Design of Bridges

Digital Assignment – 2
NAME: K.S.C. SEKHARENDRA
REG.NO:17MST0022

PILE FOUNDATION:
A pile foundation is a type of deep foundation, a long cylinder of a strong material
such as concrete, wood or steel that is pushed into the ground to act as a steady
support for structures built on top of it.

Pile foundations are used in the following situations:

1. When there is a layer of weak soil at the surface. This layer cannot support
the weight of the building, so the loads of the building have to bypass this
layer and be transferred to the layer of stronger soil or rock that is below the
weak layer.

When a building has very heavy, concentrated loads, such as in a high rise
structure, bridge, or water tank
❖ EXPLAIN THE LOAD TRANSFER MECHANISM OF THE PILE
FOUNDATION:
• By the way of definition, a pile is a long and slender structural member
established in the soil which is called upon to transmit to the surrounding soil
a vertical (axial) load (downward – compressive, upward – tensile), a
horizontal load and a moment transferred to it at the top from the
superstructure.
• From the point of view of load transfer, piles are basically classified as end-
bearing (or ‘point-bearing’) piles and friction; piles. From the point of view
of geotechnical design, this is the most relevant classification of piles. If the
soil near the surface is too weak to support the applied load, it is sought to
transfer this load to a firm stratum available at a reasonable depth below by a
point bearing pile which transmits the load to the firm soil at the point of
support. On the other hand, if the soil condition is such that soils which can
offer some amount of shearing resistance at the interface with the pile is
available to sufficient depth, piles are used to transfer the applied load to the
surrounding soil by ‘skin’ resistance (skin standing for the outer surface of the
pile, which forms the interface between the pile and the soil) mobilized over
the entire surface area of the pile.
The frictional resistance per unit area,(𝑧𝑧), at any depth z may be determined as

Where 𝑝 = perimeter of the pile cross section

LOAD TRANSFER MECHANISM:

shows the variation of 𝑓(𝑧) with depth(z).

If the load Q at the ground surface is gradually increased, maximum frictional

resistance along the pile shaft will be fully mobilized when the relative displacement
between the soil and the pile is about 5-10 mm irrespective of pile size and length L.
however, the maximum point resistance 𝑄2 = 𝑄𝑝 will not be mobilized until the pile
tip has moved about 10%-25% o the pile with width The lower limit applies to driven
piles and the upper limit to bored piles. At ultimate load
(𝑧=0) = 𝑄𝑢 . Thus
𝑄1 = 𝑄𝑠
𝑄2=𝑄p

𝑄𝑠 is the unit skin friction and Qp is the point resistance. This indicates 𝑄𝑠
(or the unit skin friction, f, along the pile shaft) is developed at a much smaller pile
displacement compared to the point resistance, 𝑄𝑝.
Based on the load transfer mechanism the pile foundation is classified into follows:
1. End bearing piles: Piles which transfer structural load to a hard and relatively
incompressible stratum such as rock or dense sand are known as end bearing piles.
These piles derive the required bearing capacity from end bearing at tip of the pile.

2.Friction piles: These are piles which derive carrying capacity from skin friction
or adhesion between the pile surface and surrounding soil.

2. Tension pile: These piles are also called as uplift piles. Generally it can be
used to anchor down the structures which are subjected to uplift pressure due
to hydrostatic force.
 4. Compaction piles: These piles are used to compact loose granular soil to
increase its bearing capacity. Compaction piles do not carry load and hence they can
be of weaker material. Sand piles can be used as compaction piles.

5. Anchor piles: These piles are generally used to provide anchorage against
horizontal pull from sheet piling.

6. Fender piles and dolphins: Fender piles and dolphins are used to protect water
front structure from impact of any floating object or ships.
2) Discuss the structural arrangements, construction, difficulties and
design aspects of the Elastomeric bearings with neat sketches in detail
including reference.

BEARINGS:
Bridge bearings are used to transfer forces from the superstructure to the
substructure, allowing the following types of movements of the superstructure :
• Translation movements; are displacements in vertical and horizontal
directions due to in-plane or out-of-plane forces like wind and self-weight.
• Rotational movements; cause due to moments.

ELASTOMERIC BEARINGS:
Bearings formed of horizontal layers of synthetic or natural rubber in thin layers
bound between steel plates. These bearings are capable of supporting high vertical
loads with very small deformations. These bearings are flexible under lateral loads.
Steel plates prevent the rubber layers from bulging.

Lead cores are provided to increase damping capacity as plain elastomeric bearings
does not provide significant damping. They are usually soft in horizontal direction
and hard in vertical direction. It consist of a laminated elastomeric bearing equipped
with a lead cylinder at the center of the bearing. The function of the rubber-steel
laminated portion of the bearing is to carry the weight of the structure and provide
post-yield elasticity. The lead core is designed to deform plastically, thereby
providing damping energy dissipation. Lead rubber bearings are used in seismically
active areas because of their performance under earthquake loads.

STRUCTURAL ARRANGMENTS:
There are two types of Elastomeric bearings:
1) Plain bearings.
2) Laminated Rubber bearings.

PLAIN BEARINGS:
The plain bearings are made of Neoprene Rubber which takes the load
acting through compression.
LAMINATED RUBBER BEARINGS:
The laminated Rubber bearing consists of,
Lead Cylinder core.
Rubber steel lamination.

