65 YEARS of PRESTRESSING CONCRETE in NEW ZEALAND BRIDGES JAMIL KHAN1, GEOFF BROWN2 1Technical Director
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
65 YEARS OF PRESTRESSING CONCRETE IN NEW ZEALAND BRIDGES JAMIL KHAN1, GEOFF BROWN2 1Technical Director - Structural Engineering, Beca Ltd, Wellington, New Zealand 2Senior Technical Director - Structural Engineering, Beca Ltd, Wellington, New Zealand SUMMARY Prestressing has played an important role in extending the span capability and economy of concrete bridges. The history of bridge construction in New Zealand has proved that prestressed concrete is an excellent material for constructing bridges and Kiwi engineers made considerable early use of prestressed concrete in bridge construction. Kiwi engineers love new ideas and embrace new technologies. New Zealand bridge engineers, from the early days, were not afraid to take on the challenge of working with new and innovative materials. INTRODUCTION Prestressed Concrete is one of the most cost effective and durable construction materials and can provide many advantages over other materials. Originating in France, prestressing in bridge construction was introduced in early 1950’s. In the United Kingdom, the first major prestressed concrete road bridge was the replacement for Northam Bridge[24], Southampton in 1954. Walnut Lane Bridge in Philadelphia completed in late 1950, is considered the first prestressed concrete bridge in the USA[25]. It is remarkable that New Zealand, as a remote country at the end of the world, made considerable early use of prestressed concrete in bridge construction. IPENZ’s records indicate that in 1954 the Hutt Estuary Bridge[18] used post-tensioned prestressed concrete for the first time in New Zealand. Upper Hutt City Council also claims their Bridge Road Bridge B8/1, built in 1954 over the Akatarawa River, was the first prestressed bridge in New Zealand[17]. As one can see, Kiwi Bridge engineers were keeping up with UK and USA engineers in adopting this new technology. This paper provides a journey of the last 65 years through the developments of prestressed concrete bridge construction in New Zealand, recognising and celebrating some of the notable achievements of our pioneer bridge engineers and constructors. The journey of the last 65 years is broadly grouped into three eras: • Adoption Era, 1953-1962, engineers adopted prestressing technology in bridges. • Golden Era, 1963-2002, engineers pushed for innovations and scale in bridge designs. • Refinement Era, 2003- Today, engineers focused on better understanding the behaviour of prestressed concrete and improving performance. ADOPTION ERA FOR PRESTRESSED BRIDGES IN NEW ZEALAND (1953-1962) Prestressed concrete was virtually unknown in New Zealand before 1952. Kiwis began using prestressed concrete in bridge construction from about 1953, and soon it became a preferred material for bridge construction. In 1956 New Zealand bridge engineers had built Waitaki River bridge, the longest bridge the world (at that time), using precast, pre-tensioned I-Beam. By 1960, prestressed concrete became one of the foremost bridge-building materials for medium span bridges. Prestressing techniques were mainly used in precasting components (largely beams) in factories. The Ministry of Works (MoW) produced standard beam designs to make factory manufacture easier. At the same time, bridge designers were making intensive efforts to apply prestressing to continuous-span, cast-in-place superstructures; for example, prestressed concrete box girder bridges. Cobham Bridge over Wanganui River on the State Highway 3, was constructed in 1962, is the first cast-in-situ prestressed concrete box girder structure in New Zealand. In the following section we have listed some examples of prestressed concrete bridges from this adoption era of prestressed concrete bridges in New Zealand, to recognise and celebrate some of the more notable achievements of New Zealand bridge engineers in adopting the prestressed concrete. Bridge Road Bridge B8/1, Upper Hutt In 1954 Hutt County Council upgraded the smaller of the two Black Bridges (that crossed the Akatarawa River) in order to continue to provide Bridge Road residents with vehicle access. Two new prestressed concrete deck spans were built over top of the old wooden bridge, but remained supported by the original 1881 pier. The old wooden trusses and the original decking were then removed. Figure 1 shows the way this bridge was when it was re-opened after its 1954 upgrade. The wooden tresses at the side hadn’t been removed yet, but one can see that the concrete decking was sitting above them. The pre-tensioned beams were ‘T’ beams with a combined deck slab that was joined by insitu stitches between each beam. On Thursday 29 October 2015, the central pier (old 1881 pier) settled due to scouring under the