International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology (IJCIET)

Volume 7, Issue 5, September-October 2016, pp. 222–231, Article ID: IJCIET_07_05_024

Available online at http://www.iaeme.com/IJCIET/issues.asp?JType=IJCIET&VType=7&IType=5
ISSN Print: 0976-6308 and ISSN Online: 0976-6316
© IAEME Publication

BRIDGES FAILURES IN EXTREME FLOOD EVENTS

BY TAKING A CASE STUDY
Azmat Hussain
Department of Civil Engineering, Kurukshetra University, Haryana.

Sumaira Jan
Department of Civil Engineering, Bagwant University, Ajmer.

ABSTRACT
Transportation is an important requirement in people’s daily lives. Both urban and rural areas
are linked by highways and bridges. Road networks and critical road structures such as bridges,
culverts and floodways have vital role before, during and after extreme events to reduce the
vulnerability being served. The performance of the bridge is dependent on the strength and
durability of its components. Since bridges cannot resist indefinitely all the natural forces and
hazards including time-related degradation of materials, these structures have limited service life.
The bridges have to maintain in order to have better and longer service life and in order to prevent
premature failure. The service life expectancy of a bridge may generally be about 70 years for
superstructure and about 100 years for substructure. But many bridges fail before service 20 year
life term due to lack of maintenance.
This paper presents an analysis of the case study of 2014 floods in Kashmir valley region in
India to identify the failure mechanism of the road bridges exposed to flood events. In Jammu and
Kashmir state as many as 60 major and minor roads were cut-off and over 30 bridges were
damaged due to 2014 floods. Major failure mechanism of the bridges were identified as scouring of
the abutments and piers, damage to bridge decks due to urban debris, and in some areas due to
continuous striking of the heavy stones with the bridges. Some bridges were closely analyzed and
causes of the failure were studied also. The possible retrofit techniques were studied.
Key words: Bridge maintenance, inspection, waterway of bridges, failure of bridges.
Cite this Article: Azmat Hussain and Sumaira Jan, Bridges Failures in Extreme Flood Events by
Taking a Case Study. International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology, 7(5), 2016,
pp.222–231.
http://www.iaeme.com/IJCIET/issues.asp?JType=IJCIET&VType=7&IType=5

1. INTRODUCTION
Thomas B. Macaulay once said, “Of all inventions, the alphabet and the printing press alone accepted,
those inventions which abridge distance have done the most for the civilization of our species.” According
to the New York state department of transportation the bridge can be defined “A structure, including
supports, erected over a depression or an obstruction such as water, highway, or railway and having a track
or passageway for carrying traffic or other moving loads, and having an opening measured along the centre
of the roadway of more than 20 ft between under copings of abutments or spring lines of arches, or

http://www.iaeme.com/IJCIET/index.asp 222 [email protected]

 Azmat Hussain and Sumaira Jan

extreme ends of openings for multiple boxes. Multiple pipe configurations will qualify as bridges where
the clear distance between openings are less than half of the smaller, adjacent opening, and the total length
along the center of the roadway is greater than 20 ft”, A bridge is an important element in a transportation
system, as its capacity governs the capacity of the system, its failure or defective performance will result in
serious disruption of the traffic flow. It is well known that absolute safety is the criteria in building bridges
as there are risks of failure associated with the bridges. Its failure will result in loss of lives and will affect
the people. Bridges constructed over rivers, seas and waterways are vulnerable to disaster such as tsunami
and flooding. Bridges build over the rivers and seas are facing unexpected loadings due to floods and
tsunamis. Displacement of the bridges due to erosion and collapsing of the abutments, lateral pressure
generated by the water and floating debris are common. Since bridges cannot resist indefinitely all the
natural forces and hazards including time related degradation of materials, these structures have limited
service life. The bridges have to be maintained in order to prevent premature failure and to extend the
service life. Proper inspection and maintenance is necessary to maintain the life of the bridges.

