Precast PSC Segmental Girders – An overview of failures during construction based on some case studies

Considering faster pace of development, consistent increase in the volume of traffic in developing country like India and limitation of land availability especially in built up or urban areas, lateral expansion in transport facilities has become more challenging. Under such circumstances vertical expansion through construction of long flyover or elevated structures is most viable solution to meet the traffic demand. However, desired quality management, skilled human resources are not keeping pace to meet the requirement of rapid expansion in the field of bridge construction. Road and Railway Bridges are complex in nature w.r.to their design and construction which required a high level of knowledge expertise and experience. Hence, some failures are taking place even during construction of bridges due to some material quality issue as well as human error. Recently failures of some under construction railway and Road Bridge in India have rocked the civil engineering profession apart from public sentiment. This paper mainly covers the issues relating to risk sharing among stakeholders for different mode of Road and Bridge Construction, Role and Responsibilities of Contractor, Engineer & Client, reasons leading to failures of some Precast PSC segmental girders and few suggestive remedial measures.