RESTORATION OF A DAMAGED BAILEY SUSPENSION BRIDGE

The 116m long Bailey suspension bridge across the River Diana in the foothills of the Himalayas in Bhutan was constructed in 1990. On 5 March 1995, maintenance staff noted excess sagging of some of its panels, and a closer inspection revealed a broken male lug in one of the panels. This paper describes the temporary and permanent restoration of the bridge. As it was necessary to restore traffic over the bridge immediately, it was decided to first restore it temporarily by attaching chord reinforcements to the bottom chords of three of the panels, to provide extra strength and stability. The bridge was given a load test, and observations were made of movements on the bridge. As a precaution, certain traffic restrictions were imposed until completion of the permanent replacement of the defective panel. The permanent restoration began on 14 March 1995, using a step-by-step procedure that the paper details. The whole operation of lifting the defective panel and inserting the new panel was completed in one stretch, with very careful safety precautions. Photographs show various operations in the temporary and permanent restorations.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/oclc/1790571
• Corporate Authors:

  Indian Roads Congress

  Jamnagar House, Shahjahan Road
  New Delhi,   India  110 011
• Authors:
  • GOPALAKRISHNAN, R
• Publication Date: 1999-7

Language

• English

Media Info

• Pagination: p. 11-8
• Serial:
  • Indian Highways
  • Volume: 27
  • Issue Number: 7
  • Publisher: Indian Roads Congress
  • ISSN: 0376-7256

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Bridge decks; Bridges; Defects; Geometric segments; Improvements; Loads; Material reinforcement; Motion; Repairing; Safety; Slopes; Stability (Mechanics); Strength of materials; Surveillance; Suspension bridges; Tests
• Geographic Terms: Bhutan
• ITRD Terms: 8009: Bhutan; 3455: Bridge; 3482: Bridge deck; 5238: Defect (tech); 9108: Improvement; 5567: Load; 5483: Movement; 9111: Reinforcement (gen); 3635: Repair; 1665: Safety; 5930: Stability; 5544: Strength (mater); 2816: Sudden sag; 9101: Surveillance; 3476: Suspension bridge; 6255: Test
• Subject Areas: Bridges and other structures; Highways; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00779374
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transport Research Laboratory
• Files: ITRD
• Created Date: Dec 7 1999 12:00AM