Spatial Arch Bridges Over the Galindo and Bidasoa Rivers

Abstract

This paper presents two examples of spatial curved-arch bridges recently built in Spain: the bridge over the Galindo River in Vizcaya and the Endarlatsa Bridge over the Bidasoa River.Both bridges have curved decks supported by arches (an upper solution in the Galindo river bridge and a lower arch in the Endarlatsa bridge), but the solution used moves away from the classic planar arches normally employed in these decks: their arch centreline follows in plan the curved deck alignement, resulting in a warped geometry. For that reason, they are in the strict sense spatial arches, curved both in plan and in elevation.Different solutions were used in each of them to resist the out-of-plane forces that appear in warped arches. In the Galindo bridge with active forces introduced with auxiliary cables. In the Endarlatsa bridge with an adequate distribution of the transverse stiffness of the arch and the support conditions of the deck over it.This approach is quite innovative in arch bridges—they are unique examples of this kind of structures—;and creates interesting solutions both from the structural and the aesthetic points of view.