Course detail

Concrete Bridges 1

FAST-BLA011Acad. year: 2025/2026

Importance and development of bridge engineering. Materials for the construction of bridges. Materials properties. Specifications for designing of bridges. General features of design. Loads.
Stone bridges, brick bridges. Bridges from plain concrete. Culverts. Slab bridges - skew, tapered and curved decks. Integral bridges. Slab bridges assembled from precast members. Principles of general types of girder bridges design.
Bridge accessories. Expansion joints, bearings and equipment. Substructure bridges, construction work behind abutment.

Language of instruction

Czech

Number of ECTS credits

Mode of study

Not applicable.

Guarantor

doc. Ing. Radim Nečas, Ph.D.

Department

Institute of Concrete and Masonry Structures (BZK)

Entry knowledge

design of road and bridges, design of concrete structures, prestressed concrete

Rules for evaluation and completion of the course

Extent and forms are specified by guarantor’s regulation updated for every academic year.

Aims

To gain knowledge about basic principles of design of bridges.
To learn designing of essential types of concrete slab and framed bridges.
To gain knowledge and skill in designing of bridge accessories.
A student gains these knowledge and skills:
• Knowledge of basic principles of design of bridges.
• Virtue for designing essential types of concrete slab and framed bridges.
• Knowledge and skill in designing bridge accessories.

Study aids

Not applicable.

Prerequisites and corequisites

Not applicable.

Basic literature

NEČAS, Radim, Jan KOLÁČEK a Josef PANÁČEK. Betonové mosty I. Zásady navrhování. Studijní opora. Brno: FAST VUT, 2014. ISBN 978-80-01-04661-6 (CS)
SEČKÁŘ, Milan. Betonové mosty I. Brno: VUT, 1998. ISBN 80-214-1306-9 (CS)

Recommended reading

JANDA, Lubor, Zdeněk KLEISNER a Jozef ZVARA. Betonové mosty. Praha: SNTL, 1988. (CS)
ŠAFÁŘ, Roman, Vlastimil KUKAŇ, Michal DRAHORÁD a Marek FOGLAR. Betonové mosty 1. Přednášky. Praha: ČVUT, 2010. ISBN 978-80-01-04661-6 (CS)

Classification of course in study plans

  • Programme BPC-SI Bachelor's

    specialization K , 4 year of study, summer semester, compulsory

Type of course unit

 

Lecture

26 hod., optionally

Teacher / Lecturer

doc. Ing. Radim Nečas, Ph.D.

Syllabus

  • 1. Introduction. Development of bridge engineering. Basic definitions. Type of bridges. Essential parts of bridges. Spatial arrangement.
  • 2. Loads. Materials for bridges construction and their properties. Specifications for design of bridges and load-bearing structures.
  • 3. Stone, masonry and plain concrete bridges. Culverts – types, loading, dimensioning.
  • 4. Slab bridges – structural arrangement, static action.
  • 5. Vertical, skew and irregular slabs. Accurate and approximate methods of slab calculation. Expansion action.
  • 6. Slabs from prestressed concrete assembled from precast members – reinforcement, prestressing, calculation methods.
  • 7. Principles of general types of cast in place girder bridges design.
  • 8. Principles of design of general types of girder bridges from precast members.
  • 9. Accessories of road and railway bridges. Waterproofing. Pavements and cornices. Railings and safety barriers.
  • 10. Expansion joinst. Drainage. Steel, concrete, elastomer and combined bearings.
  • 11. Substructure – abutments, wing walls and intermediate supports. Waterproofing and wearing surface. Support threshold. Construction work behind abutment.

Exercise

26 hod., compulsory

Teacher / Lecturer

doc. Ing. Radim Nečas, Ph.D.

Syllabus

  • 1. Reinforced concrete bridge: Design and review of load-bearing structure of a slab bridge, design of bridge, space arrangement, embedding into terrain, superstructure, supporting and equipment.
  • 2. Load (permanent and variable load – vertical moving load), calculation of internal forces using simplified method (method of interaction width), combination of internal forces.
  • 3. Dimensioning for ultimate limit state – material, covering and reinforcement design, analysis of bend and shear, design of transverse reinforcement, anchorage of reinforcement.
  • 4. Evaluation for serviceability limit state – stress and cracks limitation, displacement limitation.
  • 5. Drawings of layout and arrangement of reinforcement.
  • 6. Bridge substructure: Design and checking of support – load-bearing capacity, stability, cantilever wing.
  • 7. Bridge saet (bearing chair), breast wall.
  • 8. Structural members enabling expansion of load-bearing bridge structure. Calculation of expansions, design of members, adjustment of members for different temperatures.
  • 9. Bridge from longitudinal prestressed segments. Design, load, transversal interaction of girders, internal forces, dimensioning and reinforcing principles.
  • 10. Final correction.
  • 11. Design submission. Credit.