2. FAILURE OF BRIDGES AND CONSEQUENCES OF THE FAILURE

Maintenance of transportation facilities is a major industry. Transportation is an important requirement in
people’s daily lives. Both urban and rural areas are linked by highways and bridges. Global civilization is
now dependent upon the use of automobiles and the public transport system. . The performance of the
bridge is dependent on the strength and durability of its components. Quality in bridge engineering has to
be achieved through innovative planning, diligent designs, intelligent directions, and timely maintenance.
Since bridges cannot resist indefinitely all the natural forces and hazards including time related degradation
of materials, these structures have limited service life. The bridges have to be maintained in order to
prevent premature failure and to extend the service life .proper inspection and maintenance is necessary to
maintain the life of the bridges. The service life expectancy of a bridge may generally be about 70 years for
superstructure and 100 years for substructure. But many bridges fail before serving 20 year term due to
lack of the maintenance and proper inspection. The in-depth inspection of the bridges should be done once
in three to five years. If this inspection is done properly, most of the bridges can be saved from severe
damage during catastrophic events. But hardly a inspection is done in the valley of Kashmir and that is
why during September 2104 floods which was the worst in 109 years cause serious damage to the bridges
and roads. As many as 60 major and minor roads have been cut off and over 30 bridges washed away .The
consequences of the failure of the bridges and roads are impact on the markets, access, local economy,
public infrastructure etc. The serious failure of the bridges will often result in loss of lives which is
unacceptable, interruption of traffic and costly repairs.

3. RESEARCH OBJECTIVE
The objective of the research was to identify the strategies and technologies to restore the damaged
bridges. The damaged bridges are studied keenly and their cause of the failure is studied. Then the possible
retrofit solution is analyzed. As on September 2014, the valley of Kashmir suffered huge loss and about 60
major and minor roads were dammed and over 30 bridges were washed away. Some bridges were only 11
year old and yet they fail in the floods. The flood was worst since 109 years and it damaged the
infrastructure badly. The necessity of this research is to analyze one of the failed bridge and also to find the
cause of their failure. The possible methods to retrofit the bridge are also explained

4. A CASE STUDY
In September 2014, the Kashmir region suffered disastrous floods across many of its districts caused by
torrential rainfall. The Indian administrated Jammu and Kashmir, as well as Pakistan administered Azad
Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan and Punjab were affected by these floods. By September 24, 2014, nearly 277
people in India and about 280 people in Pakistan had died due to the floods. On 5 September, the Jhelum
River in Srinagar was reported to be flowing at 22.40 feet (6.83 m) which was 4.40 feet (1.34 m) above the

http://www.iaeme.com/IJCIET/index.asp 223 [email protected]

 Bridges Failures in Extreme Flood Events by Taking a Case Study

danger mark and at 33 feet (10 m) at Sangam in Anantnag district above the danger mark. The discharge
rate in the river was recorded as 70000 m3/s against the normal discharge of 25000 m3/s. The Chenab
River was also reported to flow above the danger mark by which hundreds of villages were affected
in Pakistan. These rivers flooded into the streets causing heavy casualties and loss of property.

5. CASE STUDY OF CAHDOORA BRIDGE

The Chadoora Bridge as so called is located at tehsil chadoora in district budgam, Kashmir, India. This
bridge connects the two important tehsils .The trade, communication and public transport wholly depend
on this bridge .Originally constructed by R and B division Kashmir in 2001 – 2002 year, the bridge is a
balanced cantilever bridge with 108.3mtr length. This is the image of the Chadoora Bridge taken after
floods.

Figure 1 Chadoora Bridge

6. GENERAL DETAILS
Some general details of the bridge are as under:
• Total length of the bridge is 108.3mtrs.
• 2No Dummy abutments.
• Solid wall type piers Rcc with circular ends having open foundation.
• 2NO Balanced Cantilever bridges each supported on two piers formed .by four longitudinal precast
prestressed girders.
• 7.5mtr carriage way.

7. BRIDGE SUBSTRUCTRURE
The bridge deck system is 108.3mtr in length and was supported by four NOs piers in river section as
2NOs Dummy abutment structures placed behind major deep drains/Nallahs located beyond both river
banks. The piers were solid wall type Reinforced cement concrete construction with circular ends having
open foundation. The Dummy abutment structures are located on the bank of the river.

