RAILWAY BRIDGES & VIADUCTS

TENSA is leader in the design, production and installation of special products for the construction of railway bridges and viaducts. These products suit the very stringent railway specifications, especially regarding electrical insulation.

Advantages

The TENSA technologies, widely applied in both Bridges and Viaducts, are meant to:

  • Transfer vertical and horizontal loads and allow deck structural movements and rotations (bearings and expansion joints)
  • Protect structures from seismic action or, in general, from dynamic actions (i.e. wind)
  • Increase concrete and steel structure performances by strengthening them and, consequently, allowing for big spans to be reached (post tensioning and stay cables)
GROUND ANCHORS

The technology of ground anchoring is widely used especially as far a slope consolidation and retaining walls are adopted.

At this location, bearings, shock transmitter devices and steel restraints can be installed.

Sometimes the design prescribes the use of post tensioning along the trunk of the column to give compression and reduce instability.

BEARINGS

Structures, indeed, undergo displacements, rotations and deformations caused by acting loads (of static, dynamic, thermic nature etc.) or by phenomena such as shrinkage and creep, linked to the maturation of materials.

Movements, rotations and deformations need to be allowed for and contemplated where strictly necessary and in accordance with the designer’s constraining system.

All bearings must have dielectric characteristics (min 1 Ω) in order to protect the structure against the attack from the stray currents.

The typical bearings used in railways structures are the spherical bearings, which allow a rotations up to ±3 degrees. For decks with length < 10m and for particular girder types, it is also possible to use rubber and pot bearings.

 

The following types of bearings can be supplied:

  1. Fixed bearings, which allow rotation between two structural elements and transfer the vertical and horizontal loads
  2. Guided sliding bearings, which transfer vertical loads, allow rotation between two structural elements, displacement in one single direction and transfer lateral load in the fixed one
  3. Free sliding bearings, which transfer vertical loads, allow rotation between two structural elements and displacements in all plan directions

 

SHOCK TRANSMITTER DEVICES

STUs are hydraulic devices, able to create, only for impulsive external force, a temporary rigid connection between two parts of the structure.

POST TENSIONING

The TENSA post tensioning systems are meant to give compression stresses to concrete with the use of post tensioning tendons made of steel strands or steel bars.

DECK

Bridge and viaduct decks are currently built with reinforced concrete, steel or composite structures. Post tensioning is a highly efficient structural reinforcement system that offers many benefits in a wide range of construction, repair and rehabilitation applications. TENSA has developed its electrically insulated post tensioning to meet the demand for a total and permanent protection of post tensioning tendons from corrosive agents. This has a very successful application to protect structures against the attack from the stray currents; railway structures are frequently subject to corrosion originated from such phenomenon.

The strand technology can be used for cable stayed bridges and viaducts (stays are used to connect pylons to deck, allowing a considerable increase of span length) or arch bridges and viaducts (stays act as vertical or inclined hangers connecting arch to deck).

Expansion joints are devices designed to absorb the movements of the structure due to temperature variations, creep, shrinkage, seismic actions, wind and else. Expansion joints are designed to allow continuous traffic between the decks and among deck and abutments offering a safe and comfortable passage.

Railway joints must be installed under ballast and be dielectric.

PYLONS

In cable stayed bridges concrete pylons are often reinforced with post tensioning for both adding compression in vertical direction and increasing horizontal shear forces induced from the cable stays.

Related products 

30 years’ experience, more than 50 worldwide applications, continuous improvement and innovation have allowed TENSA to stay at the forefront of the stay cables technology, continuously releasing new and customized solutions for its clients.

Discover more

TENSA offers a complete range of bearings. Almost 30 years of worldwide experience in the field allows TENSA to provide the most appropriate solution to meet all clients' needs. The internal production facility and laboratory allow to keep full control of quality and of delivery times.

Discover more

Thanks to its experienced team of engineers and technicians, TENSA is able to guarantee the highest and worldwide accepted quality standards to every step of the post tensioning process, from the design, to production and on-site installation.

Discover more

Almost 50 years of worldwide experience in the field allow TENSA to provide customized solutions to meet all the clients' needs. TENSA’s ground anchors are developed within an overall improvement program including anchors and post-tensioning products.

Discover more

TENSA designs and provides different types of expansion joints, which can be used in any structure. TENSA's joints are capable to absorb the structure movements caused by temperature variations, creep, shrinkage, seismic actions, from the smallest to the largest.

Discover more

Base isolation systems are used to protect constructions and, more importantly, human lives.  25 years’ experience allows TENSA to provide a solution to any design demand, producing innovative tools aimed at reducing the seismic hazard.

Discover more

TENSA designs, produces, tests and delivers its velocity dependent devices according to specific clients’ needs. These solutions are designed to reduce the seismic structural response by adding important energy dissipation to the system.

Discover more

TENSA’s rigid connection devices are the most suitable solution when a modification on the structure’s response is required. In fact, they can modify the structure’s condition from static to dynamic and distribute the entrance seismic force in different positions.

Discover more

Thanks to its high quality displacement dependent devices TENSA is able to guarantee a perfect control of maximum loads activated during an earthquake between the connected elements, independently of the seismic intensity and frequency.

Discover more

Related projects

Country 
UAE
Year 
2018 / ongoing
Country 
Italy
Year 
2017
Country 
Qatar
Year 
2015
Country 
Italy
Year 
2014
Country 
Italy
Year 
2002
Country 
Italy
Year 
2005
Country 
The Netherlands
Year 
1997