105

12415 4446

Typical beam - Design ultimate moments

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Izhak Stern, 2006 CBC

Figure No.10 Remez bridge -Theoretical moment distribution if designed as simple -span girder made continuous with the same precast sections

3288

11577

13005

11653

3288

Typical beam - self weight moments (service)

3900 2675 860 3747 4259 4259 860 3747 3900 2675

Typical beam - Live load moments (service)

6630 7240 6630

9151

22578

22578

9151

Typical beam - Gravity load - ultimate moments

Remez bridge -Theoretical moment distribution if designed as segmental -box girder made continuous with the same self weight

10229

13005

13005

Typical beam - self weight moments (service)

3900 2675 860 3747 4259 4259 860 3747 3900 2675

Typical beam - Live load moments (service)

20951 4548 6370

25447 6370

20951 4548

Typical beam - Gravity load - ultimate moments

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Izhak Stern, 2006 CBC

Figure No. 12 Hilazon Bridge

Conclusions
When the depth of the superstructure is restricted, and cast in place bridge is not feasible or economical, the precast splice-girders method gives the maximum span/depth ratio. When the depth of the superstructure is not restricted, but the required span is above an ordinary span for utilizing simple-span girders method, the designer should consider using the splice-girders method before choosing the more common systems like precast segmental box girders. The splice-girders method is the most efficient system to exploit the beam concrete section. The static scheme is similar to a continuous beam already in the construction phase. In addition, the designer can control the distribution of the total moment between the negative and positive moments, enabling him to use the maximum capacity of the given section in the negative and positive moments zone.

References
1. Seguirant, S.J.: "New Deep WSDOT Standard Sections Extend Spans of Prestressed Concrete Girders" PCI Journal 1998. 2. Abdul Waheed, Nino Delaurentiis and Larry Hancock: "Use of Long Span Concrete Girders (NU) in Alberta", Sixth International Conference on Short & Medium Span Bridges, Vancouver, Canada, 2002. 3. Precast segmental box girder bridge manual pti post-tensioning institute. 4. Izhak Z. Stern: Optimization of Prestressing Tendon Profile - fib symposium 1999 - Proceedings, Volume 1. 5. ACI committee 318: Building Code Requirements for Structural Concrete (ACI 318-02) and Commentary (ACI 318-02).

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