8. BRIDGE SUPERSTRUCTURE
The bridge superstructure consists of 2NOs Balanced Cantilever type deck units each supported on two
piers, formed by four longitudinal precast prestressed girders in tandem with cast in situ RCC diaphragms
and deck slab forming the composite girder system. The cantilever arms of these units with articulation
provision support shore span on one end and central suspended span on the other end.POT bearings are

http://www.iaeme.com/IJCIET/index.asp 224 [email protected]

 Azmat Hussain and Sumaira Jan

provided at seating of girders of shore span/central span. Strip seal movement joints are provided at ends of
the bridge deck and at one end of the central suspended span only and all other three joints were
hinged/rotation joints only for improved riding comfort.

9. CAUSE OF THE FAILUREOF THE BRIDGE

The bridge is located at chadoora area on doodganga nallah.The source of the doodganga Nallah is pir
panchal catchment. Bed grade of the Nallah is 1 in 39.Longitudnal slope of the Nallah is 1 in
1659.Catchment area is 300 to 630sqkm.Upon visiting the site, some points were noted which are the basic
reasons of the failure of the bridge.
1. The length of the bridge is 108.3 metre long before flooding. The main cause of the failure of
the bridge was scour type failure. According to the reports, the discharge which was recorded
earlier on 1973 was 5000 cusecs. But during the floods i-e on 9 September 2014, it was 9504
cusecs. The discharge observed during the floods do not contain quantum discharge that:
Passed through the breaches if any.
Passed over the embankments if any.
2. Most common cause of the failure of the bridge on rivers is scour. Scour is the result of the
erosive action of the running water, excavating and carrying away material from stream beds
and banks. Small brooks, streams, oceans, rivers etc all possess different kinetic energy. Scour
or soil erosion at a bridge is caused by the dynamic effects of the water in motion. Therefore the
aim should be to design the bridges for all times and for all occasions. Foundation of new
bridges, bridges to be widened, replaced shall be designed to resist the scour for 100 year flood
criteria, which may create the deepest scour at foundations.
3. Back in 1973, the discharge recorded at doodganga Nallah was 5000 cusecs. On September
2014 the discharge was 9504 cusecs. But this high discharge is hardly a criterion for the failure
of the Chadoora Bridge. The length of the bridge is 108.3mtrs, but during floods the linear
waterway was recorded only 36.6mtrs which is negligible for such a major bridge. This
waterway of the bridge was not sufficient to counteract the flood water. The flow of the water
has been restricted to 36.6 metre with concentration of flow in only 27.8mtrs width while the
bridge is about 108.3mtr in length with four piers in between and two side abutments. The
waterway was grossly inadequate. The below picture will clear our view about the waterway of
the bridge.

Figure 2 Waterway of the Bridge.

The above picture is taken under the bridge .This is the condition of the bridge on abutment 2nd.As we
can see a lot of debris accumulation under the bridge. Debris changes both the geotechnical and hydraulic

http://www.iaeme.com/IJCIET/index.asp 225 [email protected]

 Bridges Failures in Extreme Flood Events by Taking a Case Study

characteristics of a bridge. Debris accumulation in the bridge may result in substantial block in bridge
opening, the waterway opening area is considerably reduced .As we can see here in this picture, the
opening under the bridge is reduced considerably thereby reducing the waterway of the bridge. With
reduced waterway, velocity would increase and greater scour depths would be involved, requiring deeper
foundations. But after constructing the bridge, these things became negligible and lead to the failure of the
bridges.

Figure 3 Failure of the Bridge

This is the picture of Chadoora Bridge again and shows the doodganga Nallah on which it is
constructed. As we can clearly see the how waterway is reduced. The creation of the sheds plays a major
part in reducing the waterway of the bridge. Another thing we can see is that there are no river training
works on this particular bridge which also play its part in failure of the bridge.
4. Scouring around the foundation was taken place removed the fines from sand, gravel, boulder
matrix. The scouring was predominant on upstream side and slightly less on the downstream
side. That is why the pier first tilted towards upstream side and settled by about 30 – 40 cm.
5. The scouring of the bridge has also taken place due to massive slides on river side of left
abutment. The obvious cause of the scouring has been encroachment of almost 75% of total
waterway, both on upstream and downstream side by the way of the creation of the eidgah and
sumo stand respectively. The width of the eidgah and sumo stand is 71.7 mtrs.So; the total
waterway was 36.6 metre only. This cause the scour of the pier. The pictures below will tell us
the condition of the bridge and will indicate how waterway was reduced. The pictures were
taken after the floods on the site.

