Concrete Bridges in Germany

Konrad Zilch
1
, Hermann Weiher
2
and Mathias Riesemann
3


Technische Universitt Mnchen, Munich, Germany
1
[email protected],
2
[email protected],
3
[email protected]

Abstract

This article gives an overview over the state of the art of concrete bridges in Germany. In addition to the presentation of
actual bridges projects (e.g. winners of German bridge award) new trends in bridge construction and post-tensioning
technology will be presented. One is prestressing by combining unbonded internal and external tendons which already
had been realized at the pilot-projects Mhlenbergbridge and Roriether Graben-Bridge. Furthermore, the development
and actual state of standards for the design concrete bridges are shown. At the moment the design is done according to the
German code DIN-Fachbericht 102 Betonbrcken.

Keywords: concrete bridges in Germany, construction, post-tensioning, standards

1. INTRODUCTION

The first post-tensioned concrete bridge has been built in Germany. Post-tensioning of concrete bridges had been adopted
first in 1936 in Aue, Saxony. In the following a lot of construction methods for mid-span concrete bridges have been
developed by German engineers. Those construction concepts are still up to date and are used all over the world. Although
the first bridge was using external tendons, the use of internal bonded tendons rose to the standard way of post tensioning.
After World War II the need of a high-capacity infrastructure could be matched by building motorways. Especially in the
following of the economic boom in Germany in the 1960s and 1970s a lot of post-tensioned concrete bridges have been
built. Those bridges are forming the main stock of the German concrete bridges. Since then, a lot of things changed in
design and construction and of course also in traffic loading. Reasons for the changes in design were on the one hand
experiences with bonded tendons, e.g. bad grouting or material problems (e.g. stress-induced corrosion) or compaction
problems in the webs of box bridges. Also some bad experiences during construction and accessibility of those tendons
have been made. With an information letter of the ministry of infrastructure in 1998 (ARS Nr. 28/1998) and the new
standard DIN-Fachbericht 102 (2003) significant changes in concrete bridge construction method have been made. So
building with externally arranged tendons has become the standard construction method for prestressed superstructures
with box sections. The formerly wide-spread method of post-tensioning with bonded tendons is increasingly being
replaced by combined prestressing forms (unbonded external and bonded internal post tensioning). Nowadays the
maximum length for tendons is limited to 200m, new load models have to be used for ULS and fatigue and a minimum
part of all tendons have to be external tendons. The ideas of changeability, restressability and the possibility of easy
control of tendons in a bridge are well discussed this time.

2. RECENT CONCRETE BRIDGES

In 2006 a national award for bridges has been introduced in Germany: Deutscher Brckenbau Preis 2006 (German
Award for Bridge Construction 2006). This award will be given every two years to technical and aesthetical outstanding
bridges in Germany. In 2006 two categories have bee created: road-/railway bridges and pedestrian bridges. Talbrcke
Wilde Gera and the La-Fert-Steg have been awarded. Actual projects are shown afterwards. A bridge built by
incremental launching is the Itztalbrcke. Another construction method is the cantilever method. Bridges built this way
are the Weidatalbridge or the Rhinebridge at Worms. At last two projects for high-speed railway Ilmtalbridge and
Froschgrundseebridge are shown.

2.1. Deutscher Brckenbau Preis 2006 (German Award for Bridge Construction 2006)

Winner Category Road and Railway Bridges - Talbrcke Wilde Gera (Design Engineer: Dr. R. von Wlfel), [2], [3]:

