Fast Track Design and Construction of Bridges in India

Over the last 150 years India witnessed glorious opportunities in the field of Bridge Engineering. The advent of Railways in India necessitated bridging major rivers. Well foundations were extensively adopted for alluvial rivers. Elsewhere Cast Iron Screw piles formed the foundation for many Railway Bridges. There are also success stories of non conventional foundation systems. Bridges were constructed across rivers not subject to significant scour with piers resting on a rubble apron spanning between the abutments. Early Bridges were mostly of stone or brick masonry arch. Longer spans were constructed with steel deck; this was followed by Concrete- plain, reinforced and prestressed- during the first half of the Twentieth Century. Alternate Designs by Contractors for Road Bridges facilitated fast track, economic construction of bridges between 1920 and 1980. The first ever bridges in Prestressed Concrete for the Assam Rail Link were completed in seven months (1949). The 3.2km long Sone Bridge at Dehri on Sone was designed and constructed in 33 months (1965) The Indian Roads Congress Standard Specification and Code of Practice for Road Bridges in India was published in 1937. Successive revisions over the years reflected improvements but at the same time introduced conservatism, increased cost and time. Construction of third and fourth Lanes of the Sone Bridge at Dehri on Sone 40years after the original construction in 1965 took nearly double the time to complete, with deeper well foundations! Desired Advances in Design: Continuous Decks are preferred for economy, riding surface and fast construction. Indian designers are obsessed with differential settlement of foundation and prefer simply supported deck, with attendant riding surface problems. Elsewhere continuity of deck has been established for upto one km length of deck, with suitable expansion joints. Drain pipes embedded in deck slab are unsatisfactory; the pipes get clogged in the absence of regular cleaning, water stagnates, leads to corrosion of steel reinforcement. The international practice is to provide longitudinal slope from the center both ways, collect the rain water behind the abutments and drain away. Wearing coat: Both concrete and mastic asphalt has been tried with varying degrees of failures. Concrete wearing coat cracks because of wafer thickness. Mastic depends on quality of cooking and workmanship and needs frequent replacement. Generally wearing coats are used to hide the workmanship deficiencies during deck concreting. A better alternative is to provide the deck in high grade concrete with greater cover on top, and use mechanical vibratory screeds for compaction and surface accuracy. The Author was involved in construction of bridges in Nepal in the Eighties.There was no wearing coat; instead, the top cover to the reinforcement was increased. The bridges are performing satisfactorily to date. Deck Configuration: A new six lane bridge across Godavari is under construction near Rajahmundry. There are two options of a single deck or two 3 lane decks on separate foundations. The later option was adopted by the EPC contractor. This option necessarily increases time and cost of construction, though dictated by other considerations during design. Almost all the long span bridges in PSC cantilever with either central hinges or short suspended spans are in distress due to excessive deflections and total lack of inspection and maintenance of the central hinges. Fortunately, designs with central hinges are no more in vogue. Continuous spans are the norm. Quality of steel in Hinges poor needs higher Grades. Bassein Creek Bridge

(1970), is the first long span continuous bridge in India constructed by in situ segmental method. Since then a large number of bridges have continuous spans Bridge Deck Furniture: Railing is not designed to absorb vehicle impact; Accidents involving crashing of buses through fragile railing and casualties are only too common in India. Of late crash barriers are installed in important bridges. The IRC Codes and Specifications need revision.

Fig

Bus crashed thro railing of a bridge near Mumbai, killing 30 in 2006

Expansion Joints: There are too many expansion joints in Indian bridges, resulting in riding quality problems. Most of the bridges in India are simply supported, involving additional joints. The nearly 3km long flyover at Sirsi Circle in Bengaluru was completed in 1999. The flyover was in
good condition since its construction for about five to six years. However, in the last three years the expansion joints have deteriorated due to lack of maintenance. They are being replaced at a cost of Rs 2.67 crores, will take three months to complete (Bangalore Mirror Aug 23, 2011). Similar situation prevailed in a bridge across Yamuna in Delhi where the expansion joint had to be replaced within a few years of commissioning.

