Haringvlietbrug (case study)

The Haringvlietbridge is a box girder bridge crossing the Haringvliet North Sea inlet. It was opened in 1964 and is still operational. It carries the A29 motorway, with two lanes in both directions and a parallel local road. The bridge consists of 10 spans of 106 m and has a width of 25,5. The box girder is 5,4 m meters wide. It is stiffened every 2,2 m with a ring frame consisting of a bottom cross girder, sidewall stiffening, and a top cross girder. The top cross girder also cantilevers outside the box girder. Every fourth ring frame this cantilever is supported by a diagonal strut. The other cantilevers are supported by a secondary longitudinal beam. The orthotropic deck is supported by the top cross girders. Traffic across the bridge is heavy with approximately 1,5 million trucks passing in each direction per year. The bridge is constructed (starting from the north side) out of an 80 m side span, a 40 m long bascule movable bridge and a 1059.2 m long main bridge. The monitoring focuses only on the non-movable main bridge and side span. The main bridge consists of a continuous steel box girder beam over 11 supports, with 10 spans of approximately 106 m. The side span consists of a single span box girder bridge. The box girder bridges consist of an 11,5 m wide, 5,4 m high steel box girder on which a 25,5 m wide deck is placed, carried by transverse steel girders. The deck is stiffened with open stiffeners (bulbs). The movable bridge consists of two plate girders, on which a similar deck is placed as on the box girders. The motorway lanes in southernly direction are placed on the west cantilever of the deck. The motorway lanes in northerly directly are placed approximately central on the deck. The parallel local road is placed on the east cantilever of the deck. The box is stiffened every 2,2 mm with a ring frame partly consisting of a bottom cross girder, stiffening of the sidewall, and a top cross girder cantilevering on two sides carrying the deck. The bottom, sides, and top (deck) of the box are stiffened. In the case of the 10 mm thick deck plate, these stiffeners are placed 300 mm center to center. Every fourth ring cross girder, diagonal struts are placed outside the box, supporting the cantilevering part of the deck. At these locations, further, internal cross bracing is provided as well. Running underneath the cantilevers between the external diagonal struts, an approximately 600 mm high secondary beam is placed. The box is constructed out of separate pieces of approximately 12 m length. which are riveted together. The bridge is constructed out of S355 steel. Traffic across the bridge is heavy with approximately 1,5 million trucks passing in each direction, per year (2020). A remarkable increase in traffic was seen since the year 2014 due to the construction of the A4 motorway between Delft and Rotterdam, making the A29 motorway a more logical route for many trucks. The number of trucks per direction is expected to grow to approximately 2 million in 2050.

File:Haringvlietbridge 1.pdf

Object description

The Haringvlietbridge is a box girder bridge crossing the Haringvliet North Sea inlet. It was opened in 1964 and is still operational. It carries the A29 motorway, with two lanes in both directions and a parallel local road. The bridge consists of 10 spans of 106 m and has a width of 25,5. The box girder is 5,4 m meters wide. It is stiffened every 2,2 m with a ring frame consisting of a bottom cross girder, side wall stiffening and a top cross girder. The top cross girder also cantilevers outside the box girder. Every fourth ring frame this cantilever is supported by a diagonal strut. The other cantilevers are supported by a secondary longitudinal beam. The orthotropic deck is supported by the top cross girders. Traffic across the bridge is heavy with approximately 1,5 million trucks passing in each direction per year. The bridge is constructed (starting from the north side) out of a 80 m side span, a 40 m long bascule movable bridge and an 1059.2 m long main bridge. The monitoring focuses only on the non-movable main bridge and side span. The main bridge consists of a continuous steel box girder beam over 11 supports, with 10 spans of approximately 106 m. The side span consists of a single span box girder bridge. The box girder bridges consist of a 11,5 m wide, 5,4 m high steel box girder on which a 25,5 m wide deck is placed, carried by transverse steel girders. The deck is stiffened with open stiffeners (bulbs). The movable bridge consists of two plate girders, on which a similar deck is placed as on the box girders. The motorway lanes in southernly direction are placed on the west cantilever of the deck. The motorway lanes in northerly directly are placed approximately central on the deck. The parallel local road is placed on the east cantilever of the deck. The box is stiffened every 2,2 mm with a ring frame partly consisting a bottom cross girder, stiffening of the side wall and a top cross girder cantilevering on two sides carrying the deck. The bottom, sides and top (deck) of the box are stiffened. In case of the 10 mm thick deck plate, these stiffeners are placed 300 mm center to center. Every fourth ring cross girder, diagonal struts are placed outside the box, supporting the cantilevering part of the deck. At these locations, further internal cross bracing is provided as well. Running underneath the cantilevers between the external diagonal struts, an approximately 600 mm high secondary beam is placed. The box is constructed out of separate pieces of approximately 12 m length. which are riveted together. The bridge is constructed out of S355 steel. Traffic across the bridge is heavy with approximately 1,5 million truck passing in each direction, per year (2020). A remarkable increase in traffic was seen since the year 2014 due to the construction of the A4 motorway between Delft and Rotterdam, making the A29 motorway a more logical route for many trucks. The number of trucks per direction is expected to grow to approximately 2 million in 2050.

Civil engineering type
:
Road network Bridge
Year of construction
:
1964
Composed of materials
:
Location coordinates
:
51° 43' 31.22" N, 4° 24' 4.52" E
Country
:
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Object analysis

The bridge owner (Rijkswaterstaat, the ministry of transport) has concluded, on the basis of an exploratory assessment, that a full recalculation of the bridge is required (ULS and FLS). The scope of the anslysis includes the main arch structure and excludes any side structures such as the approach spans. The recalculation is to be performed according to the relevant Eurocodes, their Dutch National Annexes, a supplementary Dutch code for existing structures and supplementary requirements by Rijkswaterstaat. The models used in the analysis are to be validated with measurements on the bridge. Measurements will be taken of 3 months of normal traffic. Moreover, a load test will be performed on an otherwise empty bridge.

Case type
:
Consulting

Object state

General state of the object is good. Minor corrosion at various location. A few loose rivets have been observed. Fatigue cracks are present in the orthotropic deck and main load bearing structure.

Observed deterioration processes
:
Observed damage types
:
Performance indicators
:
Deformation, Traffic information via WIM/BWIM, Cracks (width/length/pattern), Anomalies (delamination/spalling)

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(No images available for this case study.)

Documents

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This case study was contributed by Sjors van Es of TNO. Last edited by technical staff.