Roads and bridges

Teacher(s)

Gilles Pierre; Grégoire Colette; Houdart Sébastien;

Language

English
> French-friendly

Prerequisites

Basic knowledge of structural stability, steel and concrete structures, as taught in the courses LGCIV1022, LGCIV1023, LGCIV1032, LGCIV1072, LGCIV2071

Main themes

The course “ Roads and bridges ” covers a general introduction to the design and use of these structures . It presents the main concepts and the main criteria leading to different technical options during design. The sizing hypotheses are introduced. Details of calculation method are not always covered, but reference is made to related courses.

Content

Roads :

• Types of roads
• Structure of a road: role and characteristics of the different layers
• Design
• Road geotechnics : laboratory tests and in situ tests
• Pavement drainage and soil treatment
• Auscultation – pathologies
• Maintenance

Bridges :
From maintenance to design. Nowadays a bridge engineer needs to know how a bridge behaves over time and how a bridge stock is managed. In this way he can design a new structure well.

1. Bridge types: Bridge types (slab bridge, beam bridge, rigid-frame bridge, arch bridge, stay bridge, suspension bridge, moveable bridge) and bridge materials.
2. Bridge Erection methods: Bridge erection methods either on site and in prefabrication plant (cast in place bridges, erection by displacement, prefabricated elements assembling, ...) with common span for each methods.
3. Specific bridge elements: Bearings, expansion joints, waterproofing, drainage system, pedestrian parapet, safety barrier, instrumentation, …
4. Pathologies: Presentation of bridge pathologies. Link will be made with technical prescriptions or details design that can reduce the impact of those pathologies.
5. Bridge management: Bridge management system concepts (bridge load testing, inspection, indicators, monitoring, ...).
6. Designing bridges: Design principles will be overview with a focus on the actions on bridges (dead loads, variable loads, accidental actions).

Teaching methods

Ex cathedra presentations, combined with field visit of relevant civil w orks, completed or in progress and/or case study analysis

Evaluation methods

Oral or written examination

Online resources

Available on Moodle

Bibliography

Slides, course summaries, reference texts, recommended reading as listed on Moodle

Faculty or entity

GC