Fast Track Construction Precast deck construction should be the first option. Worldwide, precast, Pre-tensioned I-girders are adopted for spans between 10 and 40m. Standardized girders are manufactured in factories, available on demand. Deck construction speed can be reduced by half. In India, standardization is nonexistent. The MORTH Standard drawings are obsolete, uneconomical, rarely used. Bridge Foundations Avoid foundations in midstream wherever practicable. Construction of a number of bridges has been inordinately delayed due to inappropriate siting of foundations. Delays in well sinking include Pasighat Bridge in Arunachal Pradesh (more than 20 years), Chenab Bridge at Akhnoor ( more than 30 years) and more than 500 major bridges with time overrun of five to 15 years. Apart from inappropriate siting, use of well foundations in inappropriate strata and scour calculations resulting in very deep foundations has resulted in constructability issues. Wells cannot normally be sunk through rock. This simple fact is ignored in many foundation designs, resulting in struggle for years to achieve the impossible! After two unsuccessful contracts, a new layout was adopted for the Chenab Bridge at Akhnoor near Jammu. The successful bidder based on alternate design proposed a scheme eliminating water

foundations. A central span of 160m and deck continuous for the full length of the bridge simplified construction on fast track. The new bridge was completed in 20 months!

Fig 1 Chenab Bridge at Akhnoor (2008) Pile Foundations: With ready availability of hydraulic piling rigs, pile foundation is an attractive option. Pile rigs upto 2500 mm diameter are available in India. Recent cases include Krishna Bridge in Andhra Pradesh, Delhi NOIDA Expressway, Railway bridge at Dehri on Sone.
Jamuna Bridge, Bangladesh : A 4.8 km long, four lane road bridge with 100 m spans was constructed across the Jamuna (Brahmaputra in India. Deep wells are extremely slow to construct, costly. 2500, 3150mm diameter tubular steel piles were used. The 121 piles were fabricated in Korea, shipped to site and installed by hydraulic hammer all in 8 months (1996). Steel tubes were filled with concrete. Maximum pile length was 72 m below bed level Bridge cost was reduced by 50% This optimization resulted in overall reduction in the bridge costs by more than 50%.

2.58 km long bridge across Krishna river, Andhra Pradesh (2005-2006)

BOT project; Contractors alternative design 11.05 m wide bridge with 60 x 43 m spans Precast prestressed girders with cast in-situ deck Circular RC piers, 2 m dia, 6 m tall Foundation: 4 x 1.2 m bored piles, max depth 43 m Bridge completed in 12 months, against schedule of 30 months

Fig 2 Jamuna Bridge Bangladesh Mississippi Br reconstn vs Mandovi br Precast Pretensioned beams DDA Flyovers Fast track erection Sone bridge

Fig 3 Krishna Bridge in Andhra Pradesh

Some Milestones in Fast Track Bridge Construction One of the earliest Reinforced Concrete Bridges in India was constructed in 1916 at Moovathupuzha in Kerala with Reinforced Concrete arches. The bridge is still in service. Coronation Bridge near Siliguri in West Bengal was constructed in1940. Foundations in Water

were avoided and structurally efficient arch was adopted. Since it was not possible to get support from
the Teesta bed due to the depth and current of water, the whole bridge is supported by a fixed arch, which has its two ends fixed on rock layers on either side of the river.

