1.

INTRODUCTION

Bridges are considered in Civil Engineering as the most complex and important structures having
a great significance for road transport system of every country. The use of special purpose highway
bridge vehicles, over the legal limit in size and in weight, is increasing as industry grows and large
items must be shipped over highways. Overload attributable to increased vehicle loads is becoming
an increasingly serious issue in highway bridge transportation. Overload results in damages to
bridge structures, degradation of their load-carrying capacities, and even collapse of bridges, which
may cause loss of lives and properties. Hence, the actual load-carrying capacity of existing bridges
with many years of service and obvious damages is becoming an important concern for researchers
and engineers. The use of special purpose highway vehicles, over the legal limit in size and in
weight, is increasing as industry grows and large items must be shipped over highways. Overload
vehicle crossing of a bridge, even if it is a single crossing, may affect not only the short term
behavior of the bridge but also the long term performance and life cycle cost of the bridge. There
may be minor damage or deterioration in the components of the bridge which are not critical in
the short term period but can result in special maintenance, rehabilitation or reduced life span in
the long term. It may be reasonable for the permit applicant to be responsible for the reduced life
of the bridge.

2. BRIDGE COMPONENT
According to definition, a bridge is a structure spanning and providing passage over a river, chasm,
traffic intersection area, fjord, inlet or other physically obstacles with a span length equal or
exceeding a certain value. This span is defined by national authorities and is usually in the range
of 2-6 m. Structure of a bridge may also be divided into the superstructure and the substructure.
The superstructure carries the traffic load together with its self-weight to the substructure through
the bearings. Examples of structural elements which belong to superstructure are decks, girders
and stringers. The substructure carries the load from the superstructure together with its self-weight
through the foundation to the ground columns and towers. Figure 1 show Bridge component
Structure.

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 Figure 1: Component of a Bridge Structure

3. LOADING ACTING ON BRIDGE

Load acting on the bridge structure includes dead load, live load due to centrifugal force, braking
force, collision load on bridge parapet, collision load, Live Loads (HA Loading and HB Loading).
The Standard normal highway loading is called HA loading and the standard abnormal highway
loading, the HB loading. HA - UDL determined for the appropriate loaded length and type HA-
KEL loads shall be applied to each notional lane in the appropriate parts of the influence line for
the element or member under consideration. The lane loading are interchangeable between the
notional lanes and a notional lane or lanes may be left unloaded if this caused the most severe
effect on the member or element under consideration. The KEL shall be applied at one point only
in the loaded strength of each notional lane. For HB load the vehicle load is represented by a four
axle vehicle with four wheels equally spaced on each axle. The load on each axle is defined by a
number of units which is depend on the class of road for all public highway bridge, the number of
units of type HB loading that shall be considered are 30 when acting together with HA (HB 30)
lane share between normal vehicle & truck and 45 when HB alone (HB 45) truck only

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4. ISSUE AND CAUSES OF OVERLOADED

Overload is defined as larger load than load assumed for bridge design purpose. A wide spectrum
of overload have led to bridge failure. Sometimes the cause was a single heavy vehicles and
sometime an unusual concentration of vehicles. These include the failure of suspension bridge
through overload. Overload trucks constitute a major portion of truck load populations on
highways. Specific to bridges, the increase in the frequency of overloads may trigger shortening
of service life of critical components because of fatigue damage, considering the fact that fatigue
damage accelerates at higher loads. This is especially important to older bridges that have been
designed for loads lower than the standard for current highway bridge design

An extreme event imposes load effects on the bridge these add to loads exerted by the bridge’s
own weight and by moving vehicles. Bridge designers seek to be sure that the bridge provides
more than sufficient capacity to resist the loads likely to be applied to it during its life. When a
bridge fails under loads that it should have resisted under accepted standards of professional
practice, it is said to be a failure of its resistance capacity. Otherwise, the bridge fails because loads
imposed by external events exceed those against which standard codes and practices are expected
to provide protection. There are some cause of overload on bridge such as:

4.1 Overload Causes By Vehicles

Sometimes, the high traffic flow occurred during peak hours and cause a bridge to overloads.
During early morning, lunch hour and after office hour is a peak time that will cause traffic
high flow. In that time lots of vehicles need to share a limited road space. This case also can
happened during holiday or at certain time example if having an accident, therefore traffic
jammed will be occurred. Load distribution of distances between vehicles will be increase.
Overloading of vehicles at that time will cause an effect towards bridge component. It will
distribute high loading effect towards the bridge component. Figure 2 shows heavy traffic flow
at 1st Penang Bridge that can cause of overload issue.

