@ 56 ENGINEERS’ DAY TECHNICAL SEMINAR Eco-Friendly _ Sustainable and Development Beata lulu RT ecey Seca OLS. Venue : Chanakya BNR Hotel, Ranchi SEPTEMBER 15, 2023N.N.BANDHU (FIE, FIV, MIRC, MGIS, MICI, MIIBE, MIITArb) Bridge/ Metro Expert PORE aca aC eT} clet tr ely DUTCUT cr aCe Bridge Bearings- Manufacturing, a thay -a Takei] (cena Cola Me LESTEco-Friendly Sustainable & Integrated Infrastructure Development BRIDGE BEARINGS - MANUFACTURING, TESTING, INSTALLATIONS AND ISSUES N. N. Bandhu Bridge and Metro Expert, Guest Faculty on Metro System CEPT University, Ahmedabad Email : [email protected] ABSTRACT Roads and Bridges are the two parts of Highways infrastructure, supplementary to each other. Bridges comprises of several components, bearing is one of them. Bearing is one of the most important components which plays a vital role to transfer the load of Superstructures to Sub structure safely. Bearing allows movement and rotation of superstructure in all safe directions as required. Now a days Elastomeric Bearings, POT Bearings and Spherical Bearings are popularly used. This paper explains all activities related to manufacturing, testing, installation and issues related to Elastomeric, POT and Spherical Bearings. Issues related to bearing installation are also highlighted as this witnessed several incidences due to improper installation. INTRODUCTIONS Journey of bridges starts accidently by fallen tree across the river. Subsequently bridges were constructed by Wooden logs, Stones, Bricks, PCC, RCC, PSC, Steel or its combinations thereof. Several components are used in the construction of any bridges, bearing is one of them. Bearing is one of the most important components (Device) installed between super structure and sub structure to transfer the static & dynamic load and allow translational and rotational movements due to traffic rolling loads, temperature changes, wind, seismic effects, accidental forces etc, Safety and durability of super structure mostly depends on proper function of bearings. Earlier, only steel bearings were used for Road and Rail bridges both. In 1973, Ministry of Shipping & Transport (MOST) brought brief Standard Specifications covering Steel, Elastorneric and Paper bearings. In 1982, IRC brought the first Code of Practice on Metallic Bearings (IRC:83-Part-1) followed by a Code of Practice on Elastomeric Bearings (IRC: 83 Part-I) in 1987, Subsequently, IRC:83 Part-II on Pot, Pot-curn PTFE, Pin and Metallic Guide Bearings came in 2002 and IRC:83 Part IV on Spherical and Cylindrical bearings came in 2014, Hope, this technical paper will be very useful for site engineers, who use to go for factory inspection and witness the tests on bearings and for installation atsite. 2. Classification of Bridges: - Two types of bridges are constructed, with and without bearings. However, number of bridges without bearings are very rare due to complexity in 12Eco-Friendly Sustainable & Integrated Infrastructure Development design to control girder movement. (2) Bridge with Bearing (2) Bridge without Bearing 3. Funct n of Bearings: - Bearings have following measure three functions. * Transfer all type of vertical and horizontal loads (forces) of superstructure to sub structures. * Allow movement of superstructure in safe horizontal direction. * allow rotation of superstructure due to deflection ete. 4. Type of Bridge Bearings: - Following type of bearings are used in bridges i.e. Metallic Bearings, Elastomeric Bearings, Pot Bearings, Spherical Bearings, cylindrical Bearings. However, three popular type bearings- Elastomeric Bearing, Pot Bearing and Spherical Bearing have been taken in this paper. 5 ELASTOMERIC BEARINGS (IRC 83 PART Il): - Elastomeric Bearing comprising a block of vulcanised elastomer reinforced with steel plates (laminates). Position wise, elastomeric bearing can be horizontal or vertical. Horizontal elastomeric bearing is used as individual supports to transfer vertical loads and noneseismic lateral loads and to accommodate imposed deformations and translations. Whereas, vertical bearing is used in seismic arrester system. Elastomeric bearings are mostly free type however, fixed elastomeric bearings are also used up to 85 % fixity. Elastomer is exposed to whether, life of elastomeric bearing is up to 15 years only if properly manufactured and installed perfectly. It is not suitable for long span bridge and where replacementis not easy. As per IRC 83 Part Il, provision for design and use of 9 type of elastomeric bearings have been made. As per requirement, specific type of bearings being used for particular bridge, 5.1 Design of Elastomeric Bearings: - Once superstructure is designed and load coming on