During severe floods, bed material around bridge piers and abutments are scoured by the flow and as a result, bridges are subject to damages. These damages are mostly unrepairable and can result in loss of lives and property. In this thesis study, abutment scour under clear-water condition was investigated and collars were tested as scour countermeasures around the abutments. The experimental study was carried out in a rectangular channel with an almost uniform cohesionless bed material of d50=1.50 mm for a test period of 3-hours. The channel was 28.5 m long and 1.5 m wide. The erodible bed material was placed into the test section that was 5.8 m long and 0.48 m deep. For this thesis study, 60 experiments were carried out with and without various collars placed at different elevations around the abutments. The scour formation around the abutments with collars was observed and scour reduction efficiencies of the collars were studied. Experiment results were compared with the previous studies of Dogan (2008) and Kayat&uuml / rk (2005) in terms of sediment size, abutment shape and flow depth, and the effects of these factors on collar&#039 / s scour reduction efficiency were studied. Based on the results of the experimental studies, it was observed that scour depths decreased as the collar width increased and the collar placed deeper into the sediment bed for a given abutment length. When the present study and the previous studies were compared, it was observed that sediment size and flow depth had no significant effect on the scour reduction performances of the collars.

The major damage to bridges occurs due to scour of the bed materials around piers and abutments during severe floods. This study involves the experimental investigations of the various scour patterns forming around abutment models tested with and without collars as scour countermeasures. The experiments were conducted in a rectangular channel under clear-water scour conditions. In the first part of this study, 34 experiments were conducted with semi-circular end abutment models with and without a collar for a period of 3 hours. Collars of various sizes were placed at different elevations on the abutment models, and the scour reduction efficiencies of collars were investigated for the different flow depths. Based on the results of the experimental studies, the optimum locations of collars on the abutments, which result in minimum scour depth around the abutments, are obtained at the bed level and below the bed level depending on the flow intensity values. In the second part of this study, the effects of flow depth and abutment length on the temporal development of local scour at bridge abutments were studied. 20 experiments were performed without collars for a time period of 8 hours. It was observed that at the upstream of the abutment, the depth of the local scour increases rapidly within the first three hours of the experiment for the different flow depths.

Integral bridges are designed without expansion joints or bearings to eliminate the maintenance and repair costs associated with them. Thus, the expansion and contraction due to daily and seasonal temperature variations of the deck of the bridge are restricted by the abutments, causing the abutments to move cyclically towards and away from the granular material used as backfill. This movement results in a stress accumulation in the backfill retained by the abutments. The Discrete Element Method (DEM) was used was used to perform a numerical sensitivity analysis, investigating the effect of granular particle shape on the response of backfill material retained by integral bridge abutments.   Two DEM software suites were used to perform the simulations, namely STAR-CCM+, a commercial code, and Blaze-DEM, a research code under development at the University of Pretoria. Blaze-DEM makes use of Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) computing as opposed to traditional Central Processing Unit (CPU) computing. Blaze-DEM delivered computational times over 150 times faster than the equivalent simulation in STAR-CCM+. The results from the numerical sensitivity analysis showed that the particles with lower sphericities (higher angularities) experienced larger accumulations of stresses on the abutment as opposed to the more spherical particles. This was suggested to be a result of particle interlocking and reorientation. / Dissertation (MEng)--University of Pretoria, 2018. / Civil Engineering / MEng / Unrestricted

Full-scale lateral load tests were performed on a pile cap with five backfill conditions: no backfill, densely compacted fine gravel, loosely compacted fine gravel, densely compacted coarse gravel, and loosely compacted coarse gravel. Static loads, applied by hydraulic load actuators, were followed by low-frequency, actuator-driven cyclic loads as well as higher frequency dynamic loads from an eccentric mass shaker. Passive resistance from the backfill significantly increased the lateral capacity of the pile cap. Densely compacted backfill materials contributed about 70% of the total system resistance, whereas loosely compacted backfill materials contributed about 40%. The mobilized passive resistance occurred at displacement-to-height ratios of about 0.04 for the densely compacted gravels, whereas passive resistance in the loosely compacted materials does not fully mobilize until greater displacements are reached. Three methods were used to model the passive resistance of the backfill. Comparisons between calculated and measured responses for the densely compacted backfills indicate that in-situ shear strength test parameters provide reasonable agreement when a log-spiral method is used. Reasonable agreement for the loosely compacted backfills was obtained by either significantly reducing the interface friction angle to near zero or reducing the soil's frictional strength by a factor ranging from 0.65 to 0.85. Cracking, elevation changes, and horizontal strains in the backfill indicate that the looser materials fail differently than their densely compacted counterparts. Under both low frequency cyclic loading and higher frequency shaker loading, the backfill significantly increased the stiffness of the system. Loosely compacted soils approximately doubled the stiffness of the pile cap without backfill and densely compacted materials roughly quadrupled the stiffness of the pile cap. The backfill also affected the damping of the system in both the cyclic and the dynamic cases, with a typical damping ratio of at least 15% being observed for the foundation system.