The jury awarded the Talbrcke Wilde Gera the Deutscher Brckenbau Preis. Due to the special design of Dr. R. von
Wlfel the bridge was built as an arch bridge. The arch spans 252m. It is the largest arch span in Germany (5
th
in Europe
and 12
th
in world). The special aesthetic design also convinced the jury to award this bridge the prize. Near Thringer
Wald the new Autobahn BAB A 71 is being built to improve traffic between Erfurt and Schweinfurt. The Talbrcke Wilde
Gera was necessary to cross a valley with a depth of 110m. The bridge is located between two tunnels. The reasons for
choosing an arch bridge were economy and aesthetics. The arch cross section is a twin-box, 10.3m in width with a wall
thickness between 30 and 40cm. The height at the abutment is 5.5m and in the crown 3.3m. To reduce bending moments in
the arch the geometry had to be statically optimized. With this optimization the geometry changes from a circular arch to
a geometry similar to a parabola. Fig. 1 shows the bridge during construction. It is shown a cantilever construction with
temporary cable-stays, used to build the arch in 24 steps. After each step the angle was changed slightly to achieve the
parabolic arch geometry. Hence, the arch geometry is similar to a polygon. The arch has been anchored back by the
temporary cable stays. The static calculations were very extensive. The stressing of the stays had to be calculated exactly.
The calculated values were controlled by the first four cable stays and the remaining calculations were calibrated and
verified by these values. The bridge was based with a flat foundation because the rock had enough resistance capacity
directly under the ground level. The one-piece composite steel-reinforced concrete superstructure was inserted and
subsequently the deck slab was concreted with a formwork carriage. Normally bridges are built with two parallel
superstructures to be able to reroute the whole traffic onto one superstructure for maintenance reasons. In this project only
one superstructure has been built. But the deck slab has been developed the way to have four 4 traffic lines on one half of
the bridge during maintenance work on the other half of the superstructure (it is possible to remove parts of the deck slab
without structural problems). More detailed information about the composite box girder with wide concrete decks is given
by Hanswille, [4].

Winner Category Pedestrian Bridges - La-Fert-Steg (Design Engineer: Dr. M. Schller), [3]:

The second bridge awarded with the Deutscher Brckenbaupreis 2006 was the the La-Fert-Steg in
Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen. This pedestrian bridge had been designed by the engineer Dr. M. Schller (structural engineers
Peter und Lochner GmbH, Stuttgart) and designed by the architects Arat Siegel & Partner, Stuttgart. It is a curved, elegant
shaped reinforced concrete bridge with a total length of 119m and a radius of 53.7m. The superstructure of this jointless
bridge was concreted in three parts with an intermediate creeping gap between the abutments. The design contained an
extra slender superstructure and six small steel pendulum columns. This engineering work fits into its environment.


Fig. 1 Talbrcke Wilde Gera, Gehlberg: Cantilevering of the arch and final structure (from left, source: Hrnig)



Fig. 2 La-Fert-Steg, Stuttgart: Integral concrete bridge with pendulum steel supports for pedestrians [28]
2.2. Itztalbridge,[5]

Incremental launching was the construction method for the Itztalbridge of the Autobahn BAB A 73 near the city of
Coburg in Oberfranken/Germany. This 852m long bridge consists of two superstructures and 15 spans with a maximum
length of 58m. The bridge just has been finished. Costs are about 20 Mill. . For the superstructure of the girder bridge
(height: 4.2m) combined post tensioning with unbonded external and bonded internal tendons is used. Because of the
large length of this bridge additional jacks have to be used at the middle pier to get the horizontal loads, that are necessary
for launching the superstructure, into the bridge. At this pier temporary stay-cables had to be arranged to bear the
horizontal forces of the launching jacks that are located there. (see Fig. 3) At the eastern end the bridge is wider because of
an acceleration lane. This was done after the bridge launched completely by concreting a third web next to the regular
section on falsework.




hydraulic jack PTFE sliding plate
temporary
cable
pier

Fig. 3 Itztalbridge, Coburg: Launching of the superstructure of the 15-span bridge, additional launching jack at mid-pier
and temporary cables for stabilizing the pier during launching (from left; source: [5])