pier cap is known, type of bearing is decided for all span. Accordingly, bearings are designed based on latest codes & specifications and design and drawings are submitted to competent authority for approval. This type of bearing is designed to meet the relevant provisions of IRC 83 (Part Il) at the Ultimate Limit State. Bearing design is done in accordance with the 13Eco-Friendly Sustainable & Integrated Infrastructure Development requirementsi.e. only elastomer, with number of laminates, side and top and bottom covers. A typical section of popularly used bearing is as below. ra Photo — 03 Normal Elastomeric Bearing A particular elastomeric bearing is designed with internal rubber layers of the same thickness (ti) from 8 mm and 20 mm in such a way normal average stress in rubber shall not exceed permitted concrete pressure. Minimum thickness of inner reinforcing plates (ts) shall be 3 mm and up to Smm. Minimum thickness of outer layer of elastomer shall be 2.5mm and max up to 6mm. Minimum side layer shall be 4 mm. Size of bearing can be considered as 100x150 mm to 900 x 900 mm. Number of laminates layer can be from 2to 11. Overall thickness can be 30 mm 0285 mm. The Shear strain of the elastomer due to translatory movement shall not exceed 1.00. A\l designed bearings shall meet the requirements for maximum design strain; maximum tensile stress in reinforcing plates; stability criteria for rotation, buckling and sliding; forces, moment & deformation exerted on the structures. 5.2 Manufacturing of Elastomer Bearing: - Raw elastomer (Any member of a class of Virgin Polychloroprene capable of being vulcanised with compounds, that possesses rubber like- properties after vulcanisation, especially the ability to regain shape almost completely after large deformation) is milled and rolled up to desired thickness with carbon black. Carbon black is added to make it UV resistant. Steel plates used as laminates is straighten sand blasted and cleaned. Adhesive is applied and elastorner sheet and laminates are kept in mould. After application of adhesive, top, bottorn and side elastomer are also placed in mould. Bearing with steel laminates shall be moulded as single unit and vulcanised under heat and pressure. Different stages are shown below (Photos 4to 15):~ % 4.Syprene in Packet 5. Syprene 6, Miling Machine 7. Miling with Carbon Black 14Eco-Friendly Sustainable & Integrated Infrastructure Development 8, Laminates 9. Adhesive 10, Elastomer & 11.Top Bottom, Application Laminates and Side 12. Vuleanisation 13. Vuleanised Bearing 14. Finished 15.Finished FX Bearing Bearing 5.4 Testing on Elastomeric Bearings for acceptance: - The manufacturer must have all test facilities required for acceptance tests installed at his plant to the complete satisfaction of the engineer. All acceptance tests to be conducted at the manufacturer's plant. Tests are conducted on raw material and final product. Acceptance tests shall be commenced as per approved testing programme. Lotby lot tests and acceptance shall be made. Lot size depends upon number of specific types of bearing ordered for manufacturing. Lot is classified as: - A lot size of 24 or larger number of any one type of bearings shall be defined as a large lot. A lot size of less than 24 bearings shall be defined as small lot. As per lot size, tests are conducted in two levels, Level 1 acceptance test and Level 2 acceptance test. Acceptance test level 1 is a higher-level inspection and shall be applicable to large lots. This shall involve manufacture of extra bearings to be used as test bearing and used in destructive testing. Acceptance test level 2 is applicable for all lots. Acceptance testing shall comprise General inspection, Test on complete working bearings and Test on specially moulded test Bearings. 5.5 Tests on Raw Materials: - (Photo-16 to 19) (applicable for level 1 and Level 2), Generally, chemical tests on raw materials are conducted by out sourcing. In house test is conducted for Physical and mechanical tests. Mechanical tests on raw materials conducted on specially made mould shall satisfy the table(1).. 