The bridge located in Hama Province. It had single span, simply supported girders, skew angle (23º), prestressed concrete (type V-AASHTO) and closed abutments. The deficiency in this bridge was: the vertical walls of the abutments were inclined towards the roadway (rotation in foundations), as well as settlement cracks in the asphalt pavements. See fig (122) in the Appendix.
My Role in the Project (in Detail):
1) I undertook part in the inspection process of the bridge. During the inspection I checked the bearing and support details to evaluate bridge movement and articulation.
2) I was representative of the project director on-site to supervise site surveying for the top movements of the abutments, as well as measurements of the vertical and horizontal clearance. All the surveying work was conducted using Nivo and Teodoleet. I also supervised in-field destructive tests that were accomplished by university personnel to check the quality of the construction materials.
3) I calculated the stability factors for the abutments, and I examined the strength of the sections.
4) I realized that the reason for wall rotations was: The lack of drainage system behind the walls, and use of wrong backfilling material in which the water accumulated behind the walls and form an increase of lateral earth pressure (saturated soil plus hydrostatic pressure more than the drained soil pressure that was designed to resist).
5) I cooperated in establishing rehabilitation items. These were primarily: add new drainage system with filter at the backfill of the abutments, maintenance of the expansion joints, construct new ditches and canals to keep the storm water away from the bridge substructure.
