VIERENDEEL GIRDERS

• a girder (named after a belgian engineering professor) without diagonals,

so that it can be used in walls which require openings for windows or
doors. all the joints are rigid. also called an open-frame girder.

• VIERENDEEL TRUSS
• the vierendeel truss is a truss where
the members are not triangulated but
form rectangular openings, and is a
frame with fixed joints that are
capable of transferring and resisting
bending moments.

• trusses can have a rectangular configuration, avoiding the potential

intrusion of diagonal members, if the joints are rigid.
• because deep trusses are particularly efficient for long spans they are
sometimes designed to be a full storey-height deep, the top boom being
within the upper floor zone and the lower floor zone incorporating the
bottom boom.
VIERENDEEL TRUSS
• however because of fenestration, some or all of the diagonal
truss members may be undesirable. if they are omitted the
resulting "truss" is effectively a series of rectangles and if the
joints were pinned it would collapse. however, if the shear
forces are accommodated by making the joints between
members stiff enough the structural integrity is retained.
• such trusses are called vierendeel girders, and the members
are subject to bending.
• in this case individual members become subject to bending
moments and shear force in addition to direct tension or
compression. these types of structure are called vierendeel
after the professor whose experimental work still forms the
basis of their design.
VIERENDEEL TRUSS
• the joints may be heavy, but the
absence of diagonals makes this form
suitable for storey-height construction.
• using standard computer programs,
the analysis is not difficult, but the
resulting joints are often very heavy in
appearance.
• however the system does allow full STATE TRADING CORPORATION
storey-height construction without CENTRE DELHI
obstruction to openings. clearly in this
situation the verticals would be at AR. RAJ REWAL
column positions. it is common to see AN EXAMPLE OF OPEN FRAME
this type of truss in the walkways, for GIRDERS
instance at airports. this is because the
height available relative to the span
reduces the boom forces and
moments and eases the problem of
forming the joints
VIERENDEEL TRUSS
• trusses, particularly vierendeel girders, can be used vertically
(to resist horizontal loads).
• while the descriptions so far have concentrated on the truss
spanning horizontally, it is by no means necessary and often
(particularly with vierendeels) the truss spans vertically.
• an open-frame n-truss without diagonal members, with rigid
joints between the top and bottom chords and the verticals.
known also as open-frame girder
VIERENDEEL TRUSS
• its use for bridges is rare due to higher costs compared to a
triangulated truss.
• the utility of this type of truss in buildings is that a large
amount of the exterior envelope remains unobstructed and
can be used for fenestration and door openings. this is
preferable to a braced-frame system, which would leave
some areas obstructed by the diagonal braces.
VIERENDEEL TRUSS
• the vierendeel girder design is sometimes adopted in the design of
footbridges. in traditional truss design, triangular shape of truss is
normally used because the shape cannot be changed without
altering the length of its members.

• by applying loads only to the joints of trusses, the members of truss are
only subjected to a uniform tensile or compressive stress across their
cross sections because their lines of action pass through a common
hinged joint
•
VIERENDEEL TRUSS
• the vierendeel truss/girder is characterized by having only vertical
members between the top and bottom chords and is a statically
indeterminate structure.

• hence, bending, shear and axial capacity of these members

contribute to the resistance to external loads.
• the use of this girder enables the footbridge to span larger
distances and present an attractive outlook. however, it suffers from
the drawback that the distribution of stresses is more complicated
than normal truss structures
VIERENDEEL GIRDERS IN BRIDGE
CONSTRUCTION

• the continuing expansion of highway network throughout the world is

largely the result of great increase in traffic, population and extensive
growth of metropolitan urban areas. this expansion has lead to many
changes in the use and development of various kinds of bridges.

• the bridge type is related to providing maximum efficiency of use of

material and construction technique, for particular span, and
applications.