Fig 4 Moovathupuzha Br, Kerala

Fig 5 Coronation Bridge, West Bengal

The First Prestressed Concrete Bridges in India 1949-1952 (Assam Rail Link) Due shortage of structural Steel after second World War, Prestressed Concrete was used for five Railway bridges near Siliguri in West Bengal. The superstructure of all five bridges was completed in seven months (1949). The first Prestressed Concrete Road Bridge across Palar River near Chennai was realized on Fast track in 1952 with Precast Concrete Girders on shallow Well foundations in 1:3:6 concrete and mass concrete piers. The bridge is still in service. In contrast, a parallel bridge was constructed recently at the same location with deeper foundations, RC piers and heavier prestressed concrete deck, more construction time. Bridges with Contractors Alternative Design Between 1947 and 1980, a large number of major Bridges were realized by specialist contractors on Lump-sum, Design-Build basis. The 3.3 km long Sone Bridge at Dehri on Sone in Bihar was designed and constructed in 33 months. All the 465 girders were precast as parallel activity during foundation construction; using rail mounted bed gantries, the erection of the superstructure was realized in just three months, a world record! The first long span (120m) bridge in Prestressed Concrete Cantilever Construction was introduced in the Sixties (Barak Bridge near Silchar in Assam. The Alternative Designs were cost-effective and realized on fast track; however design approvals were cumbersome, resulted in controversies and delays in approvals. Bridges with Owners / Consultants Design The practice was reintroduced in the Eighties. The Results are mixed, particularly for major Bridges. The quantities and construction time have increased. The contractors are unable to utilize available equipment. The foundation depths are increasing, resulting in constructability issues , time and cost overruns. Some Success Stories in Precast Concrete Bridges Sone Bridge at Dehri-on-Sone

Fig 6 Sone Bridge at Dehri-on-Sone (1965), completed view The 3km long, two lane road bridge across Sone at Dehri-on-Sone, Bihar with 93 Spans of 32m, and well foundations was completed in 33 months. While the well foundations took more than two years, the 465 t girders were precast as a parallel activity. A pair of rail-mounted bed gantries were used for the ultrafast track erection of the 465 numbers 80t girders in just 75 days- a world record!

Fig 7 Sone Bridge: Girder erection by a pair of bed gantries Reconstruction of Morhar Bridge in Bihar in Four Months Four spans of the hundred year old, 420m long 2 lane brick-arch bridge along NH2 collapsed in 1970. The bridge was reconstructed in four months on the old foundation and piers, with Prestressed Concrete Deck. A three beam design involves heavy beams, large cranes or launching trusses. The design-build contractor opted for an eight beam deck in and reduced the weight of the pre-cast beam, handled by locally made lifting equipment. A mobile casting yard in the dry river bed,. single stage prestressing in 48 hours of concreting, a very short steam curing cycle of eight hours etc helped. The pre casting beds were shifted along the length of the bridge as required, reduced the need for stacking bed. Delhi NOIDA Pretensioned Viaducts: Three different span configurations were adopted: 12, 16 and 24 m for several hundred beams required for the project. The design was based on constant cross section to enable use of one set of form for all beams and all spans, varying the number of pretensioned strands. This has resulted in economy, fast track construction. Delhi NOIDA Yamuna Bridge Externally Prestressed, 8 lane Deck 552m long (2001): Completion of the bridge ahead of schedule in 20 months was due to innovative design. Large diameter pile foundation ensured completion of foundation in just eight months, against several years for well foundations for other bridges across Yamuna in Delhi .Economy achieved by making the bridge continuous for the full length, with only two expansion joints at the abutments, adopting lighter superstructure by External Pre-stressing.

Extradosed Bridge at Pragati Maidan, for Delhi Metro: Indias first 'Extradosed' bridge
has been constructed on Line 3 of Delhi Metro. The 196m bridge spans across five Railway lines. 15 meters above the tracks; the U-shaped bridge was constructed while 200 trains were running on the railway lines underneath.

