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https://www.hst-journal.com Історія науки і техніки 2023, том 13, випуск 2
History of science and technology, 2023, vol. 13, issue 2
Copyright © 202 3. Oleh Strelko. This is an open a ccess article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0, which permits
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DOI: 10.32703/2415-7422-2023-13-2-419-455
UDC 621.791:624.21/.8:93:94
Oleh Strelko
State University of Infrastructure and Technologies
9, Kyrylivska Street, Kyiv, Ukraine, 04071
E-mail: olehstrelko@duit.edu.ua
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3173-3373
On the history of the construction of metal bridges in the 20th century using
welding technology
Abstract. The history of bridge construction is an important part of historical
knowledge. Developments in bridge construction technology reflect not only
engineering advances, but also social, economic and cultural aspects of society.
Engineers and scientists faced unique challenges when designing and building bridges
depending on the technological level of the era, available materials and the needs of
society. This process may reflect technological progress, changes in transportation
needs, and cultural and social changes. The purpose of this article is to briefly review
key moments and stages in the history of metal bridge construction using welding
technology in the 20th century. The history of the development of the construction of
metal bridges using welding goes back a little over 100 years. The short period from
the construction of the first welded bridges to their first disasters led to the need to
analyze the possible causes of these destructions. As the analysis performed showed,
catastrophic destruction most often occurred under the influence of several factors, as
well as a combination of external adverse influences and the internal
“unpreparedness” of the structure for them. The above examples indicate that an
irrational choice of steel could be both an independent cause causing brittle failure of
structures, and an aggravating factor in the presence of structural violations, thermal
stresses and welding defects. Over the years, bridge manufacturing technologies have
been improved in different countries, and new steels and materials for their welding
have been developed. Thanks to the use of carbon, low-alloy and alloy steel, designers
abandoned the brutal “railroad-type” beam trusses and today metal bridges with
graceful and beautiful silhouettes powerfully stride across the water surface,
mountains and valleys. They became real attractions of megacities and country
landscapes, and builders were able to successfully solve numerous technical and
economic problems. An important contribution to the development of global bridge
construction using welding technologies was made by the team of the Institute of
Electric Welding of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR under the leadership
of Academician Evgeny Oskarovych Paton. The team of the Institute of Electric
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Welding of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, introducing welding into
bridge construction, carefully checked the results and monitored the behavior of
structures. A new grade of steel was created that was resistant to the formation of
brittle and fatigue cracks, its welding technology was developed, a technology for
installation welding of vertical sheets with forced formation of a seam was developed,
and suitable welding materials were selected. At the time of construction in 1953, the
Kyiv Evgeny Paton Bridge across the Dnipro River was the largest all-welded bridge
in Europe, all seams of which, including assembly ones, were made for the first time
using automatic and semi-automatic welding. In addition, the presence of large similar
blocks in the design of the Evgeny Paton Bridge made it possible to mechanize
assembly and welding operations and organize an in-line method for their production
at the factory and installation, which improved the quality of welding work and reduced
its labor intensity.
Keywords: history of bridge construction; history of metal bridges; welding
history; Evgeny Paton Kyiv Bridge; Historical Welded Structure Award; Institute of
Electric Welding of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR
Introduction.
One of the main goals of history as a science is to study the past on the basis of
documentary evidence, archaeological finds and other sources. Historians strive to
reconstruct the events, trends, and cultural characteristics of different time periods
based on available information. It is important to note that historians adhere to certain
methodologies and standards of evidence to ensure the integrity of their research.
Comparison and analysis of various sources help historians build a more complete and
objective understanding of the past. Historical facts and dates are subject to
reinterpretation and debate in the light of new research and discoveries, and historians
often revise their interpretations and conclusions based on new evidence. This process
makes history a dynamic and constantly evolving field.
The history of bridge construction is also an important part of historical
knowledge. Developments in bridge construction technology reflect not only
engineering advances, but also social, economic and cultural aspects of society.
Engineers and scientists faced unique challenges when designing and building bridges
depending on the technological level of the era, available materials and the needs of
society. This process may reflect technological progress, changes in transportation
needs, and cultural and social changes.