The main function of Lead cylinder core is that it can deform plastically and
thus provides a damping to the system.
The Rubber steel lamination is provided to take the load and it gives post
yield to the bearing.
CONSTRUCTION, DIFFICULTIES AND DESIGN ASPECTS:
Mold together components of a laminated bearing to form an integral unit
free of voids or separations in the elastomer or between the elastomer and the steel
laminates or plates, unless otherwise shown on the plans. Provide well vulcanized
elastomer between the laminates or plates and on the outer surfaces of the bearing
that is uniform and integral and resists separation by mechanical means into separate,
definite, well defined elastomeric layers.
Evidence of this layered construction, either at the outer surfaces or within
the bearing, will be cause for rejection. Repair of damaged elastomer on sides of
laminated bearings is not allowed for product acceptance. Repair of damaged
elastomer on top or bottom surfaces of laminated bearings is allowed when
approved. Cover edges of steel laminates with 1/8 in. to 1/4 in. of elastomer except
that exposure of the laminates will be permitted at approved laminate restraining
devices and around holes entirely enclosed in the finished structure. Position
laminates within 1/8 in. of plan location. Plain bearings may be molded individually,
cut from previously molded strips or slabs molded to the full thickness of the finished
bearings, or extruded and cut to length.
The finished bearings must have no voids or separations detectable either at the
bearing surfaces or within the bearing. Plain elastomeric bearings must be well
vulcanized, uniform and integral units of such construction that the bearing is
incapable of being separated by any mechanical means into separate, definite and
well defined elastomeric layers. Evidence of layered construction either at the outer
surfaces or within the bearing will be cause for rejection.The tolerance for diameter
of anchor bolt holes is +1/8 in., −0. The maximum deviation for flatness of steel
plates is 1/16 in. in any 24 in.
It consists of elastomer manufactured from synthetic or natural rubber and can take
both translation and rotation movements through elastomer deformation. The ability
of elastomer to carry large vertical loads is because of reinforcement provision that
prevents lateral bulging of elastomer. There are number of elastomeric bearing pads
classified based on types of reinforcements used. For example, steel reinforced,
plain, fiberglass reinforced and cotton duck reinforced elastomeric bearing pads.

Strength and response of each type is different, steel reinforced elastomeric bearing
is the strongest one and plain elastomeric pad is the weakest. Elastomeric bearing
is neither expensive nor requires considerable maintenance, that is why it the most
desired bearing type.

REFERENCE:

1) Essential of Bridge Engineering book by D. Johnson Victor.

2) Design of Bridges book by N.Krishan RAju.
3) Elastomeric bearings design, material and construction at
onlinepubs.trb.org
4) Elastomeric Bearings Design at library.ctr.utexas.edu
5) IRC 83 Part-II Standard Specification for Elastomeric Bearings design.
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Discuss the structural arrangements, construction, difficulties and
design aspects of the RC rocker expansion bearing with neat sketches
in detail including reference.

A rocker bearing is a type of expansion bearing that comes in a great variety. It

typically consists of a pin at the top that facilitates rotations, and a curved surface at
the bottom that accommodates the translational movements. Rocker and pin bearings
are primarily used in steel bridges.

STRUCTURAL ARRANGMENTS:
The roller bearings must be designed for vertical and horizontal loads.
Allowance should be given for rotation and horizontal movement. At present, design
of translation of expansion bearings is based on assumption that there is only
temperature movements of the superstructure. The effects of creep and shrinkage of
prestressed concrete superstructures as well as the deflections of long span girders
can cause misalignment.
The causes of such movements can be summarised as follows:
Temperature variation:
Shrinkage and creep due to longitudinal prestressing :

CONSTRUCTION, DIFFICULTIES AND DESIGN ASPECTS:

Cast steel roller bearings being expensive, cheaper reinforced concrete rocker
expansion bearing are sometimes used for concrete bridges. When properly
designed these are more effective when compared to steel bearings.
The bearing consists of special quality concrete and adequately reinforced. The
top and bottom of the rocker are made level. Lead sheets are placed in between the
contact surface of the rocker with the pier and the superstructure. The area of contact
of the lead sheet is determined by dividing the load to be carried by the allowable
unit bearing pressure on concrete. The rocker is designed as a short column, being
built with high grade concrete and reinforced with vertical bars and hoops.
 The amount of horizontal reinforcement in the rocker longitudinally with the
bridge is determined on the assumption that the concentrated reaction develops in
the block a tension equal in magnitude to one third of the total reaction acting on the
rocker. The reinforcement is placed as hoops or spiral spaced throughout the height
of the block and uniformly distributed along the block.
Reinforced concrete rocker bearing used in Dimni bridge across Kunway river
in U.P.

The rotation and longitudinal motion of the bearing are accomplished as follows:
1. For rotation, the girder compresses the lead sheet along the inner edge, and
the underside of the block to rotate upon lead sheets.
2. For longitudinal movement, the girder causes the block to rotate upon the lead
sheets. It could be seen that the larger the height of the concrete rocker block
the more effective is its action because a smaller angular compression of lead
will suffice to get the desired longitudinal motion.
REFERENCE:
❖ Essentials of Bridge Engineering book by Johnson Victor .D.
❖ Behaviour and design of Rocker bearing in bridges at civildigital.com
❖ Design of Bridges book by N. Krishna Raju.
❖ Rocker Bearing in Bridge Structure at Scribd.com