2.3 Weidatalbridge, [22]

The Weidatalbridge is a bridge for the Autobahn BAB A 38 (between Kassel and Halle) and is under construction since
2004. It will be finished 2007 at estimated total costs of 16.8 Mill. . The engineers Schmitt, Stumpf, Frhauf and Partner
designed this 453m long haunched girder bridge with box section and a maximum span of 169m. The post tensioning
concept was combining unbonded external and bonded internal tendons. In order to reduce the cross section and stiffness
of the main reinforced concrete piers and to avoid the erection of a temporary pier during cantilevering, each has been
divided into two piers with rectangular cross sections at a distance of 11m. The piers and the box are monolithically
connected. The height of the superstructure is varying from 3.50m in the span to 9.0m at the support. The construction
method for this bridge was by the balanced cantilever method from the two centre piers (main span and adjacent spans).
Parts of the approach spans have been erected on Falsework. During construction the bridge was post tensioned (primary
tendons). Finally, the external post tensioning was applied (secondary tendons). The webs of the box are inclined by 7:1 to
the outside. So the bottom slab is getting wider from 6.00m at the piers to 7.07m in the span. The width of the webs is
0.40m in midspan and at the main pier 0.60m. Between the webs the deck slab has a thickness of 0.50m. This is necessary
to be able to arrange all bonded internal bundle tendons within the concrete section. The thickness of the bottom slab is
varying of 0.30m at the support to 1.00m at the pier. Due to the monolithically connection of piers and superstructure the
arrangement of bearings can be avoided.

Fig. 4 Weidatalbridge: Cantilevering of second superstructure from twin-piers (source: DEGES)

2.4. Rhinebridge at Worms, [6]

In 2004 the construction of a road bridge crossing the river Rhine has been started at the city of Worms. This bridge, called
the Nibelungenbrcke, has 12 spans with a total length of 745m and a maximum span of 115m. The cross section of the
bridge is a box, which has been built by cantilevering with temporary stay cables. In the approach the spans are 23m and
42m and the height of the box varies between 1.0m and 1.7m. The approach has been built using falsework and the three
middle spans crossing the Rhine were manufactured by cantilevering. Due to the large span a temporary pylon was built to
install stay cables during cantilevering. This way deformation of the superstructure could be reduced. The superstructure
is haunched with heights of 2.8m to 6.8m. The box is post tensioned in longitudinal direction by combined post tensioning
with unbonded external and bonded internal tendons. All foundations are built on bored piles.



Fig. 5 Bridge crossing the Rhine, Worms: Top longitudinal section (source: [6]), bottom - Cantilevering with temporary
stay cables (source: BBV and Keuser)

2.5. Strelasund Crossing, [7], [13]

The Strelasund Crossing is a project built between 2004 and 2007. The new Strelasund Crossing with a total length of
4100m consists of six parts, the dam in Stralsund, two approaching bridges Stralsund, the Ziegelgrabenbridge, the
approaching bridges Dnholm and Strelasund, the Strelasundbridge and the dam on the island Rgen. This bridge
connects the island Rgen and the mainland. The Strelasundbridge (BW5) is a 539m long part of the whole bridge with 10
spans and has been built as a post tensioned box girder. Overhead formwork carriage was used to build the superstructure.
The foundation of the piers is realized by cast-in-place bore piles.


Fig. 6 Approaching spans of Strelasund Crossing, Stralsund: formwork carriage (source: [1])

2.6. Ilmtalbridge (Railway bridge: 1.7 km, arch spans 175, 155 and 125 m), [12]

One interesting railway project in Germany is the Ilmtalbridge. It is currently under design and construction will start
soon. This post tensioned railway bridge will have a length of 1681m and consists of three arches with spans of 175m,
155m and 125m. June 2011 is the estimated completion date. The width of the superstructure is 14.1m and the height is
about 5.0m. A box section is planned for the superstructure which is separated in four parts of continuous girders with a
length of 471m, 459m, 415m and 336m. The deck slab is post tensioned in transversal direction. Because all three
horizontally fixed supports are arranged at the crowns of the arches, the arches have to take all horizontal forces in
longitudinal direction. Hence expansion joints will be put at the piers between the arches and the abutments. For
constructing incremental launching, starting from the sides is used. The intermediate part will be erected with falsework
founded on the ground. The total costs are estimated to be about 30.0 Mill. .


