Padma Bridge
Padma Bridge
Padma Bridge
ISBN: 978-984-33-1893-0
Amin, Okui, Bhuiyan (eds.) www.iabse-bd.org
ABSTRACT: The paper deals with general features of Main Padma Bridge including salient design aspects.
The Padma Bridge, costing more than a billion US$, is the largest infrastructure project Bangladesh has ever
undertaken and it is also ranked as A-Category project in World Bank, ADB and JICA who are the main co-
financiers. It is a 6.15 km long 4-lane road cum single track rail multipurpose fixed crossing over the Padma
River to connect the isolated south-west region of Bangladesh. The main bridge is in the form of composite
steel truss with two levels, railway at lower deck level and highway at upper deck level suitable for fast track
construction. Longitudinally, the main truss is in the form of a continuous warren truss and the concrete
roadway slab is connected to the top chord by shear stud. The railway deck comprises longitudinal steel
beams spanning between lower cross beams and a concrete railway slab which is also compositely connected
to the beams. The roadway slab is reinforced concrete in the transverse direction, and is a prestressed con-
crete structure in the longitudinal direction. Typical piers have V shaped reinforced concrete columns, with
internal void, supported by a deep pile cap and a group of eight, 3m diameter deep foundation steel tubular
piles raking in symmetric pattern. There are 41 spans each 150 m in length optimized in the computer pro-
gram. The bridge has been designed mainly using BS5400 design criteria. Software package MIDAS has
been used to carry out dynamic and static analysis. Global and local analysis using MIDAS software is done
using 3 construction sequences which amongst others are governing criteria for design. Geotechnical design
includes an assessment of liquefaction potential and ground treatment as required to meet seismic perform-
ance levels, slope stability requirement, ground lateral displacement and settlement criteria. The main bridge
behaves in complicated manner due to its height (120m) and the large mass of the superstructure pile cap and
pile. Systematic analysis is carried out in sleeting seismic isolation system especially in consideration of ver-
tical load capacity, lateral stiffness, self-centering capability, durability and similar application round the
globe. The 100kmlhr design speed, high loading and 100 years design life requirements defines the basis for
the derivation of the characteristic imposed loads and environmental effects to be considered in the design.
The structural forms and methods of construction have been chosen to fulfill the appropriated safeguard du-
rability. Like Jamuna Bridge, British Bridge Code BS5400, which has a much heavier live loading than the
HS20-44 loading, is adopted as design live load. For train DFC (Dedicated Freight Corridor) loading consis-
tent with Trans-Asian Railway loading is adopted. The bridge has been designed using two levels of seismic
hazards and corresponding performance criteria. One is operational level of Earthquake and the other is con-
tingency level of earthwork having defined return periods, probabilities, functional and damage levels. The
Padma Bridge design has been based on rigorous extensive investigations and analysis to make the design
robust, safe, aesthetically pleasant and suitable for fast track construction.
1 INTRODUCTION
The three major rivers of Bangladesh - the Padma, Brahmaputra-Jamuna and the Meghna -
divide the country into four principal regions such as north-west, north central, eastern and south-west
regions. The Padma River separates the South-west region from the capital city and requires time con-
suming ferry crossings to major destinations. At present, transportation of passengers and freight across
the river is by ferries and to a lesser extent by launches and manually-operated boats, but their services
are grossly inadequate in both capacity and service level. The existing ferry services involve long and
unpredictable waiting time at terminals lacking basic service facilities. They are prone to suspension or
cancellation due to flood, fog and inclement weather conditions.
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Figure 1: Schematic view of Padma Bridge
The proposed Padma Bridge is expected to make cross-Padma transport more reliable and drastically
reduce the travel time and cost across the river. The proposed bridge plans to build a multipurpose cross-
ing with additional utilities like rail, telephone, gas and power lines across the Padma. It is designed to
remove the last major physical barrier in the road connection between Dhaka and the South-west region
of Bangladesh, where about one quarter of the population of Bangladesh is living. The bridge will
shorten the distance from the South-west to Dhaka by 100 km and travelling time will considerably be
reduced. The project is viewed as a very important infrastructure and transportation network, which will
hugely facilitate social, economic and industrial development of this relatively underdeveloped region of
the country. The padma Bridge will help to stimulate economic activity in the SW region by providing a
reliable and rapid transport connection. It is estimated in the feasibility study that the project will in-
crease the GDP by 1.2% and that of South-West Region by 2.3%.
The Padma Bridge is on the Asian Highway Route A-1 and Trans-Asian Railway Route. When the railway
will be effectively connected, the Padma Bridge will contribute to the multimodal international transport net-
work for the Eastern Region of the Indian sub-continent and substantial benefit to GoB for bi-lateral cargo
movement between India and Bangladesh.