Figure 4 Bridge after the Floods

http://www.iaeme.com/IJCIET/index.asp 226 [email protected]

 Azmat Hussain and Sumaira Jan

The above figure clearly shows how the construction of the shed, taxi stand etc reduced the waterway
of the bridge and thereby not giving free and full passage of the flood to pass which lead to scour failure of
the bridge.
6. The discharge of 9504 cusecs which should be pass through at least 91.5mtr width, only passed
through 36.6m, thereby causing the scour failure of the bridge. The below figure is the site plan
of the bridge clearly shows the damaged pier and linear waterway for the bridge. The detailed
site plan of the bridge was made after floods

10. DETAILED SITE PLAN OF THE BRIDGE

Figure 5 Detailed Site Plan of the Bridge

Upon visiting the site recently the detailed site plan was made. This plan shows us the waterway of the
bridge which was the basic reason for the scour failure. Maintenance is the way to keep the bridges
functional. Regular inspection is necessary for the bridges. If the waterway has been restored to original
position, the bridge would have been safe from scour .But Constructing sumo stand, eidgah etc under the
bridge bought disaster to the structure. Without having permission from the development authority, no
construction can be done, especially under important structures which can prove costly after their damage.

11. REHABILITATION OF THE CHADOORA BRIDGE

1. Need for Rehabilitation: The chadoora bridge is 108.3mtrr long .So, it is a major bridge. This
bridge is located in the heart of the district, connecting villages to each other. This bridge is
important for trade, connectivity and for public transport. Further the economy of the area is
dependent on this bridge. So, restoration of the bridge is important in every aspect.
2. Methods of the Restoration: While different restoration methods can be put forward for the
bridge .But some of the methods which were analyzed while studying the details of the flood
and bridge are put forward in this study. These methods can be helpful in the restoration of the
bridge within short span of the time.
• The superstructure between A1P1 and P1P2 has to be carefully dismantled. The pier cap and pier shaft of the
pier P1 have also to be removed carefully step by step. The foundation of the Pier P1 can be taken up in a
shifted location towards pier P2.The new span arrangement of A1P1 would be 24.4m and for span P1P2 it
would be 22.0m.This will create the space for new open foundation.

http://www.iaeme.com/IJCIET/index.asp 227 [email protected]

 Bridges Failures in Extreme Flood Events by Taking a Case Study

• The bridge can be rehabilitated and put to use by the way of:
a) Abandoning/Dismantling the damaged pier only and raising a fresh one. The existing RCC
Girders can be restored back to position by supporting them on steel trestles and using
hydraulic jacks for lifting them to position
b) By the way of raising RCC protection wall for the left abutment.
c) The total waterway for which the bridge has been originally designed needs to .be restored
back in all cases so that further scouring does not take place in future.
The restoration of the bridge can be done by the above methods. But some more points will be put
forward to further explain the above procedure.
• Widening of the waterway and preparatory works for improvement and reconstruction. The waterway has to
be increased from the present 36.6m to about 91.5m(Bed level between the piers P1 to P4 should not be
more 91.9m).The right bank should be with 1:1.5(Hor) slope. This widening should be for about 150mtr
both U/S and D/S side. In case the land for widening is not available, then the minimum widening should be
for 65mtr (up to beyond pier P3).In case this reduced width is adopted, then stone pitching should be
provided with launching apron on right bank all along the length (say 50 to 150 metre both U/S and
D/S).Provide filter media behind stone pitching.
• Protect abutment A1 side soil with gabion wall
• The existing superstructure of span A1 P1 and P1 P2 have to be carefully dismantled. During dismantling
staging and crane facility would be needed to avoid free fall of the debris and for removal of debris. The pier
cap and pier shaft of pier P1 also have to be removed.

