Le pont de Brotonne, un exemple d‘un pont & haubans multiples ot diun tablier partiellement préfabriqué Die GUMEBRRERPECKe ein Beispiel einer seilverspannten Brilcke mit Mehrfachseilen und totivorgeterticter Brilckentafel Hocr GporoWH, ~ npaniep nongectora mocra co MMOEETRENMIM OTTAMKaN H UacTHUNO cBopHOl onanyG.o% fet ietest, Pract summary srotome bridge 4s 4 cable-stayed bridge in pres tressed conerece, Bullt by corbelling-oue sith Partial prefabrication of the deck. ‘There is & central span of QQRR which is = record for structures of this kind. Résumé Le pont de Brotonne est un pent A haubans multiples répartis en béton précontraint construit par encorbellement avec préfa~ brication partielle du tablier, conpor- tant une portée centrale de 320m, qui constitue le record parni les ouvrages de ce type. Zusammenfassung Die Brotonne-Sricke ist eine Ausleger- konstruktion mit Mehrfachkabaln in Farm Cigbeton und ceilvorgefertigter Briicken— tafel und besitat ein Mittelfelé von 320m, vas einen Rekord fir Bauverke die~ sex Art bedeutet. KWYEHNE, ocr Bporony npeactaenmer co6o# HocT ¢ MhoMecT= enwunin Or TamKaMe Ha cBocHOrO Gerona, KOHCONSHO onanyOxv, uNeer YeNTpansiMiA NpoNeT ANMHOR 6 320 %, ufo npeactaanser cofee nexopn nna pa6or1 = Lwrmeouctton (rig. 1) On economical and technical bases, cantilever construction 1s presently the best solution for concrete bridges with spans varying hetueen 50 and 150 n. Serious dravbacks start to appear with ‘span lengths greater than 200 n high values of bending moments die to dead weight because of the varying inertia of the deck = simultaneously, high compressive stresses in the orton slab = rapid increase of the mmber of centilever ten conse However sone cantilever bridges with spans greater ‘than 200 m have been built Like Uraé> Bay Bridge (270 m) ana Hanana Bridge (240m) in Japan. Par Howler arranjorents were made to take care OF the fore mentioned difficulties. continous steel reinforcing in te botton slab Of the Bendorf Bridce (Germany) use of Lightvetgnt concrete then alloving 2 dead Jeicht reduction at the Ottmarshein Bridge in Frances An easier alternative is to incresse considerably the lever arm of prestressing tendons, These ten cons situated outside of conerete then Decone stays that are Supported and deviated by a tower. Cable-stayed concrete bridzes may be considered as prestressed couerete bridges with outer prestres— sing. They are a favourable alternative to canti— lever construction for long span bridces. The Brotonne Bridge, on the Seine river, is anong the first cable-stayed bridces. However it is the world's longest prestressed concrete spans 2 ~ mis om GINS oP THE PROsECT Up to 1977, between the city of Rouen and the Chonnel, the Seine river was crossed by « single Sage, the Tarcarville bridge, and by several svies. A second bridge uaz badly needed mainly because of the economic growth of the "Basse-tor- nandie" district, ‘The best Location was Found to be close to the village of Caudebec-en-Caux and to the Brotonne forest that gave its nave to the bridge. River foundations had to be prohibited because of the important river navigation and of the frequent foggy veather in this area thus implying to cross the Seine river vith a single 300 m long span. Noreover a clearance of mare than 50m vas neces sary for Sea-going ships aid resuited ix Large approach viaducts and embankments. aie tse ae (Pige 2) tes. = aunigue, continuous longi tudinal structure th only one intemedary expaneion joint for ‘the "Wi2EOHmLong superstructure ~ a single coli box girder enum vide with inclined = n_wiial suspension by means of regularly Miseributed stays made of prestreccing stranda Pulled inside steel pipes and cenent grouted = tall concrate pylons. It should be noticed that the main piers founda Eions are made of 9 cylindrical colwmn Fixed in Limestone shafts. They vere butit in the dry inside a self supporting circular siurry trench wall. Though serious difficulties appeared when Fealising the slurry trench wall because of the poor quality of the Piret layers and because of the great depth (95 m), this type of foundations hhad the creat advantage to allow a precise geo- technical analysis of the bearing etrata 4 = THE LoNerruprmaL sreucruRE Lengthwise, the unicity of the structure has proved to be a good solution for several reasonse On the aexnetical point of viev, it alloved us to. cancel the intermediate abutment giving 2 simpler and lighter Line to the deck. Moreover the sane construction schene could be used for the short approach spans (58,5 m) as for the main cable— stayed spans. On amschanical basis, the continuity of the deck has also a favorable influence on the behaviour of the structure, The intensive research studies that were nade, hava proven that in case of a three span symmetrical cable-stayec bridge the critical section vas situated in the side spans at a distance from the main piers equal to 4/10 of the side spans Leng, It vas shovn, in parti~ cular with the envelopes of bending moments in the deck due to the load, that the greatest ben~ ing variation vas occuriry in that section conse- quently governing the characteriztics of the cross-sections (Pigs 3) In order to limit the variation of bending moments fone may decrease the ratio Lengih of side span Sge-Sr ae see to\0.4 or even less, This olution improves the behaviour of the deck but brings upvards vertical forces at the abutnent