Studying the history of bridge construction allows to understand how different
civilizations dealt with technical problems, what engineering solutions they created,
and how these solutions influenced the development of society. It also highlights the
importance of engineering and construction achievements in human history.
The history of the construction of metal bridges is an exciting period in the
development of engineering and construction art. An analysis of scientific research
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devoted to the history of the construction of metal bridges allows to identify several
main areas of this work:
1. Evolution of metal bridge construction technology (Pescatore & Borgeot, 2008;
Armisén, 2019). This direction is devoted to the study of the history of the development
of technologies and methods for constructing metal bridges from their initial
introduction to modern trends.
2. The role of metal bridges in infrastructure development (Liegner, Kormos, &
Papp, 2015; Statyvka, Kyrychenko, Strelko, & Berdnychenko, 2021; Vůjtěch,
Ryjáček, & Matos, 2023). This direction is devoted to the analysis of the impact of the
construction of metal bridges on the development of transport infrastructure, urban
planning and economics in different regions and eras.
3. Architectural and engineering solutions for metal bridges (Bartlett, Graham, &
Camiletti, 2009; Arwade, Schafer, B. W., Schafer, D. F., & Schafer, S. T., 2015;
Schueremans, Porcher, Rossi, Wouters, & Verstrynge, 2018). This direction is devoted
to the study of the history of the various styles, designs and technical solutions used in
the construction of metal bridges, and their impact on the overall landscape.
4. Historical metal bridges as cultural heritage (Bernabeu-Larena, Martín-Caro,
Hernández-Lamas, & Plana, 2023).). This direction is devoted to assessing the role and
significance of historical metal bridges as part of the cultural heritage and architectural
monuments.
5. Problems of maintenance and restoration (Rymsza, Mistewicz, & Tucholski,
2017). This direction is devoted to the study of the challenges and technical aspects
associated with the maintenance and restoration of ancient metal bridges, taking into
account their preservation for many years.
This work belongs to the first direction. Its purpose is to briefly review key
moments and stages in the history of metal bridge construction using welding
technology in the 20th century.
Idea, Methodology and Sources of Research.
The author of this article became interested in the topic of constructing metal
bridges using welding in connection with well-known information about the 70th
anniversary of the Evgeny Oskarovych Paton Bridge in Kyiv in Ukraine. The Paton
Bridge was put into operation on November 5, 1953 (Lobanov, Kyrian, & Shumitsky,
2003).
Evgeny Paton Bridge is truly unique. This is an undeniable fact and was
specifically recognized in 1995 by the American Welding Society (AWS) with the
Extraordinary Welding Awards in the Historical Welded Structure Award category
(see Figure 1) (American Welding Society, 2023, p. 52). The AWS website states that
(American Welding Society, n.d.): “Nominations for the Historical Welded Structure
Award may be submitted by any AWS member for consideration by the Committee of
Past Presidents. Nominations for historical recognition are valid for two years, and
structures must be at least 35 years old.”
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Figure 1. Memorial sign about the Evgeny Paton Bridge Extraordinary Welding
Awards in 1995 (Lobanov, Kyrian, & Shumitsky, 2003).
It is worth noting that the Extraordinary Welding Awards were created to
recognize and promote the science, technology and applications of welding (American
Welding Society, n.d.). The Extraordinary Welding Awards was intended to encourage
members of the welding community to recognize their heritage in metal joining; and
to convey to the public the fact that the combination of metals has played and continues
to play an important role in everyday life. The purpose of the Extraordinary Welding
Awards is to recognize the excellence of welding in construction, fabrication and
manufacturing, and to recognize those welded structures whose purpose is significant
in or influences the history of the world.
As of this writing in 2023, only 42 objects or inventions have been awarded the
Extraordinary Welding Awards in two categories: The Historical Welded Structure
Award and the Outstanding Development in Welded Fabrication Award (American
Welding Society, 2023, p. 52‒53). Among them: Tokyo Tower (1997); U.S. Pentagon
(2000); Pratt & Whitney F119 Engine (2001); Hoover Dam Penstock Power Plant
System (2002); One World Trade Center (2015); Mars Curiosity Rover (2016);
Panama Canal (2019).
