Exchange of all bearings of both superstructures

CLIENT: Messrs. BLS, Duisburg und ARGE ESB-Kirchhoff / BWS Rhein-Neckar.
OBJECT: Bridge construction consisting of 17 fields and 2 separate superstructures.
THE SERVICES:
Detailed design for auxilliary supports for the exchange of bearings.
Detailed design for new drainage system.
As-built plan, log-book of bridge construction.

For the construction "Bridge Niddawiesen" on the Federal Motorway A66 new bridge bearings were required and the lower side needed rehabilitation. The construction UF DB + WW-Niddawiese is located between the junctions Frankfurt Miquelallee and Frankfurt Ludwig-Landmann-Straße on the position km 105,641. The bridge construction was finished in 1974.
The total length of the bridge construction is 551 m. It consists of 17 fields with an effective span width between 26 and 34 m. Each superstructure includes 3 lanes and shoulders. The width of superstructure is 17.25 m.
The services:
The KOCKS ENGINEERS were contracted with the design for the auxilliary construction for the exchange of bearings by the company BLS, Duisburg in 2008. For this purpose, different stabilisers consisting of HEM-1000 profiles resp. tubular columns with a diameter of 350 mm were employed.
At the hammer head piers, clamps made of steel profiles were required as there was no base plate or foundation cutoff.
The presses could be positioned on the supports in the area of the abutments which made an auxilliary construction dispensable.
In the area of the undercrossing of the railway tracks an originally planned construction towards the rails could be omitted because of a change in column arrangement. On several spots, a horizontal span of the foundation base was required to sustain the tensile splitting strength.
The existing bearings were exchanged against new calotte bearings from the company Maurer, Munich. Because of smaller surfaces additinal certificates for authorization were essential for the concrete quality. Each superstructure contains 2 rows of bearings. The vertical load capacities are between 5.000 KN and 11.000 KN for each bearing.
Fixed bearings are positioned at each superstructure near the centre of the bridge on the axes 800, 900 and 1,000. These bearings are fixed against sliding in longitudinal and cross direction.
All bearings on the other intermediate piles are movable in longitudinal direction but not in cross direction.The maximum tolerance was determined to be 15 mm.
The log-book for the bridge construction including as-built plan was prepared by the KOCKS ENGINEERS for the main client, the association of ESB-Kirchhoff and BWS Rhein-Neckar. This included the completion of all rehabilitation data on the lower side of the bridge and the substructures.
The entire project was concluded in September 2009 and it resulted into construction costs of around 2.8 million.