steel-concrete bridges - 2004

1. Steel-concrete bridges

1.1 Introduction
Steel-concrete bridges are hybrid structures, in which the advantages of steel and concrete are manifest. By
steel-concrete bridges not only the steel bridges with a concrete deck are meant, but also for instance the steel
bridges where concrete is used for considerations of stability of steel parts that are loaded by compression, and
bridges with varying material use of the length of the bridge.

Fig. 1. Approaching bridges Oosterbeek: steel truss girder with concrete deck.

In contrast with concrete bridges and steel bridges, the interaction between design and construction of steel
concrete bridges, and especially of the concrete deck, plays an important part. Consequences for the load
distribution, stress distribution, deflection, the construction possibilities, the construction period and the cost are
to be considered here.

Fig. 2. Example of a concrete deck casted in-situ using a movable system of equipment.

The background of this is the fact that tension in the concrete deck is less desirable, because in case of concrete
cracking a decrease in stiffness EA and EI comes into existence and as a result a change of stress distribution
amongst the cross section occurs. Besides, there must be sufficient warrant regarding the durability, resulting in
demands as to crack width criteria, minimum reinforcement, etc.
In contrast to a steel bridge, where there is no question of time dependent material behaviour at all, the time
dependent behaviour of the concrete in a steel-concrete bridge plays an important part in the design. E.g. creep
of the concrete deck will cause the stresses in the concrete at unchanged load to decrease and therefore to
increase in the steel. Apart from that, concrete is subject to a certain extent of shrinkage.

A comparison with steel and concrete bridges gives the following overview:

Steel bridges
As compared to a steel bridge, the steel-concrete bridge offers the following advantages:
- in comparison with an orthotropic steel deck, the concrete deck can be constructed simpler and cheaper
- due to the bigger mass of a steel-concrete bridge the traffic noise is less, especially with railway bridges
this is important
- steel-concrete bridges are more suitable to carry an ongoing ballast bed
- the influence of fatigue is less with the steel bridge girder(s) in a steel-concrete bridge.

Dr. A. Romeijn 1
 steel-concrete bridges - 2004

Concrete bridges
Compared with as concrete bridge, the steel-concrete bridge has the following advantages:
- the steel girder can be prefabricated under shop conditions and can be transported to the site
- during erection, the steel girder can carry the entire weight of the steel-concrete bridge without the use
of temporary supports
- the steel girder enables the use of construction methods that are not usually applied in concrete
structures. E.g. a steel girder can serve as a support when constructing the concrete deck
- steel-concrete bridges are lighter than concrete bridges. Weight saving can lead to lighter columns,
abutments and foundation of the bridge
- the period of time between tender and completion of the bridge is short because of rapid fabrication
and construction.

As an indication:

concrete 500 Euro/m3

construction steel 1.750 Euro/t

orthotropic steel deck 3.000 Euro/t

stayed cables 6.000 Euro/

Orthotropic steel deck versus concrete deck:

4 times more expensive
4 times weight reduction

The idea behind a steel-concrete construction is combining both materials in such a way that the less good
qualities of each are annihilated as much as possible. The effects of combining steel and concrete are manifested
first and foremost in the function assignment of the separate materials, viz. taking up of tensile stress by the steel
and of compression stress by the concrete.
There is, however, the following trend:
- more often, the concrete is loaded under tension. By applying of e.g. prestressed steel, the durability
and stiffness is warranted.
- optimisation of self-weight is less important
- more often a robust durable concept is aimed at.

1.2 Capacity steel-concrete girder: general

Based on a single supported girder, the (strength)capacity of a steel-concrete girder is explained. Fig. 3 shows
three important cross-sections of the composite girder. In any case, in these cross sections the strength capacity
of the girder should be examined (ULS-static/fatigue).
The criteria to ascertain the capacity per section are:

Shear force horizontally

Shear force Bending moment

vertically
Fig. 3.
Critical cross sections: bending moment, shear force vertically (shear stress steel web plate) and horizontally
(shear connectors).

I. Bending moment capacity of the steel-concrete cross section

Under a uniform distributed load, a maximal moment will be introduced at the centre of the girder. To
obtain the required stress division, the shear connection should be able to transfer sufficient shear force.
In that case, there is a fully shear strength joint.

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 steel-concrete bridges - 2004

II. Shear strength capacity of the joints

For the optimal stress distribution of cross section I, a number of shear connectors is required. The
application of more shear connectors does not imply an extra contribution to the loading capacity. A
smaller number of connectors, however, provides a not fully shear strength joint.

III. Shear force capacity of the steel-concrete cross section

Usually, in calculations, the contribution of the concrete to taking up the shear force
is neglected. It is assumed that the web of the steel structure takes up the shear force only.

The stiffness of the fasteners is of major importance to the steel-concrete cross section. In case of negligible
shear deformation, there exist 100% co-operation. In case of flexible fasteners, there will be some shear
deformation and therefore less efficiency.

Fig. 4. shows the stress distribution for the girder under consideration in two alterrnative grades of shear
stiffness. As indicated in the right part of fig. 4, stud connectors are used most frequently.

Negligible shear stiffness Large shear stiffness

Fig. 4. Stress distribution considering two alternative grades of shear stiffness.

1.3 Norms
Eurocode 4, NVN-ENV 1994-2: Design and calculation of steel-concrete structures part 2: Steel-concrete
bridges is used for the design of steel-concrete bridges. This implies that NVN-ENV 1994-1, giving the general
rules of steel-concrete structures, automatically has to be met as well. Because the structure consists of steel and
concrete, the norms related to these materials is often referred to. The major norms NVN-ENV 1994-1 refers to
are:
- Eurocode 1: Bases for design and loads on structures
o NVN-ENV 1991-1: Part 1: Bases for design
o NVN-ENV 1991-2: Part 2: Loads on structures (various parts)
o NVN-ENV 1991-3: Part 3: Traffic loads on bridges
- Eurocode 2: Design and calculation of concrete structures
o NVN-ENV 1992-1: Part 1-1: General rules and rules for buildings
o NVN-ENV 1992-2: Part 2: Concrete bridges
- Eurocode 3 : Design and calculation of steel structures
o NVN-ENV 1993-1: Part 1-1: General rules and rules for buildings
o NVN-ENV 1993-2: Part 2: Steel bridges

The NVN-ENV 1994-2 Design and calculation of steel-concrete structures Part 2: Steel-concrete bridges
does allow taking into account the plastic resistance moment, etc. However, in practice this is not always usual
to do in connection with the often-governing fatigue requirement. Apart from that, for the load distribution
(member forces), an elastic calculation is required in conformity with NEN 6788/A1, Steel bridges, steel-
concrete bridges, art. 19.3.1.1.

Dr. A. Romeijn 3