foundation and the bridge partially collapsed, it was a sad loss for our engineering heritage when this first prestressed bridge was demolished and replaced with a single span weathering steel bridge. Figure 1. Bridge opening 1954 Figure 2. Central Pier failure 29 October 2015 Hutt Estuary Bridge The Hutt Estuary Bridge, completed in 1954, was New Zealand’s first substantial bridge with a prestressed concrete superstructure[1,18]. At the time of its construction this road bridge was widely regarded as a significant New Zealand engineering project. The Hutt Estuary Bridge is a two-lane road bridge consisting of five 32m spans and 9m approach spans at each end. It was designed with a pedestrian walkway on the South side, and a serviceway on the opposite side carrying water pipes and other services, across the Hutt River. The bridge’s parabolic profile was a design feature to allow for the required flood clearances. Figure 3. Hutt Estuary Bridge Figure 4. Hutt Estuary Bridge construction Waitaki River Bridge – South Canterbury The Waitaki River Bridge in South Canterbury, comprising 30m spans, 906m long and carrying two lanes of traffic, was built in 1956. It has reinforced concrete pile caps supporting twin cylinder columns at 4m centres. The superstructures comprise precast, pre-tensioned I-beams with a reinforced concrete slab. At the time of its construction, it was considered as one of the world’s longest bridges using precast pre-tensioned and I-beams. Figure 5. Waitaki River Bridge Figure 6. Waitaki River Bridge construction Victoria Park Viaduct The Victoria Park Viaduct is a major motorway viaduct carrying the Auckland Northern Motorway (SH1) over Victoria Park in Auckland. Construction began in 1959 using post- tensioned precast beams and the bridge opened on 5 April 1962. The overall length of the bridge is about 630m. Figure 7. Victoria Park Viaduct Figure 8. Victoria Park Viaduct construction Cobham Bridge, Whanganui Cobham Bridge over the Whanganui River on SH3, was designed by the MoW and constructed in 1962 and is the first cast-in-situ prestressed concrete box girder structure in New Zealand. The 275m long bridge comprises 9 spans. The first three spans from each abutment are composed of four 27.4m post-tensioned precast concrete I-beams with a composite insitu concrete deck. The fourth span of 32.9m, from each end, comprises a 3 web, post-tensioned, cast insitu, haunched concrete box girder cantilevering 9.8m into the central span. Four 24.4m long post-tensioned precast concrete I-beams complete the 43.9m long centre span[15]. Piers are full width reinforced concrete walls supported on a group of 400mm square prestressed concrete raked piles. Figure 9. Cobham Bridge, Whanganui Figure 10. Cobham Bridge arial view GOLDEN ERA FOR PRESTRESSED BRIDGES IN NEW ZEALAND (1963 - 2002) The advancement in the technology of prestressed concrete and construction techniques, forced Kiwi bridge engineers to start refining their designs through innovation to produce some state-of-the-art prestressed concrete bridges. This was the golden era of prestressed bridges in New Zealand, when Kiwi-engineers pushed the boundaries and produced a number of elegant and ground-breaking designs. With the establishment of the NZ Prestressed Concrete Institute, New Zealand bridge engineers embraced another innovative technique in the design and construction of bridges. Bridges constructed from each supporting column as balanced cantilevers, progressively moving out from each side, were developed. Kiwi engineers love new ideas and embrace new technologies. From the early days, they were not afraid to take on the challenge of working with new and innovative materials. This Kiwi ingenuity has led to a number of outstanding and leading-edge bridges, which were not only unique to New Zealand, but also the world. Among their many achievements, New Zealand bridge engineers built the Shell Gully bridges with the first application of capacity design concept, were the first to adopt the new technology of incremental launching in Australasia, and designed and constructed the world's first base isolated bridge structure. They also developed the world’s first catch frame to reduce the vulnerability of the existing bridges against major earthquakes. During this era, Kiwi engineers also produced some elegant, aesthetically appealing and state- of-art bridges such as the South Rangitikei Viaduct, Lower Shotover Bridge, Hapuawhenua Viaduct and the Ōtira Viaduct to name a few from a long list. The NZ Prestressed Concrete Institute The NZ Prestressed Concrete Institute was established in 1963 and Sandy Cormack was its first president. This provided a platform for bridge engineers to share their ideas, and to learn about prestressing concrete and its application to their projects. Its founders were particularly keen to introduce