Fig. 7 Ilmtalbridge: Post-tensioned concrete bridge for railway use with three arches (max. span: 175 m), construction
shall be done by incremental launching and formwork (source: Kinkel&Partner)

2.7. Froschgrundseebridge, [22]

In 2006 construction of the Froschgrundseebridge began (Fig. 8). It is located between the cities of Coburg and Erfurt.
This arch bridge with a total length of 798m and an arch span of 270m will be used as a high-speed rail bridge. This will be
Germanys longest arch and Europes longest arch of a railway bridge and is topping the Talbrcke Wilde Gera. To cross
a nearby nature reserve an arch bridge with this long span has been chosen. The piers consist of a rectangular reinforced
concrete construction (3.5m/2.7m x 5.8m; piers built on arch 2.0m x 4.8m) and the arch itself is constructed as a box
(abutment: 7.4m x 6.5m crown: 5.9m x 4.5m). Because of the horizontally fixed support at the arch crown, all horizontal
loads in longitudinal direction e.g. due to accelerating/stopping of the train have to be taken by the arch itself. The
superstructure is separated in three continuous girders with a length of 220m, 358m and 220m. The cross section is a box
with a height of 3.60m. It is post tensioned in longitudinal direction. Additionally the deck slab is post tensioned in
transverse direction. There will be two construction methods used during the building of this bridge. The arch will be built
by cantilever method with temporary stay cables (Fig. 8) and afterwards the deck is incrementally launched. For the
cantilevering the piers next to the abutments of the arch are built higher as their final height to deviate the temporary stay
cables during construction (Fig. 8, left).


Fig. 8 Froschgrundseebrcke, left cantilevering during construction, right - arch bridge with max. span of 270 m
(source: Kinkel&Partner)

3. DEVELOPMENTS AND FUTURE TRENDS

3.1. Unbonded post-tensioning: Combination of unbonded internal tendons with external tendons
Currently most box girder concrete bridges are post-tensioned both with external cables and with bonded internal cables
that are arranged in the slabs of the superstructure. A future trend in Germany might be full unbonded post-tensioning: that
means using unbonded rather than bonded internal tendons. The following features represent the characteristics of
unbonded post-tensioning:
- Robustness: A higher amount of reinforcement has to be arranged. An increase in local stressing of the structure leads
to a small increase in stress in the unbonded tendon. Furthermore, the unbonded steel cannot be taken into account for
the limitation of crack width. Nevertheless, the amount of reinforcement is responsible for the high level of robustness
of the structure.
- Fatigue: For unbonded tendons neither fatigue nor fretting corrosion is a limiting design consideration.
- Friction: The friction coefficient for unbonded tendons (mostly steel with wax or grease in PE-pipe) is smaller than for
bonded tendons. That is why there are smaller losses in force and, thus, savings because of a smaller amount of steel
required for post-tensioning.


x
L L

0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
0,0% 12,5% 25,0% 37,5% 50,0%
loss of prestressing
l
e
n
g
t
h