Evgeny Paton Bridge was awarded the Extraordinary Welding Awards when the
award was first presented in 1995, along with three other winners Sludwia River
Bridge, Mr. Charlie (Morgan City, LA) and Soviet Combat Tank (American Welding
Society, 2023, p. 52). This once again emphasizes the importance of the achievements
of welding technologies in the manufacture of the Evgeny Paton Bridge structure.
As can be seen in Figure 1, the AWS award was awarded to the Evgeny Paton
Bridge, as the first all-welded bridge, 1540 m long, built in 1953, using new welding
processes in the manufacture of vertical butt welds, later called "Electrogas" and
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"Electroslag" welding And also for the use of less than 30% mechanical connections
in the manufacture of bridge structural elements in factory workshops (Lobanov,
Kyrian, & Shumitsky, 2003).
It was in this part of the study that the author had the largest number of questions
that required answers supported by documentary evidence of historical documents.
First of all, this concerned terminology. Namely, the use of the term “first”. When
the Evgeny Paton Bridge was discussed in the Extraordinary Welding Awards, it
referred to the “First All-Welded Bridge.” First in the world? The first in Europe? The
first one this long? The first all-welded one of this length? The first one at the time of
construction (put into operation) in 1953?
Finding answers to these questions turned out to be not so simple. The more the
author delved into the history of the research question, the more inconsistencies and
points there were that required a thorough and verified analysis, as well as a search for
verified and reliable information.
For example. In various sources you can find information about Evgeny Paton
Bridge, which differs in the degree of “primacy”.
The article (Mezenin, 1977) claims that Evgeny Paton Bridge is “the largest all-
welded bridge in Europe”.
Evgeny Paton Bridge is presented as “the world's first all-welded bridge” in
articles (Shumitsky, 1997, p. 240; Korsun, Buyak, & Matsyuk, 2019).
The well-known scientist in the field of bridge construction, Anatoly Viktorovich
Perel’muter, proposed an option (Perel’muter, 2012): “The largest all-welded bridge in
Europe at the time of construction, for the first time all seams, including assembly ones,
were made using automatic welding”.
The article (Lobanov, 2014) claims that Evgeny Paton Bridge is “the largest all-
welded transport structure in the world at that time”.
In articles (Poznyakov, Dyadin, Davydov, & Dmitrienko, 2021; Lobanov,
Dyadin, Davydov, & Lytvynenko, 2021) about the Evgeny Paton Bridge, the bridge is
shown as “the world’s first all-welded road bridge”.
Shymanovskyi, Shalinskyi, and Baran (2021), claim that the Evgeny Paton Bridge
is “the world's first all-welded bridge with the girder system of such a length”.
So, many sources contain the statement that at the time of its construction, Evgeny
Paton Bridge was one of the largest all-welded bridges in the world, which for the first
time had all seams, including installation ones, made using automatic welding. Today,
a large number of overwater bridges are built using this technology, which combines
welding and bridge construction. However, in those days, electric welding was still
rarely used in bridge construction. And numerous sources reported from time to time
that welded bridges were destroyed and fell in different places on the planet. But what
could have caused this destruction? What allowed Ukrainian welders to erect such a
complex structure without avoiding the mistakes of their predecessors? What does the
term “all-welded bridge” mean, and how does it differ from simply a “welded bridge”
or “a bridge built using welding technology”? How is welding used in bridge
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construction? What kind of materials were used at different times in the construction
of metal bridges? How relevant is welding technology to modern bridge construction?
The search for answers to these and many other questions formed the basis of this
study. During its preparation, a historical and chronological analysis of numerous
engineering and scientific studies in the field of bridge construction, construction
technologies, materials science and architecture was carried out. This made it possible
to offer our own version of the stages in the history of the construction of metal bridges
using welding technology in the 20th century.
Results and Discussion.
What materials were used at different times in the construction of metal
bridges?
Metal bridges were not known in ancient times. There are only indications that in
ancient China and India, around the 1st century AD, iron chains were used for
suspension bridges (Bender, 1872; Sedmak, Ković, & Kirin, 2022;).