15Eco-Friendly Sustainable & Integrated Infrastructure Development 16. Molded Test Piece Test Table (1); - Properties of Elastomer 17. Hardness Test 18. Testing & Elong 19. Measurement Characteristics Requirements ‘@ Modulus (MPa) o7 09, “Tensile Strength (Test Piece) 16 “Tensile Strength (Bearing Piece) Sis Min. Elongation at Break (96) (Moulded Test Piece) BS ‘Min. Elongation at Break (96) (Test Piece from Bearing) 375 Minimum Tear Resistance (kN/m) CR 210 Minimum Tear Resistance (KNim) NR 28 [s10 ‘Compression Set (%) 2h: 70°C CREIS_NRE3O Hardness =5 | 125 [TCS OCR TOOTS erated Ageing » Maximum Change in Hardness (IRHD) ‘Accelerated Ageing - Maximum Change tensile Siength TC TORR 100°C 5 ‘Accelerated Ageing - Max. Change in Elongation at Br 170% 135, CRM, TOC 3S ‘Ozone Resistance Elongation: 30% - 96h at 40 °C °C No Cracks 5.6 Tests on Complete Bearings: Itconsists of -- 5.6.1 General Inspection: - (Applicable for Level 1 and Level 2), this includes visually inspected for absence of any defects in surface finish; shape; hardness or any other superficial defects. All bearings of the lot shall be checked for tolerances for overall dirnensions, mean bearing thickness, parallelism of bearing surfaces and flatness of load bearing surfaces specified in Table (2). Description Tolerances ‘Overall Plan Dimension 2mm, “4mm. ‘Overall mean thickness 2mm for = 100mm; = Sm For 100mm = TBS 150mm 4mm for 150mm 4mm -+1lmm, 04mm Parallelism wort, base Tin 100 16Eco-Friendly Sustainable & Integrated Infrastructure Development Flatness of load bearing | Tb=50mm - Imm; 50mm savin ptr Fe -ene o> ® ad 2.5PAN CONTIMUOUS ECK BOX GROER oO Photo — 52, Pot Bearing Layout for Box Girders Photo —53, Pot Bearing Layout for I- Girders * Se ag oem In case of cast in situ superstructure, bearing is fixed before its casting. Anchor Sleeve holes (with double the c/s area of anchor sleeve area) are left in bearing pedestal as per drawing (Photo-54 & 55). Bearing is placed as per approved layout and design (Photo-56). Anchor sleeves are placed in sleeve hole (Photo-56). Hole is grouted with cement or GP2 as required up to bottom of bearing. Careis taken to fill the entire bottom surface of bearing, (Photo-58 &59) Photo 54 Sleeve hole position Photo SS Sleeves Photo 56 Bearing fixed Photo 57 Bearing fixed 26Eco-Friendly Sustainable & Integrated Infrastructure Development Photo 58 Pot bearings fixed for I-girders Photo — 59 Guided bearing in position In case of precast girders, anchor sleeves are placed with accuracy (in micron) in soffit of superstructures. As in case of cast in situ sleeve hole is left in in pedestal, After erection of girder, bearing is fixed with girders in hanging position. All bolts must be tightened. Girder is lowered down so that bottom anchor sleeve will insert in the hole left for. Girder is allowed to rest on temporary support in correct position. Anchor sleeve hole is grouted and grout filled up to bottom of bearing with help of bund or shuttering. Once grout sets, temporary support of girders removed. (Photo-59) 7. SPHERICAL BEARINGS (IRC 83 part IV): - Spherical Bearings are suitable for all types of superstructures especially for long span and continuous structures, Cable Stay and Suspension Bridges with relatively large and repetitive rotation and translation requirements. Similar to POT bearing, following four type of spherical bearings are used in bridges. In spherical bearing, elastomeric pad is not used. As name implies, spherical concave surface in bottom plate and spherical convex surface of intermediate (top plate in case of pot fixed bearing) plate allow rotation. It consists of a pair of matching concave and convex steel spherical backing plates with a low friction sliding interface in between thereby permitting rotation by in-curve sliding. As elastomeric pad is not used, life of spherical bearing may be up to 30 yearswith PTFE and of SO years with UHMWPE. 7a(i) Fixed Spherical Bearing: - Its function is as same as of pot fixed bearing to transfer the vertical and horizontal forces and arrest the horizontal movernent of superstructure at its location. It comprises of bottom plate whose top side is concave type fitted with PTFE/ UHMWPE and lower side of top plate with matching convex type. Spherical hard smooth surface of stainless steel, polished steel or chrome plated slides against the PTFE or UHMWPE fitted on concave surface. Silicon grease is applied on PTFE or UHMWPE surface to reduce the friction between sliding interface, Bottom plate is fixed to bearing pedestal on pier cap and top plateis fixed with soffit of superstructures. 