o
f

c
r
a
c
k
e
d

z
o
n
e

/

s
p
a
n

(
x
/
L
)
fctk,0.05
fctm
permanent

Fig. 9 Early indication of failure for unbonded prestressing

- Design as a reinforced concrete structure: Corrosion protection of the tendons is ensured by the sheathings. Therefore,
the requirements for crack distribution are less strict. Savings in reinforcement and prestressing steel can be achieved.
- Unbonded tendons can be exchanged, their force cab be proven easily and they can be restressed, later.
- High quality products: Unbonded tendons can be manufactured off-site and delivered just in sequence. Their
production is disconnected from the production of the structure on site. E.g. the concrete temperature on site does not
have to be taken into account any more as it had to be for grouting of bonded tendons.
- Indication of tendon failures: Simple indication of tendon failures can be achieved by using unbonded tendons. Fig. 9
(left) shows a two span girder with a bonded tendon (top) and a girder with an unbonded tendon (bottom), both with
failed tendons close to the left support, e.g. due to stress corrosion. For the girder with the unbonded tendon, a local
tendon failure is equivalent to a total failure along the total tendon length since there is no reintroduction of the force
due to bonding. Therefore, the prestressing is also reduced in the areas of maximum bending moments (mid-support,
mid-span) so that the girder will crack in these areas. Concrete cracking can be observed by many monitoring systems
and can be verified numerically as an indication of tendon failure. The cracks are indicating the failure of the tendon;
see Fig. 9 (left). Zilch et al. have shown in their research, that cracking occurs far from the ultimate limit state of the
structure, [10]. In Fig. 9 (right) they illustrate their results in which a rather long part of a span will show cracks at rates
of prestressing losses that do not harm the load capacity (e.g. 25% loss). Hence, a sudden collapse of the structure (e.g.
a bridge) can be avoided by using unbonded tendons.
- When using PE-HD sheathings/ducts the wear of the plastic has to be taken into account, mainly since the pressure
between deviated steel on the sheathing their thickness might be reduced significantly, [9].

3.2 First projects

Two bridge projects using both unbonded internal and external tendons have been realized quite recently:

- Mhlenbergbridge, North Rhine-Westphalia
- Roriether Graben-Bridge, Bavaria

The six-span Mhlenbergbridge is 255 m in total length, [11]. The single box girder has a height of 2.45 m. The bridge has
been constructed span by span on formwork. In case only external tendons are used for post tensioning very many tendons
would have to be arranged within the box of a concrete bridge. That not only leads to difficulties in checking the webs
during regular inspections but also results in complicated and large concrete deviators and cross girders. That is why it had
been decided to use internal unbonded tendons (monostrands) in addition to external tendons. Fig. 10 (left) shows the
post-tensioning concept of a part of the bridge. The external tendons (band tendons with 16 strands each) are deviated in
the spans and at the supports. The internal tendons are arranged straight-line since they should not be arranged within the
webs. Although costs are higher for unbonded tendons and more reinforcement was necessary the project was
competitive. The reason was that the savings in prestressing steel compensated the additional costs. When designing the
structure less strict requirements to crack distribution have to be matched when using unbonded post tensioning. The
polyethylene ducts are protecting the steel tendons inside.

The Roriether Graben-Bridge is 130 m long with three spans (cross section Fig. 10, right, top image). Tendons wires
arranged in a PE-HD pipe had been chosen both for internal and external use (e.g. Fig. 10, right, bottom image). The
exchangeability of one internal tendon had been proved shortly after finishing the bridge construction. The wires had been
removed while the pipe remained. Costs have not been higher as for use of bonded internal tendons. Both projects have
been finished successfully. For bundle tendons exchangeability might be more difficult as for monostrands since the
single wires/strands are pressing each other when deviated so that the friction increases.

3.3. New developments of internal unbonded tendons

There are some different requirements that unbonded tendons for internal use have to fulfil in contrast to external use. The
PE-HD sheathings are covered with concrete for the whole length. Due to the bond between polyethylene and concrete
friction occurs between polyethylene and prestressing steel during stressing. This kind of friction might wear the pipes.
Since the tendons are arranged within the concrete section in the slabs they are reducing the shear capacity of those
members. Therefore, a future trend is to reduce the size of the tendon cross section. Several monostrands can be arranged
in a very compact way (Fig. 11). For a tendon using 16 monostrands with a single sheathing 45 % of the tendon cross
section is filled by prestressing steel. When using ordinary unbonded external tendons this rate is about 25-30 %.