Any bridge, as we know, consists of one or more spans covered in one way or
another. If the spanning parts are suspended from the abutments using a rope or chains,
then such a bridge is called a suspension bridge. If the span is covered with wooden
beams or wooden trusses (lattice structures of various shapes), or stone slabs, then the
bridge is called a beam bridge. Finally, an arched bridge is a bridge in which an arch is
thrown across each span, that is, a vault resting on the abutments with its heels. Of
course, there are many transitional forms between these main types of bridges. Arch
bridges were the highest achievements of ancient bridge construction. Suspension and
beam bridges usually had wooden spanning parts. The stone slab could not be
suspended, and it was inconvenient to use it as a beam, since it could only cover a very
narrow span. The vault retains its strength even with a large span.
Metal bridges could not be developed in ancient times because metallurgy was
still at a very low level. Iron was extracted directly from the ore in small pieces in so-
called raw furnaces and forged by hand. This took a lot of time and labor. In those days
they did not yet know how to cast iron. Therefore, all castings were made of bronze,
and large castings could not be made then. After the collapse of the Roman Empire,
bridge construction was in decline.
In the 15th century, metallurgy began to develop significantly. In addition to the
great successes of bronze foundry, which already produced complex castings (bells,
cannons), the production and use of cast iron was mastered. Cast iron was smelted in
special high furnaces with increased blast, called blast furnaces. Iron began to be
extracted mainly from cast iron in the so-called limit (fresh) forges. These forges were
much more productive than cheese forges. Bellows blowers, large forging hammers,
drilling machines, etc. began to be driven by water wheels. That is why advanced
designers of that period were able not only to improve the types of stone and wooden
bridges in every possible way, but also to raise the question of metal bridges.
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This idea was first put forward by the Venetian Fausto Veranzio (or Verantius),
who lived in the first quarter of the 17th century (Gazzola, 2015, p. 2; Blažević, 2017).
At that time, Venice was still a powerful trading republic, although its period of greatest
prosperity had passed. Various complex arts and crafts were developed in Venice and
the lands under its control. In his work “Machinae Novae” (1615 or 1616) (Veranzio,
1968), Veranzio devotes a lot of space to the construction of bridges (Figure 2‒4).
Figure 2. Picture of the Pons Canabeus by Fausto Veranzio (Gazzola, 2015, p. 3).
He puts forward the idea of building a bronze bridge (Pons Arevs) of an interesting
design see Figure 3.
Figure 3. Picture of the Pons Arevs by Fausto Veranzio (Radić, Puž, & Šavor,
(2013).
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Each of the arches has the appearance of a “bow with a string” or, in geometric
language, an arc with a chord, and consists of two bronze, flat arches connected to each
other (Figure 3). By its type, such a bridge is transitional from arch to beam. In fact,
here the arch is pulled together by a lower, as they say, “belt” and acts on the support
in almost the same way as an ordinary truss. Veranzio's main mistake was that he chose
bronze as a building material. He not only could not imagine steel castings, but even,
apparently, was little familiar with iron foundry, which had already reached a
significant level in some countries. Veranzio believed that the bridge's trusses should
be cast in bronze, and argued that such a bridge would be cheaper than a stone bridge
of equal size. However, bronze, due to its fragility, could not fulfill the tasks that
Veranzio assigned to it. A bronze bridge of significant size would collapse on its own.
Veranzio's project had only the significance that it prompted later architects to seek
materials for bridges.
Even more interesting is another bridge project, which in the text of Veranzio’s
book is called “Ferrevs” (“Iron”) (Veranzio, 1968). “We call this bridge,” writes
Veranzio, “iron, because it is suspended on many iron chains on two towers built along
the banks of the river”. The bridge deck, i.e. the part along which the path is laid
consists of links, apparently of metal (not specified in Veranzio), covered with
transverse boards. The links of the canvas are doubly suspended: firstly, to the
supporting chains by iron pendants; secondly, additional chains to the towers
(Figure 4). Both of Veranzio's projects remained unrealized.