7a(ii) Free Spherical Bearing: - This bearing transfers the vertical load and allow 27Eco-Friendly Sustainable & Integrated Infrastructure Development horizontal movement in longitudinal, transverse and its resultant direction as per design. It comprises of bottom plate as same as it is used in fixed spherical bearings. Bottom of intermediate plate is also as same as it is used for fixed spherical bearings. Upper side of intermediate plate consists of recess to fix PTFE/UHMWPE and bottom of top plate attached with SS plate as sliding interface. Silicon grease is applied on PTFE or UHMWPE surface to reduce the friction between sliding interface. Similar to fixed spherical bearings, bottom plate is fixed to bearing pedestal on pier cap and top plate is fixed with soffit of superstructures. Ta(iii) Guided Spherical Bearing: - This bearing transfers the vertical load and allow horizontal movement in one direction as per design. It may be longitudinal guided or transverse guided. Shape of both the guided bearings are similar. But allowable movement in transverse direction is less than the longitudinal guided spherical bearings. It comprises of bottom plate with concave surface at upper side fitted with PTFE/ UHMWPE and bottom of intermediate plate is matching convex fitted with hard smooth surface of stainless steel, polished steel or chrome plated material. Upper side of intermediate plate consists of recess to fix PTFE/UHMWPE and bottom of top plate attached with SS plate interface. External or internal guide bar is attached with top plate. Silicon grease is applied on PTFE or UHMWPE surface to reduce the friction between sliding interface. Similar to fixed spherical bearings, bottom plate is fixed to bearing pedestal on pier cap and top plate is fixed with soffit of superstructures. 7b Manufacturing of Spherical Bearings: - After approval of design and drawings, manufacturer starts its manufacturing, Bearings are manufactured to high standards both in terms of material quality and workmanship. All components of spherical bearings are manufactured considering the minimum dimension within tolerance limit (Table-5). 7b(i) Curved Backing Plate: -(Photo -60, 61, 62) this is bottom part of the bearing made from mild steel or cast steel. The minimum thickness of the curved backing plate (concave sliding surface) shall be 12 mm and the space available on upper sides shall be minimum 20 mm all- around the circumference at top of backing plate. Recess in the Backing Plate for confinement of the Sliding Surface (PTFE/UHMWPE) is sharp and square to restrict the flow of the sliding surface and the radius at the root of the recess shall not exceed 1 mm. Photo-60, Bottom Backing Photo-61, Intermediate Plate Photo-62, Spherical Guided Bearing Plate 28Eco-Friendly Sustainable & Integrated Infrastructure Development 7b(ii) Intermediate Plate: - (Photo 43) Its lower surface is convex to fit in with concave surface of bottom backing plate. Bottom Convex surface is Hard Chromium Plated mating surface fully covers concave sliding surface. The thickness of the hard chromium plating shall be at least 100 jum This Concave and convex sliding surface is responsible for rotation. Top portion of intermediate is fixed with PTFE/UHMWPE in a recess made for the purpose act as horizontal sliding interface. ‘7b(iii) Top plate: - Bottom of top plate is fixed with stainless steel mating surface shall cover the flat sliding surface (PTFE/UHMWPE) fully under maximum design displacement and shall not cease or become unstable for providing the full design displacement. Tb(iv) Guide Bar: - Purpose of this rings to design and verification of the steel restraining ring capacity to withstand the effect of applied horizontal forces. It is welded with top plate as shown in Photo 64 Photo 63 Spherical Fix Bearing Photo 64 Guided Bearing (Table 5) Tolerance on Dimension of Components of Spherical bearings Bearing Parameter Tolerance ‘Overall Pan Dimension (a) Machined ‘Oto+5 mm or0.5 percent ofthe drawing «dimension whichever is higher ‘Overall Pan Dimension ( b) un Machined flange) ‘Oto+ 10 mm or 1.0 percent of the érawing dimension, whichever higher (Overall Height of Bearing ‘Oto+5mmor 1.0 percent of the drawing dimension, which is higher Parallelism of Bearing top surface wit. otfom ‘Lin 200 Height of individual machined steel component £1mm Radius of Curvature forthe concave machined steel component | Oto + 0.25 m Radius of Curvature forthe convex machined steel component | -0.25 t0 0 mm 7cliii) Inspection and Testing on finished Spherical Bearings: Inspection and tests like Defect identification, Dimensional check, Hardness Test on elastomer and Metallic surface, Paint Thickness test, Compression stiffness test, Friction Test and Rotation Test on spherical bearings are same as tests on POT bearings. One additional test for Spherical bearing is Combined Vertical and Horizontal Load Test. This testis required to be conducted on Fixed and 29Eco-Friendly Sustainable & Integrated Infrastructure Development Slide Guide Types. Vertical load of 1.1 times the design vertical load and 1.1 times horizontal load is applied. Both the loads are released after 10 minutes. Bearings are verified for any distortion, defects etc. before approval. Photo-65 Vertical and Hor Load Photo-66 Rotation Test on ‘Test on spherical Bearing, Spherical Bearing, 