Worldwide steel bridges are constructed in different structure forms with varied span lengths like highways bridges, footbridges, and railway bridges. The reason why steel is the predominant material for the construction of steel bridges is because of its strength, easy fabrication, ductility, and rapid construction. When compared to concrete.
Advantages of Steel bridge structure
Why steel has been used as the construction material in bridge construction.
- As steel is cost-effective material it helps the municipal government to save money and faster construction prevent traffic jam and disruption to the business.
- The life span of steel bridges is longer and needs less maintenance which needs to be replaced quickly.
- As steel components can be used to transmit critical utility services across bridges and they are less likely to be damaged during the extreme weather conditions of earthquakes and hurricanes.
- As steel has the properties of a very high strength-to-weight ratio, the construction costs required for the building of the substructures are reduced compared to other materials.
- One of the biggest advantages of steel is weight savings, which means lower erection costs since the bridge pieces can be handled with lighter equipment. In addition, for the same span and load, a steel girder requires less depth than a concrete girder, which can be helpful when constrained by vertical clearance requirements.
- When compared to the concrete material it’s easier to make the design spans continuous for both live and dead loads to develop composite action with steel.
- Inspection and determining the structural state of the steel bridge are very easy as all the components are visible and by using steel with weather capabilities we can increase the durability and cost-effectiveness of the steel bridges.
- As steel has long been spent in crossing the lakes, streams, and wetlands it can eliminate at least the minimize environment impacts
Component of Bridge:
- Pile – To support the new bridge a concrete post is driven into the ground acting like a leg pile and driven is used to drive it into the ground. This pile-driver acts like a hammer hitting the pile to get into the ground.
- Cap – To handle the dispersed pressure to the piles below the cap sits on the top of the ground.
- Bent – Bent is nothing but the combination of the cap and the pile and it acts like a support for the entire bridge.
- Girders – There are the arms of the bridge and they extend from bent to bent to support the bridge decking and also help in handling the dispersed pressure to the bents.
- Decking – The road surface to the bridge is the decking and they rest on the grinders, to support the bents that make up the caps and piles.
Types of Steel Bridges:
- Beam Bridges: This type of bridge is used in highway bridge construction for the medium span length. There are of two types multi-grinder which have multiple steel beams involved whereas the ladder deck has intermediate bracings and two steel beams.
- Box Girder Bridges: This type of bridge is in the trapezoidal box shapes hence referred to as the ‘box girder The main purpose of this construction is for a composite of steel reinforced concrete, pre-stressed and structural steel. Appropriate heights for this kind of bridge are 100m to 200m, a single box or more boxes are used based on the requirement.
- Truss Bridges: Widely used in the construction of railway bridges, footbridges, gantries, and demountable bridges with a height span of 50m. The framework superstructure composed of interconnected steel elements determines the load-bearing capacity of the truss bridge.
- Arch Bridges: Arch bridges are used to construct bridges wide side the waterways or places where construction or establishing the foundations becomes harder. There are also referred to as the through-type arch bridge or half-through arch bridges.
- Suspension Bridges: The steel cables are used for the vertical high-tension wires as well as the hangers and steel absorb tension forces are used as the best solution for the longest spans. The typical construction of suspension bridges is with two steel cables hung in between the 2 supports forming a catenary.
This article describes how steel has changed the construction process and material as well as steel’s most important material in the construction industry. Choosing the best steel for building construction or building is one of the most important and hard parts. InfraGreen is one of the most trusted companies in the steel supply and construction of buildings.