12. DATA COLLECTION FOR RECONSTRUCTION WORK

12.1. Geotechnical Investigation of Pier P1 of Chadoora Bridge

12.1.1. Introduction
Kashmir valley during September 2014 experienced one of the worst floods ever recorded in modern
Kashmir history. The flood has caused wide spread heavy damages to residential buildings ,commercial
complexes, bridges etc.In the same flood one bridge called chadoora bridge over Nallah Doodganga at
chadoora also got damaged. The J and K govt. has embarked upon massive restoration plan to rehabilitate
the damaged bridges. This chadoora bridge is one of them. In this study, methods to restore the bridge
were analyzed and some soil investigations were also done for the Pier P1 of the bridge.

12.1.2. Scope of the Work

The scope of the work involved geotechnical evaluation of the pier P1 of the bridge over doodganga
Nallah through 2 exploratory boreholes one on the U/S side and one on the D/S of the pier P1 of the bridge
in place. The objective of this investigation was to evaluate the stratigraphy that exists at pier site and to
develop geotechnical recommendations for foundation design and construction based on the site
characterization, field borehole data, field tests and laboratory test data of samples collected during the
period of the investigation.

12.1.3. Methodology Adopted for Sub Surface Exploration and Tests Conducted
In accordance with IS;1892-1979 exploratory boreholes BH-1through BH-2 of Nx/Bx size have to drilled
to depth up to 15m using heavy duty diamond core drilling machine. Wherever gravel and cobbles and
sandy matrix are met with, it is not possible to collect undisturbed samples to find out the shear and
consolidation characteristics of the material. However in-situ tests are carried out for this purpose in such
materials. Standard penetration tests were conducted in the bore holes at various depths or wherever
possible in accordance with IS: 2131-1981.

http://www.iaeme.com/IJCIET/index.asp 228 [email protected]

 Azmat Hussain and Sumaira Jan

Undisturbed samples are not possible in cobble, gravel and sandy matrix ( refer clauses 4.1 and 7.1 of
IS: 10042) met with at site..This is due to the fact that this material neither falls in the class of soils nor in
rocks but in the form of gravel cobble with sandy matrix. In such formations apart from borehole
investigation as per IS:10042,it becomes essential to conduct large scale in- situ density and grain size
measurements by excavating a pit of known dimensions at about 1m depth or at change of strata. Strength
parameters for such type of deposits are evaluated by conducting in-situ shear tests on blocks whose size
shall be 10 times the average size of boundaries/cobble or 120cm x 120cm x 30cm (refer clause 5.9 of IS
10042) whichever is more. These tests are beyond our scope.

12.1.4. Test Results

The borehole logs are given in this report and laboratory test results not done.
• Undisturbed samples could not be obtained from the borehole.

12.1.5. Bearing Capacity

The subsurface in general can be considered as cobble –Gravel with sandy matrix with occasional boulders
exhibiting N value as this neither falls in rocks nor under the soil and investigation for establishing design
parameters has to be carried out in accordance with IS :10042 which necessities conducting in situ plate
load tests, block shear tests and in-situ density measurement.
Cobble – Gravel / Gravel – boulder with sandy matrix behave peculiarly, initially these materials upon
loading show rapid increase in settlement and beyond about 1% settlement with increasing loads the rate of
the settlement decreases. This is primarily due to the fact that unlike ordinary soils these materials show
initial rapid compression and once particle to particle contact gets established the compression decreases
considerably with load carrying function mainly being taken over by the large sized particle..Figure 2 of
IS: 10042 bring out this behaviour clearly.
The material that is met with at the proposed site is somewhat similar to that is reported in Fig.2 of IS:
10042 which is reproduced below for reference and better understanding. It is observed form the aforesaid
figure that settlement ratio (ratio of settlement observed in the case of large size to settlement of small size)
increases with the increase in size of test plate.