8. Pre-Set of Bearing: - Pre-setting is the construction phase shifting of upper sliding component to a predetermined position with respect to its mean position. Any pre-setting of top sliding element, if required, shall preferably be done in the manufacturer's workshop before dispatch. Pre-set is required in case of cast-in-situ pre stressed girder. Itis a position of top plate of bearing in longitudinal direction with respect to center line of bottom plate which is kept temporarily away opposite to fixed bearing, Pre-set is required in free and longitudinal guided bearings to adjust the shortening of girder due to shrinkage effect and due to stressing shortening. Preset is a method to reduce the size of upper plates of slicing bearings in order to save the material cost. Numerically (assumed value), it can be understood like- suppose length of PTFE is 300 mm. The required half-length of SS Plate will be 150 mm + expansion (20 mm) + extended length beyond PTFE (20 mm) = 190 mm. Total length can be 380 mm, In this case, centre line of PTFE and SS Plate shall be the same. In case of cast in situ prestressed structure, there will be shortening in girder length due to stressing and shrinkage in concrete. After stressing, centre line of SS Plate will shift by the value of shrinkage (Smm) and stressing shortening (10mm). Centreline of SS Plate will shift by 15mm towards fixed bearing end. Now offset of SS plate left is 25mm only. So, we have to increase the SS plate by 15mm at one side, then SS plate length will be 380+30mm = 410mm. If presetis provided, centreline of SS Plate isto be kept 15 mm away from centreline of PTFE opposite to Fixed end. After stressing, SS Plate will move permanently by 15 mm towards fixed end and both the centre of PTFE and SS Plate will be at one line. 30Eco-Friendly Sustainable & Integrated Infrastructure Development 9. ISSUES: - Being one of the most important components of bridges, Engineers at site are taking utmost care however, sometimes bearing are not installed properly causes damage to bearing and structures too. Several issues related to installation is mentioned here to avoid reoccurring of mistakes. 9a Gap between bearing surface and concrete surface: -This is either due to bearing is not placed horizontally or soffit is not horizontal, (Photo- 67 & 68). In this case contact area get reduced resulted in increase in pressure of elastomeric bearing and elastomer will be crumbled, Bearing will need to be replaced. Photo- 68 Gap at top of Bearing fr, nates Photo- 69 Shear Force due to Hor movement Photo-70 Pedestal is not horizontal of Girder 9b. Lack of proper Down Stand: - Sometimes Fiyovers and bridges are in gradient and therefore, soffit is not horizontal. Bearing top shall always be horizontal. For 100% contact between bearing and soffit, bearing area of soffit is made horizontal with down ward monolithic projected concrete known as down stand so that bottorn of down stand is truly horizontal (Photo-71). Thickness of down stand in longitudinal direction varies as per gradient of flyover / bridges. If down stand is not provided during concreting of soffit of superstructures, People use to fill with concrete which will not stand during service condition (Photo-73. If down stand is not provided due to any reason, MS plate with required tapering shall be provided (Photo-72) 31Eco-Friendly Sustainable & Integrated Infrastructure Development a — E Photo- 71 Proper Down stand —Photo-72 Steel Down stand Photo ~ 73 Worst Down stand 9c. Missing Anchor sleeve: - Anchor sleeve plays an important role to transfer horizontal forces of superstructure to sub structure. Number of anchor sleeves decided based on design. Site engineers must respect religiously the data mentioned in the drawing, Due to ignorance, bearing and superstructure may fail. (Photo- 74, 75, 76) Photo-74 Missing Anchor Sleeve Photo-75 Missing Anchor Sleeve Photo-76 Girder toppled down 9d. Bolts of bearing are not tightened: - Due to misalignment of sleeves cast with superstructure, itis very difficultto tightall th bolts. In this case hole of lugs shall be modified to tight the bolts. In no case any bolt shall be left without tightening case any bolt shall be left without tightening. In this case one end of top plate is touching the girder whereas another is about 20 mm below from girder soffit surface. While starts resting on pedestal girder tilted by 150mm resulted in toppling over railway track. This type of negligence has place in sound engineering practice. (Photo- 77, 78,79) Photo- 77 Gap with girder Photo- 78 Gap with girder Photo- 79 Girder toppled 32Eco-Friendly Sustainable & Integrated Infrastructure Development 9e. Low pedestal