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 Figure 2: Heavy Traffic Flow at Penang 1st Bridge

4.2 Extra Heavy Trucks On The Bridge

Issue of overloaded can be caused by scenario of heavy truck that carry overloading and also
truck such as mobile crane and multi axle vehicle components and etc. In bridge design there
will be so many type of scenario and cases. Some of the case it can be one extra heavy truck
and others vehicles type possibly on the bridge at the same time. Others case also can be as
two extra heavy trucks were found in the traffic flow of the bridge at the same time. The action
of a heavy vehicle on a bridge includes a quasi-static component, determined by its mass and
invariant during a trip, and a variable dynamic component, caused mainly by the vibrations of
the vehicle induced by the irregularities of the pavement. These oscillations masses such as
axles or wheels increase the loads transmitted to as much as twice the static load.

4.3 Overload Of Flood

Overload also induced by extreme event such as flood loading and debris impact. The flood
loadings that were identified from the design standards were drag, lift and debris forces as well
as log-impact loads. Flood loads are consist of hydrodynamic and impact force. Hydrodynamic
loads are exerted by moving flood water against the bridge members such as piers, abutments
and superstructure in a submersible condition. That is when flood water overtops the bridge. It
is composed of pressure force, drag force and lift force. Impact force is due to debris and logs

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 hitting against the bridge members such as piers and abutments. Floods can cause bridges to
collapse in a few different ways. Severe floods, such as rapid onset and flash flooding, can
cause rivers and creeks to overflow, picking up debris such as trees, cars and parts of houses
in the process. When the river passes under a bridge, the high water level smashes the debris
into the bridge. The shear impact of the debris can cause immediate bridge failure, or the weight
of the debris piled up combined with the immense force of the fast-flowing water pushing on
it can cause the bridge to fail more gradually. Flooding can also cause bridges to fail by
gradually wearing away the earth around and underneath the bridge piers. This process is
known as scouring, and is a serious issue to consider whenever bridge foundations are placed
underwater. The natural flow of the water can produce scour over many years, but bridges are
designed to withstand this. However, in the event of floods, the enormous increase in force and
volume of water affecting the bridge and damage to the foundation soil can cause a bridge to
collapse immediately or very gradually.

4.4 Beam Spacing

Beam spacing can determined how the load is applied. It is recognized that the deck slab
between the beams undergoes substantial flexure in the lateral distribution of the live load. The
beams are the main load carrying element. They are the strongest part of the deck and transfer
the load from the bridge deck down into the foundations at either end of the beams. The length
of the beams, or the span, affects the amount of load the bridge can carry. The longer the span,
the longer the vehicle that will be able to fit on it, so the higher the load it will have to be able
to carry. So it is the gross load of the vehicle, and how it is distributed along the beam, that has
an effect on the beams. Concentrated loads have a worse effect than loads that are more evenly
distributed along the length of the beam. The number and spacing of the beams determines the
length of deck that will be loaded by a vehicle. The more beams and the closer the spacing, the
lower the loads applied to the deck. The greater the beam spacing, the more of an axle will fit
on it, so the higher the applied load and will cause an overload. So it is the axle load of the
vehicle, and how it is distributed across the deck.

