Use of thick, heavy plates for bridge construction

Abstract

AbstractModern steel or steel composite bridges need modern solutions in steel: often thick heavy plates play a crucial role in bridge building, possibly used as flange plate in heavy bridge beams or as thick deck plate in a trough bridge. Depending on the application thick heavy plates allow efficient fabrication or potentially increase the sustainability of a bridge construction. As today especially fabrication efficiency and durability gain importance, it leads to an increase in the application of thick heavy plates. However, when designing with thick heavy plates often the designer reaches technical or regulatory limits. This report will show some solutions to overcome these existing restraints, e.g. improved possibilities in the production of thick thermomechanically rolled steels or extension of the simplified brittle fracture analysis according to Table 2.1 of EN 1993‐1‐10. The consistent exploitation of these possibilities opens a variety of new advantageous options in constructing road or railway bridges.