height: - FRL of Road is well defined in the drawing, Based on thickness of different components of superstructure, level of soffit is derived. Top of bearing pedestal is derived once thickness of bearing is designed. Care shall be taken during casting of pedestal otherwise rework to be done after erection of girder and that will be weak portion and project will delayed. (Photo -80) Photo-80 Low Pedestal height Photo 81 No proper assembling Photo 82 No proper assembling 9f. Bearings not assembled properly: - Some times, manufacturers are reluctant, not assembling and locking the bearing properly. Bearing with this type of defects should not be used at any cost. Project may be delayed by a day or two however, this delay will be cheaper than any accident. In this situation, manufacturer shall called to re-assemble the bearing. Locking clamp is removed and fresh clamp with proper dimensional hole is used to lock the bearings. (Photo-81 &82) 9g. Length of anchor bolt is more than the clear gap between bottom of top plate and top of bottom plate.:- This situation comes specially in case of steel structures when hole in top lugs is just above the bottom plate extension or vise versa and length of bolt is more than the clear gap between top and bottom plate. In this case, it is not possible to insert bolt to connect bearing with steel girders especially for fixed pot bearings. In this situation, we have no choice other than to disrnantle the bearing to insert the bolt for connection. Bearing is kept at horizontal platform and all locking clamp is cut gently in presence of manufacturer's representative. Top plate is raised such that the bolt for top plate is inserted invertely. Similarly bolts for bottom plate are also inserted. Top plate is lowered down at its original position and lock clamp of bearing is welded again without disturbing the other cornponents of the bearings. (Photo-83, 84,85) Photo-83 Less gap 33Eco-Friendly Sustainable & Integrated Infrastructure Development 9h. Misaligned Pot Bearing: - Due to negligence, bearings are fixed without considering their proper line and alignment. Itis shown, misaligned installed bearing is being corrected. (Photo- 86,87) Photo 86 Wrongly installed Pot Bearing g top plate after cutting Lock Clamp 9i. Orientation issue among Longitudinal and Transverse Guided Bearings: - shape wise, both the Longitudinal and Transverse guided bearings are similar except provision for movements. Superstructures is allowed to move more in longitudinal direction than in transverse direction. If care is not taken, it may be danger for bearing and superstructures as well. Top plate alongwith Intermediate plate is being rotated. (Photo-88-89) Photo 88 Wrongl installed Pot Bearing Photo 89 Rotating top plate after cutting Lock Clamp 10. Vertical Bearings: - During earthquake, there is a chance of sliding, shifting, toppling of bridge superstructure. To stop this type of incidents due to seismic effect, seismic arresters are used. Vertical elastomeric bearings are also used in seismic arrester system. RCC blockis cast on pier cap and recess is made in superstructure to accommodate the seismic block. 34Eco-Friendly Sustainable & Integrated Infrastructure Development Generally, five vertical bearings are used to arrest seismic effect for both longitudinal and transverse direction. Arrangements shown in photo 90,91, 92. Photo-90, Sesmic Block on Photo-91, Sesmic Block Photo-92, Vertical Bearing Pier Cap and Bearing positioned 11. Conclusion and recommendations: - Being important component, special care must be taken in Design, Manufacturing, Testing, Packing, Transportation Storage and Installation. Proper functioning of superstructures depends upon proper function of bearings. Cooking time is never be a wastage. Proper attention must be taken and adequate time must be spent on layout and installation of bearings. Engineers working at site must notwork under pressure for pregress at the cost of quality and durability, Any defects, miss matching must be informed to concern seniors to take appropriate action. No place for chalata hai, hota hai in Bridge Engineering. 12. References and acknowledgement: - This technical papers on bearings has been written based on my field experience. All actual photographs has been taken from my collections from different projects for testing and installation wherever | had worked. Several datas and sketches has been taken from IRC 83 part 2, IRC 83 Part-3 and IRC 83 Part 4. Thanks to Mr. Sukumar of M/s TRICON who has provided some photos and test report on Spherical bearings. Thanks to officials of JESA who have given opportunity to prepare this technical paper for Souvenir 2023. 35