A miser will pay twice
In a sense that is certain we had been happy to possess St. Petersburg Mostotrest one of the primary customers while they cope with an operation that is day-by-day of. Furthermore, Mr. Y. Petrov, whom was once the manager of Mostotrest at that time and a fantastic expert and “patriot” of the Northern Capital bridges, demanded fr om us to make certain to start with a long-term service dependability for the bridges. Besides, he constantly emphasised that individuals reside and work with St. Petersburg, and for that reason we now have no right to create ugly bridges or even design simply a standard framework. The vector of development which he has designated for Stroyproekt very nearly fully complied with your very own perceptions and choices. Nonetheless, the situation that is real Russian road industry into the 90-es could not expedite the job! Russian construction laws and SNIP norms (that are being currently upd ated) are dated returning to 60-es and 70-es if the engineering ideology ended up being primarily dedicated to materials saving. The financial effectiveness ended up being the fundamental requirements for design assessment plus some Russian developers still followup this approach. Contrary to this, we always strived to quickly attain a structure that is reliable supplying for logical usage of metal and concrete.
St. Petersburg bridges plainly illustrate the real difference of these two design approaches. Among the list of Neva River bridges which is why a reconstruction has been produced by us design, Troitsky and Dvortsovy Bridges withstood about a century without major repairs. Besides, their structural elements mostly remained in reasonable condition and needed just some fix however replacement. Quite the opposite, the Lieutenant Schmidt Bridge (or Blagoveshchensky Bridge), which was recently reconstructed relating to our design, has quite another type of fate. The bridge could stay about sixty years only after it was reconstructed in 1936 – 1939 according to the design by Academician G. Peredery. The Volodarsky Bridge integrated 1936 in accordance with G. Peredery design could endure also less without the repairs: it absolutely was reconstructed in 1986 – 1993.
Inside our time, we had been taught to adhere to within the example of G. Peredery, whom becoming an apologist of constructivism believed the greater rational was the greater amount of beautiful. Besides, this concept ended up being therefore jealously found in the belated Soviet duration that presently the Peredery’s arches in Volodarsky Bridge of 1936 look far more appealing compared to current facade for the bridge that is same. But, the training demonstrates that maxims of this connection dependability and durability usually do not contradict the wonder concept. In the– that is 60-es they relegated the visual aspect of the backdrop while pursuing the efficiency and nearly ignored connection architectural aspects. During party regarding the company’s twentieth anniversary this season we had been happy to learn fr om certainly one of our guests that individuals had found a brand new connection design approach since any connection created by our business had its specific “face”. In reality, it is not a brand new but when generally speaking accepted and soon after forgotten approach. When making we have to always remember that the general public do value an appearance that is visual of along with other road works. If you don’t a professional, you could not manage to measure the structural design effectiveness you could constantly notice whether or not the framework is gorgeous or otherwise not. Consequently, we se t up a group that is architectural the organization at the start of our expert tasks.
Dispute about composite reinforced concrete
Therefore during our first separate tasks, partially in accordance with Mostotrest needs and also to some degree consistent with our individual values we already meant to replace the current approaches. The project that is first we had been assigned to function as General Designer ended up being a tiny connection throughout the Slavyanka River at 676 kilometer of Moscow – St. Petersburg engine road (1995–1996). We now have proposed a brand new design concept of composite decks for tiny bridges that included a cast-in-situ slab and versatile studs manufactured from rebar metal. Unfortuitously, not totally all the solutions because of this bridge were realized, nevertheless down the road in 1997–1998 our concept was implemented for rehabilitation of this connection throughout the Saimaa Canal within the populous town of Vyborg.
Bridge building in Soviet Russia had been commonly centered on basic usage of precast beams for small spans. Carriage way slab joints was once a point of this type of structure week. Whenever into the last half regarding the 90-es Stroyproekt ended up being included into connection assessment, design and guidance for the Russian Bridges Rehabilitation Program of International Bank for Reconstruction and developing, we’d an opportunity to see with your very very own eyes the situation that is terrible bridges had been. Only for some thirty many years hot latin brides of procedure the bridges made from precast beams got totally away from purchase! And they were the many common connection structures. Therefore, we began to seek out an alternative solution to precast beams that could make sure structural durability. At that right amount of time in Russia cast-in-situ tangible started to get some appeal which it currently had abroad. In specific, this technology ended up being useful for Moscow Ring path construction. Nevertheless, Moscow Government featuring its economic abilities ended up being a very important factor, and also the sleep of Russia was different things. For Russian contractors cast-in-situ reinforced concrete structures had been uncommon and inconvenient, they needed brand new gear and work training and for that reason their construction had been higher priced as a whole. For decades our connection builders had used to precast structures that have been prefabricated at plant and erected at spot. We understood that cast-in-situ reinforced concrete would hardly ever become extensive in Russia and an alternative was found by us which was really obvious because it had been already mentioned in publications of N. Streletsky, V. Bystrov, etc.
We began utilizing composite reinforced concrete for little spans
You could not really dream of it throughout the Soviet times: metal had been a material that is critical for defense industry and its own use ended up being strictly restricted. In connection building, metal ended up being utilized just for over 60m spans that are long. This limitation ceased to occur just in 90-es so we began trying: first in the Slavyanka River Project and down the road at Saimaa Canal.
Wanting to abandon precast slabs and also to begin to use cast-in-situ slabs, we’ve considered complete jobs as one example. A challenge with studs needed to be fixed. Soviet rigid studs frequently broke slabs (and beams too) making them non-durable. Flexible Nelson studs are widely used today. And also for the connection over Saimaa Canal we was able to implement an invention that is interesting of Bakhurin, an expert of Scientific analysis Institute of Concrete and Reinforced Concrete. He proposed a welding that is special for ribbed club welding. Rebars might be welded using this device at destination, that has been less costly. Regrettably, Bakhurin welding device (Gefest) had not been accepted for mass-production and after this contractors need to purchase foreign-made Nelson studs and international welding devices for them. a top energy concrete ended up being employed for the Saimaa Canal Bridge as well as versatile studs made from reinforcement metal in leave-in-place formwork. This reasonably tiny task became a kick off point for further professional development of the organization including elaboration of our very very very own design techniques. Although we’d made our option, ideological disputes whether composite reinforced concrete ended up being right for brief spans proceeded for a time that is long.
Whenever back 1999 Stroyproekt ended up being developing the look for St. Petersburg Ring path interchange with Primorsky roadway near Gorskaya railway section, we utilized composite structures not just for the overpass that is main additionally for curved ramps of 60 m radius. It absolutely was an innovation aswell since curved beams had been regarded as hard to produce. Nevertheless, our solution had been effectively realised and soon after it when designing the Ring Road facilities on we have often used. At that moment construction associated with Ring path that were anticipated by the town for so very long had just started, therefore we attempted to result in the Gorskaya interchange recognisable that is architecturally easy. We had been not necessary to do this; it absolutely was our personal effort. White ?-shaped (or trapezoid) pylons imitating entrance gates made this big structure look light and stylistically complete. This interchange launched in 2001 became a sign of a stage that is new of Northern Capital transportation development which had begun using the Ring path construction.