Designing challenging bridges in northwest Spain

Bautechnik, 2012

2005

Structural Engineering International, 2003

IABSE Reports, 2014

The Bridge of Sant Julia de Loria, in Andorra, is part of the variation of the CG1 road, main entrance from Spain. SIGMA99 company is in charge of the junction engineering project and has entrusted AMATRIA with the structural design of it. The bridge is a geometrically complex structure resulting from the connection between the portals of tunnels of Tapia, currently under construction, and Grau Vell, planned for future action. The bridge also crosses the Grand Valira River and the existing CG1 road. Three slip roads connect the bridge to the road. So the bridge, or structure, has 11 spans, 7 columns and 5 abutments, with spans between 15 and 50 m. The bridge, without expansion joints except at the 5 abutments, behaves like a spatial structure where two-dimensional behaviour is significant. The deck surface is approximately 3.600m². It is developed over an area of approximately 165 m by 75 m.

Handbook of International Bridge Engineering, 2013

The project includes a cable-stayed bridge and two approach viaducts: one on the Chaco side on National Route 16 and another one on the Corrientes side on National Route 12 (Figure 3.22). Those structures are 2000 m long (1666 m over water) and 8.3 m wide, with one lane in each direction. The vertical navigation clearance is 35 m. The required horizontal clearance is 200 m. The cable-stayed bridge comprises three spans (163 m + 245 m + 163 m). It is composed of two 225 m long suspended structures, placed symmetrically along the main pylons axes, which are 245 m apart. A simply supported span of 20 m links these two structures to form the main span of 245 m. This suspended span reduces the effect of deflections on the two main structures. Each main pylon is a W-shaped frame that rests on a pile cap for its foundation. A set of eight stays completes each main 83 m high pylon. The cross section is a two-box girder. The deck is completed with precast transverse slabs, 6.9 m long and 2 m wide, supported on the main beams. When the deck was finished, the transverse beams were prestressed. The original stays were of the locked coil type, but they had to be replaced after 25 years of service. The longitudinal beams of 3.5 m deep were prestressed. The approach viaducts over the river are composed of nine spans of 82.6 m each on the Chaco side, and three spans of 82.6 m each on the Corrientes side. They were built by the balanced cantilever method with precast segments 4.1 m long and 2 m deep at center span and 4.5 m deep over the supports. The overall deck width is 11.3 m, carrying two 3.65 m wide lanes, narrow emergency shoulders of 0.50 m and pedestrian sidewalks 1.5 m wide. The piers of the approach viaducts are constant deep box sections and were built by the sliding formwork method. The foundations were made using 1.8 m diameter bored piles with variable lengths between 38 m and 60 m, and with preloading cells, they are clamped by penetration into the hard clay stratum. At around 20 years of service, the replacement of all the stays was required. Construction works were carried out by Freyssinet SA (Spain) in 1995. Parallel strands stays were installed. The link between both cities, with only two lanes, has proven to be insufficient for the traffic, which has been ever-growing since its construction. The construction of a new bridge is now under consideration. Construction work began in August of 1968 by the initiative of the governments of the provinces involved: Corrientes, Chaco, and Formosa. The owner was DNV, who called for international bids in 1965.

New Solutions for our Society (Abstracts Book 314 pages + CD-ROM full papers 1196 pages), 2008

The Guidebook 2 is written in a user-friendly way employing only basic mathematical tools, supplemented by examples and case studies developed in detail. A wide range of potential users of the Guidebooks and other training materials includes practising engineers, designers, technicians, experts of public authorities, young people-high school and university students. The target groups come from all territorial regions of the partner countries. However, the dissemination of the project results is foreseen to be spread into all Member States of CEN and other interested countries.

Structural Engineering International, 2010

distributions, which renders this typology susceptible to be used in extremely light footbridges as well as road and railway bridges. Steinkjer Bridge (Fig. 1) built in Norway in 1963, with a span of 80 m, was his first project using this typology, which saw a fast development in countries like Norway, Germany, United States, and Japan. Description of Palma del Río Arch Bridge The bridge of Palma del Río, over Guadalquivir River, 3-5 constitutes a remarkable development of this typology with a bowstring that spans 130 m (Fig. 4), and two inclined arches that rise 25 m with a tubular cross section of 0,9 m and 50 mm of maximum thickness (Figs.

IABSE Symposium, Venice 2010: Large Structures and Infrastructures for Environmentally Constrained and Urbanised Areas, 2010

This paper introduces two singular structures designed in the city of San Sebastian. The singularity of these bridges is based not on its dimensions or technical features, but in the way they adapt its design to local conditions. The 6th bridge over the Urumea River will be finished in 2010. This skewed urban bridge is 90 m long, with three spans of approx. 30 m, and 22 m wide. The bridge replaces an existing steel structure with historical values which is reused as a footbridge in a green area. It crosses the river parallel to the existing railway bridge, with associated visual and noise disturbances for the area. The new bridge in the area of Txomin-Enea over the Urumea River adapts to the different characteristics of the river banks. As the left bank will be a newly urbanized area with a green park following the river with walking and cycling paths. The structure uses two spans of 42 and 18 m, with the main span over the river and the side span over the new green area.

2017

This doctoral thesis deals with the design evolution of long span bridges and the corresponding technical improvement which has led to change the role of deck stiffened system through centuries. All typologies (suspension bridges, cable –stayed bridges, deck arch bridges, bowstring arch bridges) usually adopted to cover long distances, have been taken into account, reading in the same perspective the process which allows their structural optimization. Through the back analysis of about 100 existing bridges, this work investigates on main changes occurred for deck stiffened system, underling the corresponding effects on long span bridge structural behaviour. The central thread of this dissertation is to underline that to cover 150m longer spans, it has been necessary to pass form flexural regime of structures having shorter spans, which act like simple beam-bridges, to the extensional regime of slender long span bridges, whose strict succession of deck cross sections guarantee them t...