Known as a portable prefabricated steel truss bridge, Bailey Bridge is extensively used in various applications. Developed and introduced in 1940's by an English Civil Servant and Engineer, Sir Donald Bailey. Used during the second world war by the British, Canadian, and Military units. The concept behind the Bailey Bridge was to offer a temporary bridge that could rapidly and manually be created in emergency situations.
This was due to its girder and deck systems that can be strengthened at will and constructed without requiring special tools or heavy equipment. The elements and materials should be readily available, not necessarily big and light but flexible. On top of this, they should be strong enough to carry and sustain loads like those of heavy tanks and other machineries.
The bridge boosts socio-economic development by establishing vital connections and delivering supplies, especially to distant areas.
They are instrumental in assisting isolated villages to this day to access larger communities where education and medical resources may be more available. Bailey bridges can assist significantly during humanitarian relief situations to extend help in emergencies brought by natural disasters, war, or terrorism.
ESC Group started offering Bailey Bridge options in 2020 -an add-on to the company’s structural steel division. The success with its fabrication and sales shows great potential in different regions for provisional, makeshift, and permanent bridge structures. Focus will be firstly on Asia and Latin America for sales.
The ESC-HD-100 Bailey Bridge - derived from British 321-Type is suitable for short to medium spans or light to moderate loads.
It can stand to a maximum free span length of 51 meters (167.30 feet), with a deck net width of 4 meters (13.10 feet). The bridge panels are composed of welded high-grade structural steel elements. The girders are lightweight composite panels connected by sturdy steel pins.
Panels and components of the steel bridge are easy to handle and transport can be interchanged. Being lightweight, this bridge type is guaranteed for emergency and difficult situations.
Different configurations and dimensions of bridge panels can also be custom built. They can also be assembled into different forms of panel bridges according to their span length and transportation requirement.
The upgraded version of ESC-HD-100 is the ESC-HD-200 Bailey Bridge. With panel heights increased to 2.13 meters (7 feet), it can cover a maximum free span of 60.96 meters (200 feet) for single-lane width and 45.72 meters (150 feet) for double lane width. In this model, joints between panels are located alternately against the joints between reinforcement chords to reduce inelastic deformation due to oversized pinholes.
Pre-arch or camber is employed to counter deflection of the bridge at the mid-span.
All bolted connections are equipped with orienting sleeves to ensure that compression forces are absorbed by the sleeve and tensions by the bolts. This helps to increase the life span of the bolts and generally the safety of the panel bridge. Composite braces against wind loads are also provided and connected to the transoms or girders to enhance the overall stability of the bridge, especially against side bending.
Nowadays, Bailey Bridge is considered an engineering innovation due to the bridge designs’ continuous modern standardization and modularized nature. Bailey Bridge could be modified based on different span lengths and strengths. True to the original concept, the bridge was also made to be assembled and disassembled as needed.
For more information, you may visit escsteelstructures.com: Bailey Bridge, Bridge Structures, Pre-engineered Buildings, Port & Offshore Structures, Offshore Platforms, Pressure Vessels, Steel Bridges, Mining Excavation, Steel Towers, Rail Infrastructures, and others.