2 PROJECT COMPONENTS
Among the project components main bridge is by far the prime component of the project covering about 50%
of the project cost. The main components of the Padma Multi-Purpose Bridge Project consist of:
• A 6.15km long two-level steel truss main bridge.(four-lane divided highway on top and single track
rail on the bottom deck);
• The Approach Road to the bridge consisting of a 12.4 km four-lane divided highway and includes five
minor bridges of 150~270m length over local waterways, 21 drainage box culvert and 8 local road un-
derpasses.
• Transition structures that includes the Approach Viaduct at Mawa length of 721.250m and 756.788m
for the northbound and southbound carriageways respectively. The length of the Approach Viaduct at
Janjira is 873.250m and 797.315m for the northbound and southbound carriageways respectively;
• Bridge End Facilities on both sides of the river that includes Toll Plazas and Service Areas;
• Access roads totaling about 8.9 km and 14.5 km of service road.
• Four Resettlement villages (two on the Mawa side and two on the Janjira side).
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River Training Works
(RTW) Works
River Training
Works (RTW) Works
3 MAIN BRIDGE
The total length of the main bridge is 6150m and the main bridge is connected to approach viaducts on both
ends and overall width of the bridge is 22.0m. The main bridge is in the form of composite steel truss with
two levels, railway at lower deck level and highway at upper deck level suitable for fast track construction.
Longitudinally, the main truss is in the form of a continuous warren truss and the concrete roadway slab is
connected to the top chord by shear stud. The railway deck comprises longitudinal steel beams spanning be-
tween lower cross beams and a concrete railway slab which is also compositely connected to the beams. The
roadway slab is reinforced concrete in the transverse direction, and is a prestressed concrete structure in the
longitudinal direction. There are 41 spans each 150 m in length optimized in the computer program. It is
sub-divided into 7 continuous bridge modules, and each module is comprised of 5 or 6 spans. At the interface
between adjacent modules, a movement joint is present to accommodate the movement due to various actions.
The major portion of the bridge is flat (0% vertical gradient) except at the two ends the bridge level de-
creases with approximately 0.5% vertical gradient to match with the adjacent approach viaducts. The horizon-
tal alignment of the bridge consists of straight sections, curved sections with constant radius and short transi-
tion curves. The tightest radius is found in Module 7, where the radius is 3000 metres.
4 CROSSING REQUIREMENTS
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4.1 Highway
The bridge is required to carry a dual two-lane carriageway road with a design traffic speed of 100km/hr.
Each carriageway shall comprise two 3.5 meter wide traffic lanes plus a 2.5 meter wide hard shoulder and
650mm wide median. The bridge is intended to carry motorized vehicles only.
4.2 Railway
Provision shall be made for future addition of a single track broad gauge railway along the bridge. The rail-
way is proposed to be an extension of the Indian Railways Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) and is likely to
be part of the Trans-Asian Railway. The design rail speed is 160km/hr for passenger trains and 125 km/hr for
freight trains.
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Figure 5: View through the Lower Deck of the Bridge
6 BRIDGE VIADUCTS
The viaduct spans are separated into the approach road and the railway viaducts. The main bridge is a two
level structure which required a challenging task in the arrangement of the viaducts to separate the railway
from the highway and alternative options were considered during the Scheme Design Phase of the project.
There are a total of four viaducts supporting the highway, two on each side of the river. The length of the
approach road viaducts ranged from 720m to 875m long and consists of 38m spans. The superstructure con-
sists of precast, pre-tensioned concrete Super-T girders which will become the first Super-T girder structure
to be constructed in Bangladesh. The Super-T girder is an economical beam commonly used on highway
bridges in Australia and is becoming more widespread on projects throughout Asia. The introduction of the
Super-T girder to Bangladesh presents an opportunity for future use on other projects throughout the country.
This paper describes the design features of the Super-T girder. There is a total of two viaducts supporting the
railway, one on each side of the river. The length of the railway viaducts ranged from 2.36km to 2.96km and
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consists of 38m spans similar to the approach road viaducts. The superstructure consists of precast, post-
tensioned concrete I-girders.
The detailed design of the viaduct structures posed some major challenges in bridge engineering specifi-
cally involving earthquakes under soil conditions highly susceptible to significant depths of liquefaction. A
multi modal response spectra analysis was used to analyse and the design the viaducts for a seismic event
with a return period of 475 years. This paper describes the dynamic analysis procedure and the design fea-
tures of the structure to withstand these seismic events.