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4.5 Axle Configuration Number And Size Of Wheels
Axle configuration, number and size of wheels affect the performance of overloading on the
deck. When axle loads are too high to be taken by the deck, a restriction may be put on a permit,
to locate the axle over the beams rather than the weaker deck element, to prevent the wheels
punching through the deck. Figure 3 show how the axle give an impact to loading of bridge.
When the axle space of heavy truck is higher the deflection of span and loading will be. Effect
of tyre on bridge surface also can give damage towards bridge when brake. The tyres transmits
the propulsive force and the load of vehicles to the structure. It acts both as a spring and as a
shock absorber. It transmits and filters the action on the pavement according to its own
characteristics, coupled to those of the vehicle, the pavement, and the bridge. Figure 4 to Figure
6 show Summary Of Malaysia Weight Restriction Order.

Figure 3: Axle Spacing Effect to Bridge.

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Figure 4: Summary Of Malaysia Weight Restriction Order (Rigid Vehicles).-List 1

Figure 5: Summary Of Malaysia Weight Restriction Order (Rigid Vehicles).-List 2

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 Figure 6: Summary Of Malaysia Weight Restriction Order (Rigid Vehicles).-List 3

5. EFFECT OF OVERLOADED ISSUE

With the rapid growth of bridge highway transportation, the increasing frequency of passing
heavy trucks contributes to fatigue damage. As a result, bridge maintenance becomes more
difficult and more costly, since maintenance, rehabilitation, and or replacement become more
frequent. Overloaded trucks, including some extra heavy trucks, often cause serious threats to
bridges, such as deterioration, fatigue damage, or even collapse. Compared with the standard
traffic design loads in design specifications, the actual characteristics of overloaded trucks,
such as truck weight and types, are very difficult to predict or define. The gross weight, axle
weight, and axle configuration of heavy trucks directly affect the service life of highway bridge
superstructures. Damage typically occurs in the bridge deck and in the main superstructure
elements, including floor beams and girders, diaphragms, joints, and bearings.

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5.1 High Maintenance Cost
Economic growth demands an adequate transport infrastructure. Overloaded vehicles,
especially freight vehicles, are destroying bridge highway, impacting negatively on economic
growth. The damage caused grows exponentially as the load increases. Damage to bridge as a
result of overloading leads to higher maintenance and repair costs and shortens the life of a
bridge which in turn places an additional burden on the state as well as law-abiding road users
who ultimately carry the costs of careless and inconsiderate overloading. If the problem of
overloading is not controlled, this cost has to be carried by the road user, which will require
significant increases in bridge user charges such as the fuel levy, vehicles license fees, and
overloading fees to mention just a few. Overloading is a safety hazard that leads to unnecessary
loss of life, and also the rapid deterioration of our roads, resulting in increased maintenance
and transportation costs

5.2 .Excessive Deflection

The large-span continuous rigid frame bridge is a kind of common structural form in long-span
bridges of our country, but one of the main diseases of these bridges is the excessive deflection
in the mid-span, which seriously affects the safety of the structure. At present, there are two
main diseases of these bridges at home and abroad the excessive deflection in the mid-span
and the crack in box girder. The deflection could intensify the box-girder cracking, and the
increasing cracks in box girder reduce the stiffness of the structure, and further aggravate the
deflection in the mid-span. The long-span continuous rigid frame bridge stretching across the
middle and lower flexible can jeopardize more than lead to the significantly increasing cost of
bridge maintenance. Once the bridge damage occurs, it can reduce the operation and structure
of traffic safety more serious. So, the mid-span deflection problem has become a problem to
be solved in the process of bridge construction and the development of long-span continuous
rigid frame.

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5.3 Cracking

As it is known, fatigue damage initiates cracks within structural components of bridges. These
cracks grow in length with the repeated application of loads leading to a potential failure. Fatigue
cracks grow more rapidly as the intensity of truck weights and the frequency of truck load
applications increase. If the use bridges by heavy trucks increases, the potential for rapid damage
to bridges will also increase. Furthermore, some bridges have been built for low truck weights than
current design load. Hence, some of these bridges may have a shorter life than expected and thus
may become subject to premature failure, if the loading spectra contains many occurrences of
overloads. In the overloading of bridges, the damage initiates through the flexural cracking of the
deck slab. If a limited amount of cracking of the slab concrete is permitted, there may be substantial
increases in the permissible gross weight of overload vehicles, provided that they will traverse the
bridge infrequently and that they have a large number of axles and wheels per axle.