Cross section of Roriether Graben-Bridge





Installation of internal unbonded tendons in the deck
slab of Roriether Graben-Bridge
Fig. 10 Left - Post-tensioning of Mhlenbergbridge (source: [11]), Right - Roriether Graben-Bridge (source: [12])






Fig. 11 Left - monostrand and corrosion protection mass coated with a single or double polyethylene sheathing (PE-HD),
right - assembling of sixteen monostrands to a larger tendon (source: [8])

3.4. Stay cables using strands

The Ziegelgrabenbridge of Strelasund Crossing is Germanys first bridge with stay cables using prestressing strands (Fig.
12, left). Galvanized, waxed and PE-coated strands are used as tensile elements. Since no supplier has a general approval
for these stay cables using strands many tests according to the new fib-recommendation are required. Within only six
months all tests required for the specific project approval were performed successfully at MPA BAU of Technische
Universitt Mnchen. An expert team evaluated the fatigue tests, the exchangeability test and the water-tightness test.
Special requirements were specified for the installation. Requirements on manufacturing, production and conformity
control were defined based on the results of the approval tests. The stay-cables were installed successfully, [7], [13]. Fig.
12, right, shows in the top image an illustration of the second project: a stay cable bridge crossing the Rhine near Wesel
which shall replace the old steel truss bridge. In contrast to Strelasund there are two rows of cables that are anchored in the
middle of the superstructure. The bottom image of Fig. 12, right, shows a section of the cable and its anchorage. Fatigue
testing with subsequent static testing has been done at MPA BAU of Technische Universitt Mnchen according to fib -
recommendation Acceptance of Stay Cable Systems using Prestressing Steels (fib Bulletin 30, 2005), see Fig. 13. Some
technical details of testing were:
- Cable: 55 strands 150mm - Stress range: 200 MPa
- GUTS: approx. 15 MN - Testing frequency: approx. 0.7 Hz
- Upper load: 45% GUTS





Fig. 12 Application of stay cables using strands: left - main span (Ziegelgrabenbrcke of Strelasund Crossing, Stralsund
(source: [7]), right/top - bridge over Rhine, Wesel (source: [26]), right/bottom cable (source: [29])


Fig. 13 Fatigue testing of stay cable for the Rhinebridge in Wesel at the laboratory of Technische Universitt Mnchen
set-up and measurements at fixed anchor (from left)

3.5. General use of 60t-trucks for Germanys roads

In Germany it is currently being discussed whether the maximum total weight of trucks shall be increased from 40t to 60t.
The maximum load on the axes shall remain constant at 11.5t. While the design of bridges for ultimate limit state has been
taking this traffic into account for decades (e.g. bridgeclass 60/30) special emphasis has to be put on the fatigue of older
concrete bridges that are subject to danger of fatigue fracture at their coupling joints. Those bridges have been built before
the 1980s. At joints most of their tendons are coupled. In the nearer future it has to be investigated whether this change in
traffic loading leads to structural problems for the concrete bridges.