A transition pier is located at the interface of the viaduct spans to the river spans and supports the end
spans of the main bridge, the approach road viaduct structure and the railway viaduct structure. The transition
pier also provided the location for the diversion of the gas pipe, power cables and telecommunication utilities
located on the main bridge whilst also enclosing an access stairwell for inspection, maintenance and emer-
gency evacuations.
7 STRUCTURAL FORM
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7.2 Lateral Stiffness
To increase the lateral stiffness of the truss, plan bracing is added at the lower deck level in the bays adjacent
to the piers. Also, additional vertical member connecting top chord and bottom chord is introduced at pier lo-
cation. Below are two computer model diagrams which help to explain the location of these members.
8 SUBSTRUCTURE
Typical piers have shaped reinforced concrete columns, with a partial internal void, supported by a deep
pile cap and a group of eight, 3m diameter steel tubular piles raking in symmetric pattern. The piles have a
wall thickness of 60mm and are of Grade S355 steel. A length at the top of the pile is strengthened by filling
with reinforced concrete acting compositely with the steel tube. The scour depths corresponding to a 100 year
return peiod has been estimated to be about 50m to 65m, thus resulting in free lengths of piles in the river of
about 55m to 65m and length of piles are 100~110m.
Typical piers have shaped reinforced concrete columns, with a partial internal void, supported by a deep
pile cap and a group of eight, 3m diameter steel tubular piles raking in symmetric pattern. The piles have a
wall thickness of 60mm and are of Grade S355 steel. A length at the top of the pile is strengthened by filling
with reinforced concrete acting compositely with the steel tube. The scour depths corresponding to a 100 year
return peiod has been estimated to be about 50m to 65m, thus resulting in free lengths of piles in the river of
about 55m to 65m and length of piles are 100~110m.
9 AESTHETICS
The height of the pier at the end of the main bridge is over 30m high and the road viaducts extend up to a
kilometre away from the main bridge and the railway viaducts extend up to 2.3km to 3km. The viaducts com-
prise considerable structures on their own and account for up to 25% of the total road bridge length. The via-
ducts are also located over land and are readily visible to the surrounding areas and the local communities.
The aesthetic appearance is therefore important and has been considered in the design of the viaducts.
The horizontal alignment consists of smooth reversing curves. These curves are located on a vertical grade.
The alignment of the viaduct enhances the experience to the road user as the horizontal curves and the vertical
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grade enables the road user to get a view of the viaducts and the main bridge as they approach towards the
bridge. Many signature bridges around the world do not enable this experience. The road users on the via-
ducts effectively climb and meander their way onto the main bridge.
It is envisaged that a gateway structure will be located at the ends of the main bridge. The viaduct structure
consists of rectangular blade type piers and the similar span lengths of the viaducts will present an impression
of symmetry of the structure. Different pier shapes may be considered during detailed design although the
structural concepts will remain. The alignment of the railway viaduct will also consist of an S-curve to sepa-
rate the alignment of the road and the railway. This also enhances the appearance of the railway viaduct
which can be readily seen to the road user approaching and departing the main bridge.
The span length of 38m for the road viaduct has been selected to match the span lengths of the railway
viaduct. This reduces the numbers of pier structures and creates a less congested appearance of the viaducts.
This enhances the aesthetic appearance of the viaducts and also improves the hydrology.
Figure 9: View of the viaduct from the main bridge looking north towards Mawa
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10 DESIGN CRITERIA
10.1 Design life
The design life for the crossing shall be 100 years.
The minimum service lives for the various components are as follows:
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10.5.c Highway loads
The bridge is required to carry a dual two-lane carriageway road with a design traffic speed of 100km/hr.
Each carriageway shall comprise two 3.5 meter wide traffic lanes plus a 2.5 meter wide hard shoulder and a
0.5m hard strip adjacent to median.
Centrifugal loads
The horizontal centrifugal force shall act at a height of 1,830 mm above rail level.
Where
C is the horizontal effect in kN/m
W is the equivalent distributed live load in kN/m
V isthe maximum train speed in km/hr
R is the curve radius in meters.
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10.8 Ship impact
Following a survey of current shipping patterns in the river a vessel of 4000DWT has been used for determin-
ing the ship collision load to be applied to the bridge. Based on the above vessel and adopting the provisions
in AASHTO LRFD an impact load of 23.3 MN shall be considered to apply for head-on impact and half of
this value ,11.7MN applies to sideways impact.
10.12 Geotechnical
The following Geotechnical Design Criteria has been adopted:
(a) Static Analysis
(b) Seismic Analysis
Geotechnical design shall include an assessment of liquefaction potential and Ground Treatment as required
to meet seismic performance levels, slope stability requirements, ground lateral displacement and settlement
criteria.
