Design of Steel - Concrete Composite Bridges to Eurocodes

Composite structures of steel and concrete have become popular for a number of reasons.One reason is that while concrete is excellent for dealing with compressive forces, steel alsocan carry large tensile stresses. In some sense, any reinforced concrete beam is a compositestructure, with the reinforcement in composite action with the concrete.Furthermore, it is often necessary when constructing concrete structures to carry the concretebefore it has hardened. The steel girders’ ability to support the formwork, the rebars, and thewet concrete has indeed contributed to the increasing popularity of composite structures. Forthe case of a road bridge, every month of earlier opening saves money for the contractor, butalso for the road user. This fact is often neglected when evaluating different structural solutions.I strongly believe that this book could spread knowledge about composite bridges whileteaching students and experienced designers the techniques of designing composite bridgesaccording to the Eurocodes.