Case Study

Watergate Bridge

 Arch profile investigations

 Linear and nonlinear buckling analysis
 Global modelling of structure and local modelling of connections

The new Watergate Bridge across the River Boyne in Trim, County Meath, in the Republic of
Ireland is a low rise, parabolic arch road bridge with cantilevered pedestrian walkways. The
designers, Roughan & O’Donovan, used LUSAS Bridge to assist with all aspects of its analysis
including the preliminary design and selection of the structural form, linear and geometric
nonlinear buckling analysis of the superstructure, and also for local analysis of selected complex
fabricated connections.
Overview

The new bridge spans 35m and comprises

tapering pentagonal arch chord sections with
pairs of Macalloy hanger bars connecting to
Universal Beam tie members. Universal Column
transverse members and end diaphragms
support a 225mm reinforced concrete deck
which acts compositely with superstructure
steelwork. It replaces a previous composite
multi-span structure that had a weight restriction
and was in a bad state of repair. A clear-span
replacement structure was required in order to
eliminate the regular upstream flooding
problems caused by the three wide piers and
deck superstructure of the existing structure.
The result for the client Meath County Council is
a landmark modern structure that complements
the heritage of the town and its surroundings.

2D preliminary design

Preliminary design with LUSAS involved the

creation of 2D line beam models to investigate
alternative arch profiles, hanger configurations
and relative section sizes. These models quickly
showed the advantages and disadvantages of
each arrangement. A low rise arch with vertical
hanger rods was chosen in preference to a
higher rise arch for aesthetic reasons. However,
this meant that greater bending effects would
occur in the arch chord and longitudinal
members, and also the arches could not be
braced horizontally, so careful consideration of
their buckling capacity would be required.

Having chosen the arch type the next step was

to carry out a comparative analysis of the
relative section sizes of the arch chord member
against the longitudinal tie member because a
stiff arch would reduce the effects in the deck
and vice versa. This process was very much
simplified by using the section library built into
LUSAS. This led to an influence line analysis
which showed that the worst effects in the arch
are caused by quarter span loading and by high
intensity, short loaded lengths.

The final and possibly most important stage of the preliminary design was the buckling analysis. UK
design code BS5400 Part 3 gives a table of effective lengths for compression members, all of which are
rather conservative, but allows the designer to determine the effective length by an elastic critical buckling
analysis. LUSAS calculated the first few mode shapes and the effective length and critical buckling load
was found.

3D detailed analysis

A complete elastic analysis was carried out on a 3D line beam model with the deck modelled with thick
shell elements. Live loading, temperature loading, and the effect of a collision on the arch rib were all
analysed. From this, it was found that the tensile forces in the tie beam were shed to the composite
concrete deck and as a result the girder size was reduced and additional reinforcing steel was added to
the deck to take the tensile stresses. This made the deck monolithic with the tie beam, and torsionally
stiffened the girder as a result.

It was considered that the linear buckling analysis from the two dimensional model had over-estimated
the critical buckling load so this was recalculated for the 3D model with more accurate modelling of the
end fixity. A full geometric nonlinear buckling analysis investigated 2nd order effects of loading the deck
and from the load cases considered it was seen that loading the full span with a Uniformly Distributed
Load caused the greatest lateral deflections of the arches. A comparison of the effective lengths from the
3D linear and nonlinear analyses gave very similar results of 12.7m and 12.5m respectively. Based on
these values a maximum allowable compressive stress of 212N/mm 2 was obtained for the steel type
used.
Local modelling

While the 3D line beam model was satisfactory for the design of individual members, more detailed local
models were required for complex fabricated connections such as the arch/girder connection above the
bearing and for the arch/tie rod connection. Forces and moments derived from the 3D global model were
applied to the local model allowing stresses and shear distribution in these connections to be easily seen
and economical weld sizes obtained.

"LUSAS was used throughout the design, from preliminary sizing of members right
through to the detailed design of the more complex fabricated elements. It helped us to
provide the client with an efficient, aesthetically pleasing structure."