Figure 4. Picture of the Pons Ferreus by Fausto Veranzio (Gazzola, 2015, p. 3).
The first real metal bridge was built in the central industrial region of England, in
the county of Shropshire across the river. River Severn (Sedmak, Ković, & Kirin,
2022). On one side of the river was the famous Coalbrookdale works of Abraham
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Darby II and Reynolds. On the other are the factories of John Wilkinson. All these
names have glorified themselves in the history of technology. Abraham Darby I
converted blast furnace smelting to coke in 1709, thereby opening a new chapter in
iron foundry (Johnson, n.d.). Reynolds was the first to build a horse track with cast iron
rails. John Wilkinson was the largest English metallurgist of that time. The most
advanced machines and production methods were introduced at his factories. In
particular, Wilkinson was the first to use steam engines for blowers, drilling machines,
etc. As industry grew around the gorge, so did the need for a strong, durable bridge to
transport goods across the river. In 1773, Thomas Farnolls Pritchard, an architect from
Shrewsbury, came up with a bold idea (English Heritage, n. d.). Combining
engineering expertise with new iron casting techniques, he proposed the world's first
iron bridge, which would link the parishes of Madley and Benthall across one of the
busiest rivers in the country. Pritchard's designs were approved by Act of Parliament
and construction began in 1777. Abraham Darby III with Reynolds and Wilkinson
jointly created the first metal bridge, which was built from 1777 to 1779 (Siviero &
Martini, 2020). The bridge was in the form of a semicircular arch of five parallel cast-
iron chords and a 100-feet cross-braced span to support a level mainline 14 feet wide,
located 55 feet above the water. Each edge was cast in halves, 70 feet long and
weighing 38 tons (Figure 5). They were brought from a nearby foundry on barges,
placed in place using a pulley system and connected in the middle with cast iron bolts.
Figure 5. The Cast Iron Bridge near Coalbrookdale (Williams, 1780).
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At the same time, the cast iron frames from which the bridge arch was made had
a tapering wedge-shaped shape, in imitation of the shape of the stones from which the
arched stone bridge arches were erected (Figure 6). Subsequently, the shore supports
leaned forward slightly and raised the arch in the central part, but this in no way
affected its strength. The coastal abutments of the Coalbrookdale Bridge and the
approaches to it were made of brick. Soon a new city grew up near the bridge, called
Iron Bridge. The radical new structure, which officially opened on New Year's Day
1781, used a total of 384 tons of iron, costing around 6,000 GBP ‒ significantly more
than the original estimate of 3,200 GBP. But if Abraham Darby had wanted to build
such a bridge today, he would have to raise in the region of £1.5 million (The
Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust, n. d.). The bridge stands to this day as a monument
to the skill of the builders and the efficiency of cast iron. It became a UNESCO World
Heritage Site in 1986 and remains an iconic element of Britain's industrial past .
Figure 6. Ironbridge. “Birthplace of the Industrial Revolution” and UNESCO World
Heritage Site. (Johnson, n. d.).
Bridge design in the mid-19th century was largely limited to trusses, and wood
gradually gave way to iron. The Bavarian Karl Friedrich von Wiebeking (1762–1842)
built flat-arch bridges from bolted planks so effectively that his peers credited him with
the system's origins, but trusses and iron still dominated (Kahlow, 1995; Booth, 2017;
Holzer & Knobling, 2020). Wrought iron's tensile strength, fire resistance, and other
beneficial features made the metal the best material for building bridges, especially
railroad bridges. While laying the Stockton–Darlington railway, George Stephenson
experimented with a small iron bridge in County Durham in 1825 (Kozak-Holland &
Procter, 2020; Groote, Ciccarelli, & Giuntini, 2021). The 50-feet long bridge had four
lens-shaped spans in a combination of arches and suspended forms, convex at both the
top and bottom. There were vertical posts, but no diagonal braces. In 1859, Isambard
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Kingdom Brunel built a unique the Royal Albert Bridge over the Tamar River in
Saltash (Fougres, 2022). He followed the same principles, but his bridge was much
larger and improved by adding diagonal braces. Ten years later, another lenticular
bridge was built over the Elbe River in Hamburg, Germany (Mehrtens, 1900a)
(Figure 7). However, most builders relied on diagonals to take advantage of the
stability inherent in triangles, the only polygons that do not change shape under stress.
