Author: Mezie Ethelbert

Reading Time: 4 minutes The structural design of bridge involves the choice of the size and shape and quantity of reinforcement of different members of the bridge to be adequate to bear all the loads coming on them at different conditions. It is important to have a good knowledge of possible loads that a bridge can have in order to do adequate analysis and safe design for the bridge. The various loads considered in bridge design include: Dead loadsLive loads (Traffic from pedestrian and vehicles)Impact loadsHorizontal thrust on piers and abutments due to flowing waterWind loadsCentrifugal force due to curvatureBreaking and starting pressuresBuoyance forcesTemperature…

Reading Time: 7 minutes Flexible pavement structural design in Nigeria have been based on one of the empirical methods of design known as the CBR method. The structural design of pavement involves the determination of the thicknesses of the overlying layers of the pavement. Two key components required to achieve this are the California bearing ratio (CBR –value) of the subgrade of the pavement and the design traffic in millions of standard axle (msa). While the CBR-value is determined from the laboratory CBR test, the design traffic of the pavement is determined from the traffic count or survey by incorporating many factors to take…

Reading Time: 2 minutes Concrete flaws/defects are detestable to the eyes and in most cases, it causes emotional discomfort. This post is set to show various identifiable concrete flaws, causes, prevention, and repair strategies. It is said prevention is better than cure (repair). Efforts should be made to prevent any type of flaw but where it comes up, it should be repaired without delay. Dusting Thank you for visiting MYCIVILLINKS today. God bless you.

Reading Time: 3 minutes Extreme hot or cold weather usually cause concrete surface to crack which is a defect In very hot weather The workability of the concrete drops within a short time. Even though people usually add more water to the concrete, it is not the best option. It is more ideal to use a set-retarding admixture in the concrete when the weather is too hot.If the option (1) is not available, one can dampen the subgrade (in road construction) and formwork (in building and other structures) but don’t allow excess water around. Also ensure that the materials for the concrete are kept…

Reading Time: 4 minutes Accurate estimation of reinforcement bars (rebars) quantity for a given work is usually preceded by accurate detailing of the structural members and accurate preparation of bar bending schedule (BBS). The reinforcement details such as 20 Y12-02-150 mm C/C B can be explained as follows: The quantity (20) Type of bar (High yield steel, Y) Size of bar (12 mm) Bar mark (02) Bar spacing (150 mm) and Position of bar (B) The BBS shows the actual shape of each of the bars which are usually collated by the bar mark. The schedule also shows the actual length of each component…

Reading Time: 9 minutes Foundation of a structure is the least respected but most important aspect of a structure because a structure without a good foundation is bound to fail (collapse). We must have been acquainted with different types of foundations which include strip footing, pad footing, wide strip footing, combined pad footing, strap foundation, raft foundation, pile foundation and even caisson/well foundation. This is not our interest in this post but to carry out a holistic design of pad footing and to show all we need to know and do to completely carry out design of pad footing. It is the duty of…

Reading Time: 6 minutes Soil-cement stabilization (SCS) is one of the commonest system of stabilizing soils which may possibly loose pre-eminence in the developed countries of the world due to cost and unsustainability, if a viable equivalent alternative is found. However, in developing countries like Nigeria, it is the major stabilization agent for flexible pavement in spite of large carbon foot print associated with it. Soil-cement involves the mixing of pulverized soil with cement and hydrating the mix with water to obtain a solid strong mass that can bear heavier loads when compacted and hardened than ordinary soil. Soil-cement are often categorized into four,…

Reading Time: 6 minutes Bridge can be defined as any structure use to provide access from one point to another over obstructions such as valleys, rivers or to connect two points. It can also be defined as a structure providing passage over an obstacle without closing the way beneath. The passage can be for a road, a railway, pedestrians or canal (Gupta and Gupta, 2012). There are classes of bridge based on. Material of construction, there are reinforced concrete (RC) bridge, stone masonry bridge, timber bridge, steel bridge, iron bridge, prestressed concrete bridge and composite bridge. Purpose, there are railroad bridge, highway bridge, pedestrian…