ADVANTAGES OF STEEL IN BRIDGE

CONSTRUCTION

The steel is a very versatile material having many advantages over the other
material. Presently, the mega bridge projects being undertaken by the Railways
involves steel super structures.
For longer spans, the railway has shown more confidence in steel compared with
PSC. This is basically due to the fact that in case of steel bridges, rehabilitation
procedures are easier and involve lesser delays, inspections are easier as it allows
the deformations to be seen and easily evaluated/measured besides the basic fact
that Railway engineers feel comfortable in constructing and maintaining steel
bridges.
Generally speaking, steel bridges may have the following advantages when
compared to concrete/PSC bridges:
Reduced dead loads.
More economic foundations.
Simpler erection procedures.
Shorter execution time.
Faster and easier rehabilitation

Truss Bridges

A truss is a triangulated framework of elements that act primarily in tension and compression.
It is a light-weight yet very stiff form of construction. They are considered
expensive to fabricate today, being labour intensive, and maintenance issues have
to be carefully addressed, e.g. ease of access. However, they can still show
disadvantages in particular applications such as footbridges and railway bridges.
Typical spans in one form or other can range from 40m to 500m.

Trusses may be used as girders below the deck level, or as through girders with
the deck at the bottom chord level. Such through-truss girders minimise the
effective construction depth, and the length of approach embankments. Hence,
they are particularly suited to footbridges and railway bridges

Through trusses are used for medium spans where a limited construction depth
precludes use of a composite deck bridge. They are suitable in flat terrain to
reduce the height and length of
approach embankments and for railway bridges where existing gradients can not
be modified.
A truss may be unacceptable visually; a bowstring truss is an alternative solution.
For short spans and medium spans up to 50m, trusses are generally less economic
than plate girders because of higher fabrication cost. They are therefore adopted
only where the available construction depth is not sufficient for composite beams .

Howe Truss Bridge

William Howe, 1840.Department of Civil Engineering Page 7

It became very popular and was considered one of the best designs for railroad
bridges back in the day.
Wooden beams for the diagonal members, which were in compression. It used
Iron (and later steel) for the vertical members, which were in tension .

CONNECTIONS

Members of trusses can be joined by riveting, bolting or welding. Due to involved

procedure and highly skilled labour requirement, riveting is not common these
days, except in some railway bridges in India. In railway bridges riveting may be
used due to fatigue considerations.
Even in such bridges, due to recent developments, high strength friction grip
(HSFG) bolting and welding have become more common.
Shorter span trusses are usually fabricated in shops and can be completely welded
and transported to site as one unit. Longer span trusses can be prefabricated in
segments by welding in shop. These segments can be assembled by bolting or
welding at site.
This results in a much better quality of the fabricated structure. However, the
higher cost of shop fabrication due to excise duty in contrast to lower field labour
cost frequently favour field fabrication in India.
Bolted Connections

The use of high strength friction grip (HSFG) bolts is mandatory under BS 5400 for
all traffic loaded connections, to give full rigidity. Un-tensioned bolts of mild steel
(grade 4.6) and high tensile steel (grade 8.8) in clearance holes may be used in
footbridges, in element loading such as parapets, and for temporary works.
High Strength Friction Grip Bolts

Two types of HSFGwhich account for most of those used, and have a good
compromise of high strength add ductility.
Mechanical properties are similar to 8.8 grade for sizes up to and including M24;
but to continue in this grade for larger sizes would mean the use of an alloy rather
than a carbon steel and so the strength is reduced for sizes over M24 for economy.
The bolts are tightened to give a shank tension of at least the specified proof load.
Welded Connections

In-line web to web and flange to flange connections generally need to develop the
full capacity of the elements and should be full penetration butt welds. If a section

change occurs the larger plate should, for fatigue reasons, be tapered in thickness
and width at a maximum slope of 1 in 4 down to that of the smaller.
Where double-vee preparations are used it is unnecessary to form a taper where
the step is 2mm or less because this can be incorporated within the width of the
weld. At changes of flange thickness the taper should be provided to one face only

Types of joints

Structural welded joints are described as either butt welds or fillet welds. Butt
welds for bridgework are normally in-line plate joints in webs and flanges, either to
accommodate a change of thickness or to make up available material to girder
length.
The positions of these joints are allowed for in the design, although material
availability constraints or the erection scheme may require the Engineer and
contractor to agree on final positions. Tee butt weld joints are only required where
there are substantial loading or fatigue considerations in bearing stiffening or
transverse connections
Butt welds for bridges are full or partial penetration joints made between bevelled
or chamfered materials. Full penetration joints are designed to transmit the full
strength of the section. It is possible to weld these joints from one side but
material thicknesses in bridges are such that they are usually welded from both
sides to balance distortion effects, with an in-process back gouging and/or back
grinding operation to ensure the integrity of the root area.

if the rafter and tie members are T sections, angle diagonals can be directly
connected to the web of T by welding or bolting. Frequently, the connections
between the members of the truss cannot be made directly, due to inadequate
space to accommodate the joint length.
In such cases, gusset plates are used to accomplish such connections The size,
shape and the thickness of the gusset plate depend upon the size of the member
being joined, number and size of bolt or length of weld required, and the force to
be transmitted.
The thickness of the gusset is in the range of 8 mm to 12 mm in the case of roof
trusses and it can be as high as 22 mm in the case of bridge trusses. The design of
gussets is usually by rule of thumb.
In short span (8 12 m) roof trusses, the member forces are smaller, hence the
thickness of gussets are lesser (6 or 8 mm) and for longer span lengths