All designers, whether they realized it or not, acted in accordance with the principles
that Simon Stevin formulated back in 1586, defining the “triangle of forces” (Van
Dyck, 2020).
Figure 7. Railway-bridge over Elbe in Hamburg, built 1868‒1872 (Mehrtens,
1900b).
Among the large steel bridges built with the rise of railroads in the second half of
the 19th century, three were truly outstanding. All three bridges were different in
concept and design. James B. Eads chose an arch design for his Mississippi Bridge,
opened in the St. Louis area in 1874 (Grimes & Castro, 2020). For the famous Brooklyn
Bridge, engineers John A. Roebling and his brother Washington A. Roebling chose a
suspension structure that they had succeeded in Niagara (Witcher, 2022). John Fowler
and Benjamin Baker, who built the bridge over the Firth of Forth in Scotland, preferred
a cantilever design (Rosie, 2018). All builders had experience in underwater work. All
three bridges are still in use.
Beginning of the use of welding in bridge construction.
In russian-language Internet sources, the primacy in the use of welding in bridge
construction is often mistakenly attributed to Viktor Petrovich Vologdin. His 25-meter
bridge was built in Vladivostok in 1928 (Perel’muter, 2012). Various Russian-speaking
authors from time to time attribute primacy to this bridge, either in the USSR, then in
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Europe, or in the world (Ban'kovskij, 1988; Turmov, 2004; Shevchenko, 2004;
Chigarev, Litvinov, 2011; Perel’muter, 2012).
In fact, in 1928, Vologdin built the first all-welded viaduct in the USSR
(PrimaMedia.ru, 2023). Four factory welders welded its 25-meter span in 20 days,
saving 25% of metal compared to a riveted structure. Later, an urban myth arose in
Vladivostok, as if the Kazan Bridge on the Egersheld, thrown across the last meters of
the Trans-Siberian Railway, was the very brainchild of Vologdin. In fact, welders
under his leadership produced an openwork metal structure of a completely different
type and purpose; it has not survived to this day. “The bridge was intended for
conveyors and pedestrians between two warehouses on Egerschöld, separated by a
road,” recalled one of the first graduates of the Far Eastern Politechnical Institute
Welding Department, Candidate of Technical Sciences Ivan Dmitriev.
In the 1920s, bridge designers began preliminary research into the specifics of
welding technology and its advantages and disadvantages (Fraser & Roberts, 1994).
However, they were in no hurry to fully introduce welding into bridge construction
(Figure 8). And instead of building new all-welded spans, they experimented with
strengthening existing bridges. The first structure to be reinforced in this manner by
welding was the Chicago Great Western Railroad’s swing bridge over the Missouri
River at Leavenworth, Kansas. Considered too light for modern locomotives of the
time. The bridge was reinforced at critical points over a two-month period in 1927.
Figure 8. The article “Electric welding reduces cost of strengthening bridge” in the
journak “Railway Engineering and Maintenance” (Railway Engineering and
Maintenance, 1927).
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The first welded bridge ever built was a pedestrian bridge, erected in 1921
between two buildings of the General Electric plant in Schenectady, New York
(McKibben, 1929). In 1921, the Williams Bridge Company of Syracuse, New York,
constructed a footbridge over the Delaware & Hudson Railroad tracks at the General
Electric plant in Schenectady (Spivey, 2001). This single 35' span, the first all-welded
bridge in the U.S. and , began a decade of experimentation with electric arc welding
for bridge repair and construction. Until the advent of shielded welding electrodes,
which reduced inclusions of slag and therefore improved the ductility of welds, bridge
engineers avoided butt welds. They therefore initially kept to the truss form, using fillet
welds to join members to the same splice and gusset plates found on those of riveted
construction. Footbridges were a more fertile ground for experimentation with welding
because they carried lighter loads and were subject to less stringent requirements.
