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General design principles of steel

bridges

1- Initial design of truss (Truss bridges)

Span to depth ratio


Economy
The use of the bridge: road traffic ,rail
traffic or pedestrian

2- study the structural system


You have to know how deferent loads acting on bridge (or any structure)
can transfer the loads/force safely to the ground.
- Stringers
(Primary
beam)
- Floor beam (Secondary
beam
- The front and back
frames to take the wind
loads
- The top and bottom
braces for transfer the
wind loads to the
frames.
- The trues

3 define the loads acting on the structure


-

Dead loads: The self weight of beams, trusses , braces, frames

The dynamic loads: it is called also the life loads. It is the worst loading that can
be caused on the bridge by traffic. This is depends on the service of the bridge
which differ from country to another and from standard to another.

The wind load acting in all directions: Horizontally, transverse to the direction of
span, Horizontally, along the direction of span, Vertically upwards, causing
uplift, Wind load on vehicles

Braking force from the sudden stop of the train

The loads caused by the movement of the train in case of the train stop

Earthquake loads

Thermal forces The free expansion or contraction of a structure due to


changes in temperature may be restrained by its form of construction.

Racking force

Forces due to curvature - When a track or traffic lane on a bridge is curved


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4 the material properties is the steel structure which usually


has the curve:

5 Design of different elements


Against the bending moment, shear forces , tension , compression
e.g. The primary beam is designed to resist the bending and shear forces then we

have to choose the right section for it.


For trusses element: - tension: enough cross section area to resist the tension
force
- Compression: potential buckling failure modes and approaches to preventing

(could be in two directions)

6 Study the fatigue analysis


This analysis is very important for steel structure
It is Reduced material resistance under fluctuating stresses or reversals, which
may culminate in cracks or failure after a number of cycles.
Fatigue is the tendency of a member to fail at stress levels below yield stress
when subject to cyclical loading

The used method is High-cycle fatigue (LCF) which involves a large number of
cycles ( > 105 cycles) and an elastically applied stress.

The S-N Curves

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The fatigue depends on the section (welded or rolled ), the connections in the truss,
the martial properties.
There are codes for designing

7 The overall lateral stability (lateral torsional buckling)

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8 The allowed deflection of the truss


For service considerations (e.g.. The deflection should not be more than 30 mm)

9 Member redundancy
Study whether the truss is Determinate or indeterminate or instable.
The formula for determinacy:

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10 Connection details
Let us see the cross sections which are usually used for different members
of bridges

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