5.4 Bridge Deck

Deck damage may appear in several forms, but the most important damage mechanism is
associated with transverse and longitudinal cracking. Wheel load related cracking is more severe
in structure with lower ratio of dead to total load. Reinforced concrete deck on steel I beam are
more susceptible to this damage than decks on prestressed girders because of the inherent greater
flexibility of the steel beams. Overweight vehicles effect on bridges, particularly deck cracking,
are manifested in conjunction with others ongoing damage mechanism but in complex manner.
Corrosion of reinforcement is promoted by the presence of crack and spalling resulting from steel
bar corrosion is certainly accelerated by traffic.

5.5 Bearing
Some overloads can also give a damage to bearing. Excessive loads usually cause premature
fatigue. Tight fits, brine ling and improper preloading can also bring about early fatigue failure.
This type of failure looks the same as normal fatigue, although heavy ball wear paths, evidence
and overheating and a more widespread spalling (fatigue area) are usually evident with shortened
life. The solution is to reduce the load or redesign using a bearing with greater capacity.

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Bearings are overloaded when they operate beyond their rated design limits for load, speed or
temperature. The greater the overload, the more it shortens bearing life, which may cause the
bearing components to fracture. Overloaded bearings should be repaired or replaced because of
the risk of further damage and more serious consequences they bring.

5.6 Effect on Cantilever

Others part of the deck affected by a load is the cantilever. The cantilever, or overhang beyond the
edge beam, can vary greatly in length and is generally the weakest part of the deck. The overhang
length determines what loading it will need to be able to take. The longer the cantilever, the more
wheels will fit on it, so the greater the loading. So it is the wheel load (and size) that has an effect
on the performance of the cantilever.

6. PRECAUTION AND ACTION

Overloads that can safely cross a bridge in the short term may cause long term problems such as
fatigue failure or reduction of bridge service life that are not immediately evident. It is important
for those responsible for the maintenance and operation of highway infrastructures to monitor and
prevent truck overloading. It may be reasonable for the permit applicant to be responsible for the
cost of repair, additional maintenance or reduced life of the bridges caused by passage of an
overload vehicle. There are several precaution that can be taken to void issue of overloadto avoid
the further damage.

6.1 Increase Load Limitation For Truck

Frequency and weight of trucks are major causes of bridge failure, especially for older bridge
because new trucks have more weight. Thus, for some bridge limit the weight of a single wheel
set in overload vehicles and detailed load limitation should be consider to avoid failure due to
overload. Bridge overload may contribute to an acceleration of fatigue damage on bridge. In
addition to legal loads, Malaysia should tighten the law against heavy vehicle drivers from
entre to highway at peak hour to reduce the overload of bridge. Figure show overloading and
oversize vehicles in Malaysia that can cause overload and damage to bridge.

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6.2 Control Vehicles Loading On Bridge
Although additional axles on a truck can substantially reduce pavement damage, the stress to
bridges depends more on the truck’s total load than on the number of axles. For this reason,
increasing the truck weight on bridge can increase the load for bridges. An overloaded truck is
more likely to be involved in an accident, and have more severe consequences, than a legally
loaded. The heavier the vehicle, the higher its kinetic energy resulting in greater impact forces
and damage to other vehicles or to the infrastructure in the event of a crash. An overloaded
vehicle is less stable because of the increased height at the centre of gravity and more inertia
of the vehicle bodies.

Figure 7: Overloading of Truck Road Highway

Source: Road Transport Department (JPJ)
6.3 Control the Traffic Volume
Control the traffic volume can decrease the overload issue on bridge. Overload by traffic can
be controlled by closed one lane of the bridge during a peak hours. If one lane of the bridge is
closed, the load distribution along the will be decreased. Furthermore, there are rules for
multiples lane loadings, frequently assuming that not more than two lanes are fully loaded at
any one time, again based on probabilistic approach. Many authorities that specify need to
checks for a single very heavy abnormal vehicles. In many codes the effect of impact of
highway loads is implicitly taken into account by the static load specification.