• as span increases, dead load is an important increasing factor. to

reduce the dead load, unnecessary material, which is not utilized to its
full capacity, is removed out of section, this results in the shape of box
girder or cellular structures, depending upon whether the shear
deformations can be neglected or not.
VIERENDEEL GIRDERS IN BRIDGE
CONSTRUCTION
 span range is more for box bridge girder as compare to t-beam girder
bridge resulting in comparatively lesser number of piers for the same
valley width and hence results in economy.

 a box girder is formed when two web plates are joined by a common flange
at both the top and the bottom. the closed cell which is formed has a much
greater torsional stiffness and strength than an open section and it is this
feature which is the usual reason for choosing a box girder configuration.
 BOX GIRDER BRIDGE

• “when tension flanges of longitudinal girders are connected together, the

resulting structure is called a box girder bridge”.
•
• box girder bridge
• box girders can be universally applied from the point of view of load
carrying, to their indifference as to whether the bending moments are
positive or negative and to their torsional stiffness; from the point of view
of economy.
 EVOLUTION OF BOX GIRDER
• the spanning of bridges started with simple slabs. as the spans
increased, the design depth of slab is also increased. it is known that
material near centre of gravity contributes very little for flexure and
hence can be removed.
• this leads to beam and slab systems. the reinforcement in bottom
bulb of beam provided capacity for tensile forces and top slab
concrete, the capacity to resist the compression. they formed a
couple to resist flexure.
ADVANTAGES ASSOCIATED WITH
BOX GIRDERS:
• ADVANTAGES ASSOCIATED WITH BOX GIRDERS:
• in recent years, single or multi-cell reinforced concrete box girder
bridge have been proposed and widely used as economic aesthetic
solution for the over crossings, under crossings, grade separation
structures and viaducts found in modern highway system.
• the very large torsional rigidity of the box girder‘s closed cellular
section provides structures beneath is more aesthetically pleasing than
open-web type system.
• in case of long span bridges, large width of deck is available to
accommodate pre-stressing cables at bottom flange level.
• interiors of box girder bridges can be used to accommodate service
such as gas pipes, water mains etc.
• for large spans, bottom flange could be used as another deck
accommodates traffic also.
• the maintenance of box girder is easier in interior space is directly
accessible without use of scaffolding.
ADVANTAGES ASSOCIATED WITH
BOX GIRDERS:
• alternatively space is hermetically sealed and enclosed air may be
dried to provide a non-corrosive atmosphere.
• it has high structural efficiency which minimizes the pre-stressing force
required to resist a given bending moment, and its great torsional
strength with the capacity this gives to re-centre eccentric live loads,
minimizing the pre-stress required to carry them.

DISADVANTAGES:
• one of the main disadvantages of box decks is that they are difficult
to cast in-situ due to the inaccessibility of the bottom slab and the
need to extract the internal shutter. either the box has to be
designed so that the entire cross section may be cast in one
continuous pour, or the cross section has to be cast in stages.
SPECIFICATIONS:
• it can cover a range of spans from 25 m up to the largest non-suspended
concrete decks built; of the order of 300 m. single box girders may also carry
decks up to 30 m wide.
• for the longer span beams, beyond about 50 m, they are practically the only
feasible deck section. below 30m precast beams or voided slab decks are
more suitable while above 50ma single cell box arrangement is usually more
economic.
• single cell box-girder cast-in-situ are used for spans form 40m to 270m.
• the box arrangement is done in order to give aesthetic appearance where the
web of box will act as a slender appearance when combined with a slim
parapet profile.
• single box arrangements are efficient for both the longitudinal and transverse
designs, and they produce an economic solution for mot medium and long
span structures. this type of deck is constructed span-by-span, using full-height
scaffolding or trusses, or as balanced cantilever using form travellers.
• this could be particularly important for medium length bridges with spans
between 40m and 55m. such spans are too long for twin rib type decks, and
too short for cast-in-situ balanced cantilever construction of box girders, while a
total length of box section deck of less than about 1,000 m does not justify
setting up a precast segmental facility.
EXAMPLES:
Commerzbank, Frankfurt
Architect: Norman Foster
Engineer: Ove Arup

Vierendeel elevation / plan

Vierendeel / floor girder

joint detail
EXAMPLES:

BERLIN PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE

 THANK YOU
THAKUR MOHIT SINGH 09632
VINOD KUMAR 09633
RAHUL GANGULY 09635