Fig 8 Extradosed Bridge, Delhi Metro The continuous deck has a constant depth of 2.14 m, curved with a radius of 302.5m starting from one extremity, to approximately mid of main span, and straight on the other side lateral spans. A transition curve connects the straight and the curved parts of the bridge. Advantages include improved aesthetics, reduced girder depth, Pylon with half the height of a cable stay bridge,

Quantities are about 30 % less compared to a typical prestressed concrete bridge. Span-Depth Ratios: Span-depth ratios as high as 30:1 are achieved with solid & voided slabs, box beams, multi-stemmed units, or bulb-tee sections. Though deeper sections require less prestressing steel, the overall economy of a project may dictate the highest possible span-todepth ratio. HPC girders are 1400mm deep and span 50m, span/depth ratio of nearly 35! Deck Vibrations: Because of their mass and stiffness, the natural frequency of vibration of prestressed bridges rarely coincides with vehicle frequencies. Light bulbs in fixtures installed on steel bridges burn out more rapidly as a result of such vibrations. Concerns are voiced about vibrations in concrete Bridge Deck eg Bassein Creek Bridge (1970). A Study conducted by IIT Bombay confirmed that there was no discomfort to people.

High Performance Materials High Strength Concrete upto M80 grade has been used in India, to enable fast track removal of formwork and achieve economy. Elsewhere High Strength concrete upto M 120 and Ultra High strength Concrete upto 200 mPa has been used for bridges. Fe 500 Reinforcement is common; for earthquake resistance, BIS has formulated special grades with suffix D (for Ductility) for earthquake resistant structures. Erection Systems For Girders, Segments

Fig 9 SICET erection gantry erecting 80t girders, Euphrates Bridge in Iraq Variety of erection systems are used in India, including Launching Trusses, Gantries, Floating Cranes, etc. Each system is based on different time cycle for erection. Launching trusses are used for handling heavy girders weighing 150t or more, with time cycle of minimum 3 days per beam. Bed gantries are fast, electrically operated. Fast track erection of girders weighing upto 150 t, relatively cheaper systems of Italian origin are available. SICET rail-mounted erection gantry was used for fast track erection of 80 t girders at a bridge across Euphrates in Iraq by an Indian Company. A temporary bridge was put up across the river for piling, movement of cranes, girder transport and erection. Hydraulic piling rig enabled six piles per day; SICET erected six girders in a day. The SICET gantry was brought to India on completion of the bridge in Iraq and utilized for girder erection. Erection of all 19 spans for Ganga Bridge at Kanpur was successfully completed in one Ganga the same gantry, working season usingBridge Patna suitably strengthened for heavier loads.

Floating Erection

Aluminium Launch Truss for 200t Pre cast Beams

Fig 10 Floating Gantry 100t capacity

Fig 11 Aluminium Truss for 200t girder

Precast Bridges: Fast construction benefits owners by reducing the duration, reduces traffic handling costs and accident exposure risks. Theres less inconvenience to the traveling public, fewer delays. Costs are lower for false-work, skilled labor.. Precast concrete structural elements should be produced in factories. Precast concrete structural elements can be stockpiled in advance of need. Theres no curing time required at the jobsite, as with cast-in-situ concrete. Bridge piers can be erected in a day, and beams can follow immediately.

Fig 12 Scheme for total precast bridge Fig 13 Storebelt West Bridge, Denmark In India there are no Precast factories supplying readymade standard deck girders off the shelf. Bridge loadings have been standardized by the IRC, but the benefit of standardization has not extended to deck girders. Every Department and every contractor undertake the designs for each project, resulting in delays and inefficiencies. Pretensioned bridge beams are extensively used elsewhere; standard girders are available off the shelf. The precaster even transports and erects the girder overnight. In contrast, more than 35 flyovers were realized in Mumbai in the Nineties, with nearly a dozen contractors. Each contractors design was different, necessitating separate form work, erection system, additional cost and time. Construction time for flyovers in India ranges between 18 and 36 months (optimistic). Factory produced Standard girders can reduce the cost by 30 percent and time by 50 percent. AASHTO has standardized pretensioned bridge girders for 20, 30,40m spans. Longer spans upto 65 m are realized by shorter span Precast Pretensioned girders spliced with posttensioning. In Sion flyover in Mumbai, 42m spans were realized with three pretensioned, precast girders spliced by in situ joints and post-tensioned. Storebelt West Bridge, Denmark: The West Bridge is a box girder bridge 6,611 m long, and has a vertical clearance for ships of 18 m. It is essentially two separate, adjacent bridges above water. The northern one carries rail traffic and the southern one carries road traffic. However, the piers of the two bridges rest on common foundations below sea level. The West Bridge was built between 1988 and 1994; its road/rail deck comprises 63 sections, supported by 62 piers. The 6.6 km long bridge across the North Sea was designed with only three precast components: foundation, pier and deck. Weight was optimized for handling by a 6000t floating crane, custom-built. The project was completed in three and half years! All precast components