Figure 6

http://www.iaeme.com/IJCIET/index.asp 229 [email protected]

 Bridges Failures in Extreme Flood Events by Taking a Case Study

In accordance with IS: 1888 for permissible settlement of 25 mm for shallow foundation of 6m x 6m
size , the allowable bearing capacity of gravel-boulder is evaluated from figure 2 corresponding to
settlement of plate as per equation Sp=Sf
[B(BP+0.3)/BP(B+0.3)]2 = 17.64 mm
For settlement of 17.64 mm , the allowable bearing capacity works out to be 4.4kg/cm2 or 44t/m2.On
the other hand, Teng’s modified allowable bearing capacity equation for gravelly soils in the case of
shallow foundation for 25mm settlement is given by
q25=3.35*Cb(N-3)[B+0.3/0.3/2B]2 dwdf (in which Cb =constant = 2 for gravelly soils and dw & df
are water table reduction factor and dw ,depth factor respectively) for widths greater than 4m reduces to
q25=2x(N-3)xdwxdf for with corrected N as 40,df as 1 and water table correction factor dw as 0.5,the
allowable bearing capacity for 25mm permissible settlement works out to be 37t/m2.The safe bearing
capacity in accordance with IS 6403,considering effective φ = 330 for 6m wide footing just below the scour
depth works out to be 39.85t/m2.Therefore for shallow foundations the allowable bearing capacity can be
considered as 35t/m2 in gravel-boulder material.
For open foundation, if the depth of the foundation is more than the width of foundation, the allowable
bearing capacity can be increased by a factor equal to (1+0.2D/B) but less than or equal o 1.33 i-e 46.55
t/m2.Therefore for open foundation we limit the allowable bearing capacity to 46.50t/m2
Open foundation shall not be allowed to rest on filled up material, this needs to be ensured that the bulk
density of foundation grade material is more than 2.2g/cc

13. FOUNDATION LEVEL PREPERATION

All lose material in case of the open foundation should be removed and the exposed foundation bearing
surface shall be watered and rolled to ensure stable foundation .In case of cavities the same may be grouted
.The surface should then be protected from disturbances due to construction activities so that the
foundation may bear on natural undisturbed ground. For open foundation, place 100mm thick binding layer
of lean concrete to facilitate placement of reinforcing steel and to protect the soils form disturbance.

14. CONCLUSION
By analyzing the recent failures in the bridges, the future planning can be better. In future, structures can
be saved from such disasters. Need of inspection is necessary for the bridges. Using advanced methods the
bridges can be monitored anywhere. Periodical inspection and regular maintenance is necessary to keep the
bridges functional. Otherwise disasters can come anytime as they are unpredictable and sometimes
uncontrollable.

REFRENCE
[1] Azmat Hussain, Saba Bashir, Saima Maqbool: Damage detection in bridges using image processing

[2] Prabhat Dahal, Dongming Peng, yaoqing (Lamar) yang, Hamid Sharif: RSS Based scour measurement
using underwater acoustic sensor networks.

[3] Yong Bai, M.ASCE, Willaim R.Burkett, P.E, and Phillip T.Nash, P.E: Rapid bridge replacement under
emergency situation.

[4] Johnson Victor: Essentials of bridge engineering

[5] Krishna Raju: Design of bridges.

http://www.iaeme.com/IJCIET/index.asp 230 [email protected]

 Azmat Hussain and Sumaira Jan

[6] Azmat Hussain, Saba Bashir and Saima Maqbool, “Damage Detection in Bridges using Image
Processing”. International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology (IJCIET), 7(2), 2016, pp.215–
225.

[7] Hudson, S., Comie, D., Tufton, E., Inglis, S.: Engineering resilient infrastructure. Civil Engineering
special issue.

[8] Blong, R (2003): A new damage index. Natural hazards 30, 1-23.

[9] Ponnuswamy: Bridge Engineering.

[10] Narayan, S.K.B, Ashok K: Foundation failure of bridges in Orissa: two case studies.

[11] Dr. K.V. Ramana Reddy, “Aerodynamic Stability of a Cable Stayed Bridge”. International Journal of
Civil Engineering and Technology (IJCIET), 5(5), 2014, pp.88–96.

http://www.iaeme.com/IJCIET/index.asp 231 [email protected]