La presente investigación alcanza una alternativa de utilizar los muros de suelo reforzado como estribos de puente en la mina Cuajone situado en el departamento de Moquegua, con el objetivo de comprobar si es posible que estas estructuras soporten las altas cargas de los camiones mineros que transitan por los “Haul Road” de la mina. Luego, se desarrolla los procedimientos de diseño estructural del muro MSE con la metodología LRFD según la norma AASHTO. Finalmente, se verifica los resultados que se obtuvieron mediante el modelo y el análisis de los elementos finitos del diseño consolidado en el software PLAXIS y se presentan las conclusiones del caso. En primer lugar, está el capítulo introductorio, que presentar de manera resumida y cualitativa el tema de la tesis y las motivaciones del caso. Se desarrolla el problema planteado y finaliza esta sección con la descripción de los antecedentes históricos de los muros MSE, hipótesis, objetivos y alcances de la presente investigación. Asimismo, se describe de manera extendida los conceptos de los muros MSE, ventajas, desventajas, tipos de sistemas, tipos de refuerzo, tipos de paramentos y sus aplicaciones. Además, se presentan los pasos diseño de los muros como estribo de puente y el procedimiento del análisis sísmico de estos. Finalmente, se describen los conceptos del método de elementos finitos y el análisis del software PLAXIS. En el segundo lugar; se presentan el material y método, considerando el nivel y diseño de investigación, variables y técnicas que se emplearon para poder desarrollar de manera satisfactoria el argumento de la presente tesis. En el tercer lugar, se presentan los resultados de acuerdo a cada objetivo planteado. Al finalizar esta sección, se presentan los desplazamientos de muro MSE como estribo de puente modelado en el software PLAXIS, concluyendo con la afirmación o la negación de la hipótesis. Por último, se presenta las conclusiones, comentarios y recomendaciones de acuerdo al desarrollo y resultados de la presente investigación. / The present investigation achieves an alternative use of the reinforced soil walls as bridge abutments in the Cuajone mine in the department of Moquegua, with the objective that these structures bear the high loads of the mining trucks that transit through the "Haul Road" of the mine. Then, the structural design procedures of the MSE wall are followed with the LRFD methodology according to the AASHTO standard. Finally, the results obtained by means of the model and the analysis of the finite elements of the consolidated design in the PLAXIS software are verified and the conclusions of the case are presented. In the first place, there is the introductory chapter, the summary and qualitative presentation of the topic of the thesis and the motivations of the case. The problem raised and finalized in this section was developed with the description of the historical background of the MSE walls, hypotheses, objectives and scope of the present investigation. In the next chapter, we describe how to extend the concepts of MSE walls, advantages, disadvantages, types of systems, types of reinforcement, types of walls and their applications. In addition, the steps of the walls are presented as bridge abutment and the procedure of the seismic analysis of these. Finally, the concepts of the finite element method and the analysis of the PLAXIS software are described. In the second place; It presents the material and the method, the level and design of the research, the variables and the techniques used to successfully develop the argument of the present thesis. In the third place the results are presented according to each objective. At the end of this section, the displacements of the wall are presented as a work program in the PLAXIS software, concluding with the affirmation or denial of the hypothesis. Finally, the conclusions, comments and recommendations are presented according to the development and results of the present investigation. / Tesis

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The objective of this master's thesis is a design of suspension footbridge. The footbridge is suspended construction of stress ribbon by one span. The brick deck is supported on the edges and it is kept in a parabolic arc. The suspension cables are kept at two inclined levels. The model lengthways is implemented in the program ANSYS, by non-linear solution. The model crosswise is implemented in the program SCIA ENGINEER 2011. The design is according to relevant current standart.

The objective of this master´s thesis is a design of suspension footbridge across the Elbe river. The footbridge is suspended construction by three spans. The brick deck is supported on the outer edges and it is kept in a parabolic arc. The suspension cables are kept at two inclined levels. The model is implemented in the program ANSYS. The solution is non-linear. The designe is according to the europien standart.