10.13 Foundations
The factors of safety are to be adopted when designing the pile foundations for the main bridge and approach
viaduct structures. The factors of safety are based on unfactored working loads.
Case Load case FOS on Skin Fric- FOS on Skin FOS on End Bear-
tion in Compression Friction in Tension ing
1 SW + SDL + LL 1.5 3 3
2 SW + SDL + Ship Impact 1.25 2.5 2.5
3 SW + SDL + 1/3 HA (1 lane)+ RL 1.25 2.5 2.5
+ 100 yr Earthquake
4 SW + SDL + 1/3 HA (1 lane)+ RL 1.0 2.0 1.0
+ 475 yr Earthquake
5 SW + SDL+ Check Flood Scour 1.2 2.4 2.4
(500 yr scour) down to -70 m
PWD
Table: Recommended Geotechnical Factors of Safety for the Various Load Cases (Loads Unfactored)
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Time dependent effects due to creep and shrinkage of concrete and creep I relaxation of cables have been
considered.
Self weights have been determined from the dimensions and details shown on the drawings. For services,
utilities and other non-structural items to be carried by the bridge, the values of the superimposed dead loads
have included sufficient contingency allowance for future requirements. Permanent load effects locked-in to
structures as a result of the proposed construction sequence have been accurately determined as part of the
analysis. In case where shear lag is significant the analysis has taken into account the effects of shear lag un-
der
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10.16 Scour depths for foundation design
Local scour will occur at the bridge piers when the local flow field is strong enough to remove sediment. The
depth of scour is strongly related to the width of the pier. Typical formulas for estimating local scour include
multiplying factors to account for pier shape, flow conditions and alignment, bed conditions, among others.
The piers for the Padma Bridge will be complex consisting of a raised pile cap supported by a group of piles.
Empirical methods for estimating scour at complex piers may give smaller or larger local scour compared to
what actually occurs. For this reason, physical model studies are recommended for complex piers to better es-
timate the local scour (TAC, 2001; FHWA, 2001; Melville and Coleman, 2000).
To assess the local scour due to pier a pier flume model test was conducted in Vancouver, Canada for dif-
ferent pier and pile arrangement. And it was feed into pile length design of the bridge.
Design scour levels shall be taken as:
Lowest bed level outside of the flood season: -37m PWD
Provisional estimate natural scour level (2 year) -39m PWD
Provisional estimate natural scour level (100 year) -50m PWD
These values make an allowance for natural bend scour and some confluence scour effects. To these values
estimates of local scour should be added, which for raked piles would be of the order of 8m. The physical
model studies will provide more certainty on local scour assumptions.
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earthquakes, all three pendulums with a much larger sliding area will be activated, referring to the illustration
below. The bearing friction and period both increase and result in lower bearing displacements and lower
seismic force input.
The self centering capability of the bearings is very good and the residual displacement after seismic events
is small, comparing to the spans of the bridge. The self-centring capability comes from the static downhill
force and from the smaller ground motions at the tail end of the earthquake event which stabilizes the bear-
ings to its lowest center point by gravity.
Padma Multipurpose Bridge carries both highway and railway traffic, and is subjected to high permanent
vertical loads and two levels of seismic hazards. Therefore, due to their high vertical load capacity, self-
centering capability and efficiency for multi-level earthquakes, the triple friction pendulum bearings are con-
sidered the best candidate for seismic design strategy with isolation bearings.
11 FUNDING MODEL
The Padma Multipurpose Bridge Project (PMBP) is a priority project of the Government of Bangladesh
(GOB). An accelerated design programme has been adopted to start the construction of the bridge within
2010. The project is co-financed by GOB, the World Bank (WB), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Islamic Development Bank (IDB). The Bangladesh
Bridge Authority (BBA) is the executing agency.
12 CONCLUSIONS
Implementation of Padma Multipurpose Bridge Project is strategically important for Bangladesh. The new
Padma Multipurpose Bridge will provide a vital missing link in the transport network of Bangladesh. The
bridge will provide significant travel time savings, particularly between the Dhaka Division to the south-east
of Bangladesh and possibly onto India. These travel time savings are expected to be in the order of 2 hours for
cars and bus to 10+ hours for trucks by 2014. The operation of the Padma Bridge, with its large step change
in transport costs, will result in significant economic changes to the southwest region reduced through a safe
and easy fixed river crossing replacing the often unsafe and unreliable ferries. Also for the population living
in the neighborhood of the bridge the project will offer improved connections and mobility and opportunities
for development of new businesses, improved marketing of produce and new employment.
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