Best practices in the use of Steel Box Girders for medium and long span Bridges in UK and Europe

Steel box girders were common in UK for long span bridges up to the late 1960s until a few collapses of Box Girders at various parts of the world in the early seventies. The detailed investigation of these collapses by an investigating committee from the UK Department of Transport led to the development of IDWR / Merrison’s rules. It was mandatory to check all existing and new Box Girder bridges complied with those rules to avoid any further failure.

These collapses followed by implementation of Merrison’s rule and the increase in fabrication cost led to a decline in the popularity of Steel Box Girder in the last few decades, while the introduction of T& I machines for fabrication made plate Girders hugely popular enabling of 100m spans. Other forms of bridges took precedence for longer spans.

However steel box girders are gradually regaining popularity since T&I machine can also be used for fabrication (with imitations up to 70 inclined web with horizontal plane).

In this particular paper efforts have been made to highlight the best practices in the past and present in the effective use

of steel box girder not only in the UK & Europe but also in the rest of the world.