Bridge Loading:
An Introduction for IDP3
Image: viaduct over the river Tajo, Alcantara reservoir, Caceres, Spain. Source:
[Link]
Bridge loads
Summary of load types to be considered in bridge analysis:
Type of load Description
Dead loads Gravity loading due to weights of structural and non-structural parts of
the bridge.
Road (or rail) traffic loading Gravity loading due to road and rail vehicles ‘load models’.
Pedestrian traffic loads Gravity loading due to non-vehicular traffic distributed load.
Shrinkage and creep Loads induced by deformations being restrained. Particularly relevant
in concrete structures.
Differential settlements Differential settlements in supports induce additional bending moment
and shear in the deck.
Restrained thermal Loads induced by deformations being restrained.
expansion/contraction
Impact loads Representative of collision with errant vehicles.
Dynamic effects Effect of bridge vibration.
Wind loads Horizontal loading due to wind on parapets, vehicles and the bridge
itself.
Prestress Hyperstatic reactions and secondary moments (indeterminate bridges).
Based on: ‘Bridge Deck Analysis’ by OBrien,
Keogh and O’Connor (CRC, 2014).
Not applicable – included just
Road traffic loading for your reference
LOAD MODELS: LM1
• Normal loading: EC defines Load Model 1, LM1, for general design and local verification.
• LM1 represents the worst combination of standard vehicles expected to occur just once in a
50-year lifetime in 5% of the bridges, i.e. a 1000-year return period.
• LM1 consists of a distributed load plus a tandem system, TS (4-wheel vehicle), different
for each notional lane.
9 kN/m2
2.5 kN/m2
600 kN 400 kN 200 kN
remaining area
1 2 3
3m 3m 3m <3m
Not applicable – included just
Road traffic loading for your reference
LOAD MODELS: LM1
• Normal loading: EC defines Load Model 1, LM1, for general design and local verification.
• LM1 represents the worst combination of standard vehicles expected to occur just once in a
50-year lifetime in 5% of the bridges, i.e. a 1000-year return period.
• LM1 consists of a distributed load plus a tandem system, TS (4-wheel vehicle), different
for each notional lane.
• If there are more than 3 9 kN/m2
notional lanes, then
2.5 kN/m2
there will not be TS in all
of them.
600 kN 400 kN 200 kN
remaining area
1 2 3 4
3m 3m 3m 3m <3m
Not applicable – included just
Road traffic loading for your reference
LOAD MODELS: LM1
• Normal loading: EC defines Load Model 1, LM1, for general design and local verification.
• LM1 represents the worst combination of standard vehicles expected to occur just once in a
50-year lifetime in 5% of the bridges, i.e. a 1000-year return period.
• LM1 consists of a distributed load plus a tandem system, TS (4-wheel vehicle), different
for each notional lane.
• If there are more than 3 9 kN/m2
notional lanes, then
2.5 kN/m2
there will not be TSs in
all of them.
• If there are 2 notional
lanes or less, the TSs
will be the heaviest. 600 kN 400 kN
remaining area
1 2
3m 3m <3m
Not applicable – included just
Road traffic loading for your reference
LOAD MODELS: LM1
• Normal loading: EC defines Load Model 1, LM1, for general design and local verification.
• LM1 represents the worst combination of standard vehicles expected to occur just once in a
50-year lifetime in 5% of the bridges, i.e. a 1000-year return period.
• LM1 consists of a distributed load plus a tandem system, TS (4-wheel vehicle), different
for each notional lane.
• If there are more than 3 5.5 kN/m2
notional lanes, then
there will not be TSs in
all of them.
• If there are 2 notional
lanes or less, the TSs
will be the heaviest. 600 kN 400 kN 200 kN
remaining area
• In the UK, the
distributed load in LM1
is set to 5.5 kN/m2 in all
notional lanes. 1 2 3 4
3m 3m 3m 3m <3m
Rail traffic loading
RAIL TRAFFIC LOADS
• Modelling railway loading is considerably less complex than road traffic loading:
• Transverse location is fixed
• Train is assumed to stay on the tracks
• Carriage weights can be better controlled than road heavy traffic.
• Accounting for the rocking effect: usually design assumes 55% - 45% split between rails for
the vertical loads, which can generate torsion.
• Apart from vertical loads, other actions need to be considered:
• Centrifugal forces
• Traction and braking
• Load effects generated by train-track-structure interactions.
Rail traffic loading
RAIL TRAFFIC LOAD MODELS
• Most relevant load models:
• LM71: represents the vertical loading due to normal rail traffic.
• HSLM: high speed passenger trains, speed > 200 km/h
• “unloaded train” model: 10 kN/m.
LOAD MODEL This represents one train as long as the entire bridge
LM71
• All characteristic values above to be multiplied by a “classified vertical loads” :
• In general: a not less than 1.0, but countries can adopt different values.
• The recommendation is a = 1.33 for freight traffic and int’l lines:
• To take into account increasing axle loads over the next few decades.
• For consistency across Europe.
Rail traffic loading
LOAD MODEL
LM71
• You have two tracks 2 x LM71 trains to
be considered.
• Since each LM71 train rests on two rails
half of loads applied on each rail.
• Don’t forget to apply the factors in the
next slide! i.e. x 1.33 x 1.5.
• Width of each track = 1440 mm
• Reference distance between inner
rails of the two tracks (‘separation’)
= 2560 mm
Example of cross-section
Rail traffic loading
DYNAMIC AMPLIFICATION
FACTOR
• It accounts for the dynamic magnification of stresses and vibration effects in the structure.
Φ=
{
Φ2 ∈[1.00,1.67]
¿
¿
Φ3 ∈[1.00,2.00]
for carefully maintained tracks
for tracks with standard maintenance this is the default
We can assume this as 1.5 as
RAIL TRAFFIC: VERTICAL LOADS, IN sufficiently representative.
SHORT
LM71
a = 1.33 Φ 3=1.00 … 2.00
Characteristic vertical loads
Classified vertical loads
Amplified vertical loads