4. DESIGN CODES

The first German standard for post-tensioned concrete bridges (DIN 4227) had been prepared in 1953 and introduced in
1955. This first draft neither took the special features and needs of the new construction methods into account (e.g.
stepwise construction) nor had it been based on testing experience of statically indeterminate systems (e.g. continuous
beam) and box-girders. Therefore, several tasks like the possibility of fatigue fracture of post-tensioning steel at coupling
joints arose. In the following the German standard has been modified and improved as more technical know-how and
experience had been gained. In 1966 the minimum amount of reinforcement steel had been increased and a minimum
transverse reinforcement had been obligatory since then. In 1980 the design of coupling joints had been changed, e.g. a
minimum number of tendons have to pass through the joint (at least 30 %); the concrete cover as well as again the amount
of reinforcement steel had been increased. All these changes significantly improved the robustness of the structures. After
introducing an updated DIN 4227 in 1998 the next big step was the development of the DIN Fachbericht 102
Betonbrcken in 2003 which is the newest national standard in accordance with the European standardization. The DIN
Fachbericht 102 for instance does not allow the arrangement of tendons in the webs of box girders to avoid concrete
compaction problems. At the moment the standard design of post-tensioned box girder concrete bridges makes the usage
of externally arranged tendons obligatory. By the European Union the aim of a uniform technical standard for the design
of structures in the structural engineering was developed. Responsibility for the development of European standards was
given to the Comit Europen de Normalisation (CEN) in 1989. In 1992 one of the first parts of the structural Eurocodes
program, the prestandard prEN 1992-1-1 Design of Concrete Structures General Rules and Rules for Buildings was
published. Part 1-1 of EC2 was approved by CEN (European Committee for Standardization) as a prospective standard for
provisional application. It gives a general basis for the design of concrete structures as well as detailed rules which are
mainly applicable to ordinary buildings. The DIN standard 1045-1 [17], obligatory for the design of structures in general
building constructions, was introduced in 2001. For the first time, the regulations of the steel and prestressed steel
construction are combined in one standard. On the one hand, the content is strongly based on the standard DIN V ENV
1992-1-1, published in 1992, but otherwise it has been adapted to the foreseeable developments of DIN EN 1992-1-1 (EC
2-1-1) [18], published in 2004, in order to facilitate the following adjustment [16].

ENV 1992: Eurocode 2 (EC 2)
Design of concretestructures;
Part 1-1: General rules and rulesfor buildings
ENV 1992-1-2
(EC 2 Part 1-2)
Structural
fire design
ENV 1992-1-3
(EC 2 Part 1-3)
Precast
concrete
ENV 1992-1-4
(EC 2 Part 1-4)
Light-
weight
concrete
ENV 1992-1-5
(EC 2 Part 1-5)
Unbonded/
External
tendons
ENV 1992-1-6
(EC 2 Part 1-6)
Plain
concrete
ENV 1992-2
(EC 2 Part 2)
Concrete
bridges
ENV 1992-3
(EC 2 Part 3)
Concrete
foundations
ENV 1992-4
(EC 2 Part 4)
Concrete
containments
National ApplicationDocument(NAD)
NAD`sfor:
- DIN V ENV 1992-1-1
- DIN V ENV 1992-1-3
-DIN V ENV 1992-1-6
- DIN V ENV 1992-2
ENV 1992: Eurocode 2 (EC 2)
Design of concretestructures;
Part 1-1: General rules and rulesfor buildings
ENV 1992-1-2
(EC 2 Part 1-2)
Structural
fire design
ENV 1992-1-3
(EC 2 Part 1-3)
Precast
concrete
ENV 1992-1-4
(EC 2 Part 1-4)
Light-
weight
concrete
ENV 1992-1-5
(EC 2 Part 1-5)
Unbonded/
External
tendons
ENV 1992-1-6
(EC 2 Part 1-6)
Plain
concrete
ENV 1992-2
(EC 2 Part 2)
Concrete
bridges
ENV 1992-3
(EC 2 Part 3)
Concrete
foundations
ENV 1992-4
(EC 2 Part 4)
Concrete
containments
National ApplicationDocument(NAD)
NAD`sfor:
- DIN V ENV 1992-1-1
- DIN V ENV 1992-1-3
-DIN V ENV 1992-1-6
- DIN V ENV 1992-2

Fig. 14: Constitution of Eurocode 2 ENV 1992; orange boxes: basics, scope and structure of DIN Fachbericht 102 [16]