level that are extremely hard to counteract. We have chosen to keep this ratio to 0.45 and to ensure the contimity betveen the main span and ‘ue approach spars. Because of the continsity, bending noments variations are decreased in side ‘2pans whereas the uplift problens on sice bearings are also reduced, Vith respect to construction methois, this allove algo to reduce the overall Length of the free cantilevers, the contimity of Lateral spans being realised before the completion of the central spareSide spans are 143,5 m long each and the only Giscontimity of the superstructure 9 the expan Sion joint located close to the point of zero monent in the side span of left bank. A further resiction ef the Denving moments varia~ tion is obtained by the use of a ring of neoprene bearings at the top of the main piers, ensuring a Partial fixation of the decks 5 - TRANSVERSE STRUCTURE (Fig. 4) vos necessary to take im account Sim taneously Several Factors like + Stays being axtally located 1n omly one rov the ‘tubular section vas the only one that could bring fe sufficient torsional stiffness. A. three vebs how ginden vas possible, stays being auchored in the lover part of the central webs But this structure was not stiff erough transversally and the transfer of suspension forces to the side webs required to stiffen the top slab by a systen of ribs. ‘This vas avoided by a systen of inclined struts based on principles usually enployed in metallic ‘The cross section is made of a tyo web box girder with inside stiffening struts converging af the point of anchorage of stays. The outer vidth is and the total height is 990m, Webs ane, inclined and have a varying thickness equal to ‘The botton slab is 8 m vide for 5 thickness varying from O81 RP at midapan to The top sia bearing con— ‘timously on the webs and punctually on the struts is tronoveraally prestressed by 129608 tendons ‘The botton slab 1s also transversally prestressed by means of T 15 nonostranés placed at the Level of ‘the struts to counteract tensile force: crested in ‘the botton slab of spanswithout stays. Extrencly high shear stresses reaching 50 ks/an? are Found in the 0.20. thick weds for a longi tun inal compressive strese of 35 ky/en2. Consequently Vertical prestressing vas mandatory gad ¢ permanent vertical Compressive stress of 41 ka/en? is created by neane of pretensioning vith i 8 wires. At both ends a special device allovs a rapid transfer of prestressing forces to the surroanding concretes GROAUMUUSEEUEE cnt are submitted to high tensile forces when they are connected to the stays (one every other) are else prestressed Dy means of 12 7 19 tendons, 6 ~ SUSPENSION SYSTEM (Fig. 5) Tt should first be noticed that the cost of stays Tepresents a total of 29 K of the total cost of ‘the cable stayed bridge. Thres different problems hed to be considered t ~ Stay geonetry ~ type of came ~ positioning There are three vell known basic arrangererts that may be called harp, radiating or fan, this Last solution being the one that vas Zept for the Brotorme bridye. The first solution presents the advantage of a constant angle at the anchoring points that Facilitates the design of these struc~ tural parts. On the other side the radiating or fan type solution gives a better efficiency :0 the Stays that are at an increasing angle of inclina- tion to the girder. The benefit on stecl quantities nay then be estinaied to 15 %y The spacing of stays has also a great importance to the behaviour of the structure, A omall opacing of stays conbined with a rear Gistripation of anchoring points on the deck prasents several advantages = = easier progressive erection of the deck that cantilevers only until the next stay = smaller intensity of the forces that should be tranenitted to the deck as well at to the pylon at the anchoring points and reduced bending between these points = easier replacement of stays vhen necessary, the renoval of one stay having Little effect on the overall Metribution of forces in the stractare ~ very good aerodynanic stability with a high anping die to the important mmber of stays having different vibration frequencies because oF their different lengths. In the Brotonne bridge, the final choice was made on a eysten of 21 stays per pylon, in the fan shaped configuration anchored at thelr extremities in the deck. Thecrossingof the pylon is made on individual saddles thet are Fixed points for the structures Staye are nade of prostressing tendons pulled in Stecl_pipes and finally cement grouted. Te mmber of strang varies from 19 £0 60 between the shorter and the longer stays The steel pipe hes an outer Gianeter of 15 m with a thickness of 49 mite Vatertightness of the pipes is ensured by a carefull velding of successive Sections, two layers of anti- corrosion painting being applied to avoid any further risk of corrosion. Pipes are strengthned clomto the connectionvith th: Geck and vith the pylon in order to vithstand loca? stresses due to bending under the effect of Live loads or of the transversal vind. ‘A very good protection against corrosion and fa~ tigue is given by the grouting. Futhernore, grouting stiffens the steys which results in a Teqiction of dending monents in the deck. It may also be noticed that the ultinate strength of prestressing strands is higher than in closed Strands. Moreover it vas found that prestressing strand: vere the nore acononical type oF steel these stayse for