Posts: 14,118
Threads: 61
Joined: Oct 2014
Bridge designers must ensure that the bridge bearings can transmit the high horizontal loads of the current designs. The ratio of horizontal to vertical load is increasing due to the current trend towards continuous, free of articulation and redundant structures. From the 10-20% level of some years ago, the horizontal forces are now in and above the corresponding vertical loads. These horizontal forces require that the stability of the bearings be investigated. Two levels of stability criteria are presented, for normal conditions and for extraordinary temporal conditions. A tipping factor of 3.0 is proposed for rectangular surfaces (5.0 for circular surfaces) under normal loads (ie dead, wind and live), while a factor of 1.5 for rectangular surfaces (2.0 For circular surfaces) (ie, seismic or construction) temporary loads. Examples of stability controls for bearings, disks and beads are presented.
It is noted that stability is a part of the bridge bearing design and that the bearings must be designed and detailed to meet the required vertical and horizontal load capacities, rotation limits and anchor bolt clearances. Stability control should be performed for any guided or loose surface after all other design and detail requirements have been met. It is also noted that the dimensions of the bearing details can be adjusted normally to provide the recommended safety stability factors. In the work three specimens of bearings (potentiometers, disc bearings, spherical bearings) that require a different approach for the calculation of the moment of rollover are presented.