In Germany the DIN-Fachbericht 101 Einwirkungen auf Brcken (technical document about actions on bridges) and
the DIN-Fachbericht 102 Betonbrcken (technical document about concrete bridges) were developed in the
construction standard committee (NABau) in 2003. The intention was to implement the state achieved by the union of the
European regulations for the bridge construction in Germany. This happened on the basis of adopted European
preliminary standards and respective national application documents (NAD). The different regulations were integrated in
one document, the DIN-Fachbericht and the conformity of the technical contents with DIN 1045-1:2001-07 as German
comment to EN 1992 the definite standard for concrete construction - was reached. In Fig. 13 the European Regulations
for Concrete Structures (EC 2) are shown. The orange marked boxes, the national guidelines for concrete bridges with
external tendons and the adjustment to DIN 1045-1 were the relevant parts for the design of DIN-Fachbericht 102. In
DIN-Fachbericht 102 all relevant chapters according to Concrete Bridges are summarized including Basis of Design,
Serviceability Limit States and Ultimate Limit States. This procedure reflects at the same time the fundamental difficulties
of the standard works in the last years. There is a tendency of creating standardized regulations at European level, but it
has to consider the interests of the meanwhile 29 national member organizations, which were assigned by the European
Commission for the development of the Eurocodes. On the other side it is necessary to have standards at national level,
which satisfy the continual development and experience recollection and guarantees the profitability of the construction in
competition. The originated coexistence, with European and national standards, which are partially identical in content
and otherwise subjected to a strict mixture prohibition, will be terminated with the obligatory introduction of the
Eurocodes and the respective national annexes (NA). All contradictory national regulations are to be withdrawn - so the
idea of the European Commission- until the deadline of 31 March 2010 (Date of Withdrawal, DoW). The whole EC
2-package, composed of (basic) part DIN EN 1992-1-1 [18] and the subordinated parts, is currently going through a
transition phase in Germany. This means, that the European basic documents (European Standard, EN) are as far as
possible available, and the national annexes are being developed. The security level and many aspects of the durability
and the profitability are understood in the youngest Eurocode-generation as a sovereign task of the state members.
Therefore are almost all regulations, which concern these interests, provided with nationally determined parameters
(NDP) in the main text. The state members can make here (and only here) individual adjustments in the context of the
allowed possibilities. The main text may not be changed or adapted. Different European annexes are added to the main
text, which have a normative or an informative status, and also the national annex of the respective member state. Only
through the national annex the member states have the possibility of formulating additional specifications to the main text.
In addition to the definition of the NDPs, supplementary regulations (application rules) and informative annotations can
be included, if they do not contradict the main text. Even if until the final conversion to the Eurocodes many efforts need
to be executed, the true merits of a unitary European standard, which reaches about 490 million people, will not be totally
manifested until its obligatory introduction in 2010.

With in DIN-Fachbericht 102 Betonbrcken there are also given rules for structural design. On the one hand side
tendons are not allowed to be arranged within the webs ob box girders. On the other hand there is a minimum amount of
tendons that have to be arranged within the boxes of concrete bridges as external tendons. Another example is that a
certain amount of tendons must cross joints, so that all of the tendons are not coupled at the same section. The
post-tensioning systems delivered by manufacturer are not included within the DIN-Fachbericht 102. The information a
designer needs that depends on the system (e.g. dimensions, friction coefficient et cetera) has to be taken from the
approval text. Post-tensioning systems have to have an European Technical Approval (ETA) before used in Europe. The
Guideline ETAG 013 (edition June 2002, [21]) contains a number of tests and criteria that have to be done/matched before
getting an ETA (e.g. static and fatigue loading, load transfer to the structure). ETAs can be given to systems by several
approval bodies around Europe. However, in Germany all ETAs for systems that shall be installed there are additionally
proved by the German approval body Deutsches Institut fr Bautechnik, Berlin (DIBt), which gives a national permission
for the accepted systems. For products that do not have a technical approval a Zustimmung im Einzelfall is necessary.
This means that for a specific project the use of the product has to be permitted. Mostly, a reduced testing program
compared to that of ETAG or expert opinion based on experiences and know-how is sufficient to show the quality of the
product.

5. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors wish to thank Dr. H.-H. Benning (Ministry of Infrastructure), Prof. R. Maurer (Univ. Dortmund), Mr. W.
Hrnig (AHA), Prof. M. Keuser (BUNG), Mr. H. Thal (VBT) and Mr. St. Sonneck (BBV) for the information they have
submitted to contribute to this paper.

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