New ideas for steel‐concrete composite bridges overpassing highways – VFT‐RS technology.

Roads overpassing highways or speedways are rather a common case, as such bridges occur in average every 2 km of highways in densely populated areas. Due to the high number and similar boundary conditions, the design and realization tends to be standardized and repetitive. The total length ranges mostly between 40 and 55 m, whereas the construction height is a limiting factor since minimum clearance heights must be guaranteed both for safety as well as for driving comfort. Due to these reasons, highway overpasses have been a field of application where steel‐framed composite decks have proven their efficiency for this task. Starting from Germany, the VFT technology (prefabricated composite beam) has spread in several European countries in the last decades as further development of the standard steel‐concrete composite solution. Its configuration fits perfectly to integral frame bridges built over existing infrastructure with the scope to minimize the traffic disturbance. In this paper a further step is proposed: the VFT‐RS technology. The change consists in using standard rolled sections by adapting them into the integral frame bridge configuration, further enhancing the structural efficiency with the benefits of high‐steel strength. The possibility of weathering steel or hot‐dip galvanization create the unique offer of a maintenance‐free solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]