were Precast in a yard 5km away, picked up by the elf-propelled floating crane barge, moved to the bridge location and erected. Gravity type mass concrete foundation, full-height pier precast in one piece and the 110m precast deck including railing and other bridge furniture were all handled by the floating crane. The deck after erection was made continuous for more than km. specially designed modular expansion joints were installed at 1100m intervals. The crane was subsequently used for the 12km long Confederation Bridge in Canada completed in two short working seasons of two months each. 21km long Oresund Bridge cum tunnel linking Denmark and Sweden was subsequently realized on fast track using the same crane. Thana Creek Bridge (1970) In India, the Thana Creek Bridge, near Mumbai is a totally Precast Bridge. Each foundation consists of 6 Precast Piles 2500mm dia braced at two levels in both directions with precast members. Pile cap and pier was precast and erected as one piece, topped by precast beams. Worli-Haji Ali Sea Link (2011-) : This an extension of the Bandra-Worli Sea Link in Mumbai. The fast track link is scheduled to be completed in four years. Planned innovations include single pile-pier foundation for each 50m span four lane deck with delta frame connection at pier locations for the eight lane sea link Full span 50m precast girders are scheduled for construction shortly.

Fig 14 Thana Creek Bridge 1970 , All Components Precast, Erected

Fig15 Full Span Precast Deck Erected

Fig 16 Akkar Bridge Stay Cables Site Made

Akkar Bridge, Sikkim (1984): This is perhaps the only cable stay bridge in the world constructed with stay cables manufactured at the project site. Due to no availability of manufactured stay cables in India then, and exchange restrictions for imports, the stay cables

for the 150m span were manufactured at the facility established at site. The bridge rests on single cell well foundation, RC pier cum pylon; The RC deck was constructed by free cantilever method. The site made stay cable was used after proof-testing in Germany. Epilogue: Bridges in India are currently relatively expensive, designs are not competitive, foundation systems out-dated and precasting in the real sense nonexistent. Constructability is rarely considered. Foundation depths for major bridges are not realistically assessed, taken deeper than necessary based on past experience and current experiences. Decision making is painfully slow. The 700m long Mandovi bridge in Goa was completed in 1970 and defects surfaced within a year. Despite inspections over the next 15 years and pleas for corrective action, no steps were taken till it collapsed in 1986. After the collapse of the 700m long bridge in July 1986, the tender for reconstruction took about an year to finalize. The letter of award was conditional, took another six months to correct. The reconstruction spanned over three years Contrast the situation with reconstruction of I-35 Mississippi River Bridge in the US in 2007-8. The 40 year old bridge collapsed in August 2007. It was immediately decided to reconstruct the bridge for a 100 year service life. A design-build contract was awarded after tenders, in October 07. Construction began on 15 Oct 07. The bridge was completed in 10 months and opened to traffic in Sep 08. The reconstructed bridge has no foundations in water, used high strength concrete with 100 year durable life, was totally precast and provided with embedded sensors for monitoring corrosion, strains and deflections. Looking Forward: For important bridges, Scour depths should be assessed realistically preferably based on observations. Open, pile and well foundations should be the preferred order for foundations. High Performance, Self Compacting Concretes should be preferred. Precast Concrete should be widely adopted for fast track construction. Codes and Specifications should be rationalized, based on international practice.