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 Figure 8: Load effect of consecutive heavy vehicles.

6.4 Increase Bridge Monitoring System

Others than that damage on bridge also can be avoid by increase the monitoring system on
every bridge. It is important for those responsible for the maintenance and operation of bridge
highway infrastructures to monitor and prevent truck overloading. Bridge response monitoring
is very useful in directly providing actual bridge performance information subjected to specific
traffic loads. Information about the bridge performance is available beyond the time when the
bridge was monitored. Both time-invariant information (e.g., vehicle type and vehicle weight)
and time-variant information (e.g., vehicle speed and traveling lane) for each passing vehicle
can be monitored. The implementation details will then be introduced subsequently. All of the
extra heavy truck scenarios need to be classified into each representative cases according to
the number of extra heavy trucks simultaneously on the bridge.

6.5 Increase the Width of Lane.

Overloading on bridge can be reduce by increase the width of lane in bridge highway. Its
because during heavy traffic flow most of the vehicles need to share a limited road space.
Therefore by increase the width of lane load distribution can be reduced.

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6.6 Bridge Strengthening
Bridge strengthening is the increase of the load-carrying capacity of an existing structure by
providing the structure with a service level higher than the structure originally had also refer
as upgrading the bridge. The strengthening and repair of bridges, especially in urban areas,
should be seen as multidisciplinary operation covering not only the bridge engineering aspects
such as techniques and solutions but also urban planning such as traffic and construction
management. The social issues in cities may completely affect the choice for strengthening
and repair solutions, materials and approach. Therefore, it is important to provide a systematic
interaction between the engineering solutions and urban planning for different strengthening
and repair projects in order to minimize the costs and disturbance.

Advantage of bridge strengthening

Opportunities provided by strengthening and repair Strengthening and repair strategies provide
the following opportunities when dealing with deficient bridges:
a) Improving structural performance: example of improving structural performance could
be increasing the flexural or shear load carrying capacity
b) Improving serviceability: examples are possibilities for deck replacement and
widening, increasing durability, improving maintainability and inspectability.
c) Economy: reduction of life cycle costs and use of efficient design and construction
methods.

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7. CONCLUSION

The Malaysian government has spent a large portion of the yearly infrastructure budget on road
network and bridge maintenance. A significant amount of the total allocated budget for road and
bridge maintenance could be saved if road damage caused by overweight vehicles can be avoided
or at least minimized. Factors influencing performance of bridge include traffic volumes, loaded
length and weights of heavy truck loads, truck live load impacts, and damage sustained as a result
of scour, seismic events, wind, and etc. A final critical factor influencing performance is the type,
timing, and effectiveness of preventive maintenance, of minor and major rehabilitation actions,
and ultimately of replacement actions applied to the bridge. All of these factors combine to affect
the condition and operational capacities of the bridge and its various structural elements at any
given point in the life of the bridge. Overloading of vehicles, should obviously be avoided, as these
can have a severe effect on bridge elements, which may result in extensive repair works or
permanent weight restrictions having to be applied to the bridge in the future.

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 8. REFERENCES

i. Wanshui Han1,Jun Wu2,C. S. Cai, F.ASCE3 and Suren Chen, “Case Study of Characteristics
and Dynamic Impact of Overloaded Extra Heavy Trucks on Typical Highway Bridges”
ii. Joachim Scheer, “Failed bridge Case Study, Causes and Consequence.
iii. Current Situation of Heavy Vehicle Overloading in Malaysia, “Road Transport department
(JPJ), Workshop on Regulating High Mass Heavy Road Vehicles for Safety, Productivity and
Infrastructure Outcomes Brisbane, Australia
iv. Dr. Han-Ug Bae and Professor Michael G. Oliva University of Wisconsin, Madison, Madison
WI, “ Bridge Analysis and Evaluation of Effects Under Overload Vehicles.
v. Federal Highway Administration Research and Technology Coordinating, Developing, and
Delivering Highway Transportation Innovations, “Long-Term Bridge Performance High
Priority Bridge Performance Issues” HWA-HRT-14-052

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