On 27 September, Jaime Granell, Ferrovial Agroman Australia Technical Director on behalf of Pacifico JV, and John Hilton, Global Service Leader, Bridges and Civil Structures at Aurecon on behalf of Aurecon Arup Design JV presented the development of a new concrete girder for road bridges in Australia.
The presentation was sponsored by the Institution of Engineers Australia, as part of the monthly events of the Civil and Structural Panel, Sydney Division. Refer to EA website for further information about this event: https://www.engineersaustralia.org.au/portal/event/u-girders-credible-super-t-alternative
The girder has been utilised on the Warrell Creek to Nambucca Heads contract of the Pacific Highway Upgrade in NSW for the Roads and Maritime Services. This project included the 850m long Nambucca River Bridge, the 365m Upper Warrell Creek Bridge and the 239m long Warrell Creek Bridge.
The U-girder, has been developed for medium span road bridges in the range 30 m to 42 m.
This superstructure system has a number of advantages over a traditional Super-T solution including, longer spans; stability on erection due to the flat horizontal soffit at the pier/abutment support points and vertical orientation once in place and; substantially reduced tonnage of pre-stressed concrete required for a given span.
The implementation of this structural solution in the Pacific Highway, is a result of our outgoing commitment to provide innovation, as the best vehicle to achieve efficient solutions and improve the design and construction integration.
From Ferrovial Agroman Australia, we would like to thank you the Institution of Engineers Australia for inviting us to participate in this event.
