Bicyclists- and pedestrians bridge Wetteren
Ingenieursbureau
STENDESS N.V.
Grote Baan 18
9920 Lovendegem
Belgium
Tel.: +32 9 370 71 25
Fax: +32 9 372 43 95
Contact: ir.
Geert Goethals;
ir. Jurn De Vleeschauwer
Email:
Website:
A steel and concrete engineering
company
Stendess can vouch for the total stability
analysis of projects.
Our approach covers
the initial study trough to the end project.
With its in-house know-how in steel as well
as concrete, the firm is able to offer full study
pack-ages for both materials.
Thanks to its accumulated know-how and
its advanced infrastructure, Stendess can fol-
low up on cross-border projects in accor-
dance
with
most standards and codes:
Eurocode,
NBN,
NEN,
DIN,
NF,
AISC, British
Stan-dards and specific national codes.
Key activities
•
Industrial
buildings
: steel factories,
power plants, depots, etc,
•
Other buildings
: service buildings, con-
cert
halls, sport facilities, swimming
pools, apartment buildings,
•
Bridge construction
: all types of bridges
•
Off-shore projects
: lock gates, Roro, oil
rigs,
…
•
Industrial
equipment
: silos, cranes,
crane ways
•
Erection engineering
: longitudinal and
transverse repositioning, skidding, hoist-
ing,…
Type
:
Arched bridge
Location
:
Highway E40, 9230
Wetteren,
Belgium
Owner
:
Ministerie
van
de
Vlaamse
Gemeenschap;
Afdeling Wegen en Verkeer
Oost-Vlaanderen, Zwijnaarde Belgium
Architect
:
Ministerie
van
de
Vlaamse
Gemeenschap;
Afdeling
metaalstructuren,
Brussels, Belgium
Engineering
office
: Ingenieursbureau
STENDESS N.V., Lovendegem, Belgium
Contractor
:
Metaalconstructie
Aelterman
B.V.B.A.,
Destelbergen, Belgium
Total steel
weight
: ± 200 tons
Total length
: 105 m; bowstring l = 75 m
Highest point
: ± 20 m (top of arches)
Building period
: 2003
Short description of the project
The construction of a roundabout for the
N42 above the E40,
with its numerous con-
nections with approaches and exits, created
for bicyclists and pedestrians a dangerous
situation. It was decided to build a separate
bicyclist and pedestrian bridge at the west
side of the floating roundabout. Thanks to
the building of this bridge the cyclist traffic
has been completely separated from the
road traffic.
For the engineering of the bridge, the con-
dition was set that the construction of the
bridge should cause a minor problems for
the traffic on the highway E40.
The land abutments could be planted in the
talus. The zone between the exit and the
motorway, direction Brus-sels,
was
wide
enough to build a pile. This configuration
led to two spans of 30 m and 75 m respec-
tively. For the main span an arched bridge
with open falling arches was chosen and for
the road deck an orthotropic steel deck.
The
whole bridge
was completely pre-
assembled in the
workshop, so that the
assembly
on the spot could
be
done
smoothly.
There were only 8 hours of traffic interrup-
tion foreseen. The
main span, this is the
bowstring part,
was assembled along the
highway. In one night the 180 tons weigh-
ing arched bridge was turned over 90 ° with
cranes and rollers into the right place.
In this work of art the greatest characters of
steel came clearly to their right: the slim line
and the playful form of the construction,
speed of assembly and the limited traffic
interruption, the minor construction height
for the great spans,
…
Use of ESA-Prima Win
Description of technical questions
solved by means of ESA-Prima Win
Both, for the dimensioning of the bridge in
the traffic situation and the erection engi-
neering of the bridge, ESA-Prima Win was
used.
The complete 3D-model
was formed
with
bars, the orthotropic deck plate
was put
together as 2D-elements,
with the purpose
of creating the real lateral stiffness of the
bridge. This was necessary because of the
very light and slender character of the main
girders and the arches.
For the calculation with regard to the traffic
situation each bridge member was given a
buckling factor based on the rules of EC3.
The beam check
was then
made by EC3
steel check of ESA-Prima Win.
The buckling control of the arches was done
in three
ways. The first
method
was done
with EC3-steel check of ESA-Prima Win. The
second method was based on the calculation
of the axial critical buckling force,
which was
compared
with the
max. calculated axial
force by ESA-Prima Win. The third method
was done by using the stability check of ESA-
Prima Win in which a sinusoidal pre-deforma-
tion was given for the arches.
The tension bars,
which support the deck,
were simulated as classic bars, but with the
E-modulus of the tension bar
material in
relation to the inclination of the tension bars
(this means they were considered as cables
84
Company
Project
Bicyclists- and pedestrians bridge
Wetteren
SCIA User Contest 2005 / Civil Engineering
2
Categorie