However, the first of any significance was a 53-feet double-girder railroad a
bridge constructed using arc welding by the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing
Company over Thompson Run in Turtle Creek, Pennsylvania (Bissell, 1928). Opened
for service on November 5, 1927, the bridge carried railroad traffic between the
company's Linhart Works and East Pittsburgh Works (Hess & Hybben, 1989).
Interested in promoting virtually any new technology related to electricity,
Westinghouse was a leading proponent of electric arc welding. The Turtle Creek
Bridge demonstrated what Westinghouse engineer A. G. Bissell called the company's
"confidence in arc-welded structures" (Bissell, 1928).
In 1928, Westinghouse also sponsored the construction of the nation's second all-
welded railroad bridge as a means of providing access to its plant in Chicopee Falls,
Massachusetts (Hess & Hybben, 1989). This, too, was arc welding. To obtain
comparative data on welding and riveting costs, Westinghouse based the 134-feet
single-span structure directly on the Warren riveted truss originally intended for the
site, "the only impediment to a true comparison was the replacement of rolled sections
with the precast sections shown in riveted construction". The welded bridge even used
regular gussets to connect the panels (Figure 9). Upon completion, Westinghouse
claimed "substantial" cost savings: "The welded structure used about two-thirds the
amount of steel required for its riveted counterpart, saving most of the joint materials
and eliminating holes in tension members and floor stringer continuity" (Fish, 1933).
Highway engineers soon followed the railroads' lead: in 1929, the first all-welded
steel highway bridge was built (Fraser & Roberts, 1994). Designed by professor of the
Lwow Technical University Stefan Bryla in 1927, the 88-feet truss spans the Słudwia
River near Łowicz, Poland (Bryla, 1930). According to design engineer Stefan Bryla,
arc welding saved about 21 percent in materials, although the total cost of the project
was roughly equivalent to riveted construction ‒ as a result of the need to include the
cost of welding equipment in the final accounting.
The construction of a number of welded road bridges followed in the 1930s.
Although American civil engineers were reluctant to experiment with the new
technology, their European colleagues did not hesitate. “The arc welding process,”
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wrote Kansas engineer LaMotte Grover in 1934, “has been used quite extensively for
the construction of new steel bridges in foreign countries, but it appears to have been
indifferent to most American civil engineers” Grover, L. (1934). However, several
welded bridges were built in this country during the second half of the decade,
including the 397-feet Rancocos River Bridge in New Jersey (Davis, 1935).
Figure 9. Details of arc-welded Through-Truss Railway Bridge, Chicopee Falls,
Massachusetts (Fish, 1933).
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In the 1930s, other welded bridges were also built. Thus, in 1934, the first all-
welded drawbridge was built in the UK in Middlesbrough (Figure 10).
Figure 10. Dorman Long and Newport Bridge. (Tees Valley Museums, n. d.).
The Tees Newport Bridge was the first large vertical lift bridge in Europe, and
opened by Prince Albert (later King George VI) on 28 February, 1934 (Figure 10). The
bridge connects Middlesbrough to the borough of Stockton-on-Tees and was designed
to lift up to 37 m to allow ships to pass under. The bridge was built by the
Middlesbrough-based Dorman Long and Co Ltd. (Co-Curate, n. d.). Newport Bridge
was a vertical lift bridge, the first of its kind to be built in the UK (Tees Valley
Museums, n. d.). It was built specifically so that the main part of the bridge could be
lifted to allow ships to pass under it, and then lowered again for people and vehicles to
cross. Total length 4,920 feet (1499 m). Weight 8,000 tons. The bridge was fitted with
two electric motors and a petrol engine in the event of a power failure. It only took a
minute and a half for the bridge to be raised or lowered (Figure 11). It was possible for
the bridge to be raised and lowered manually with a winch system, but this would have
taken eight hours to do. During its working lifetime between 1934 and 1990, Newport
Bridge was raised and lowered twice a day. On average 800 ships a year would pass
under it. Gradually the number of ships sailing up the River Tees declined and the
bridge was lifted a final time on 18th November 1990.
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Figure 11. Tees Bridge, Newport. Middlesbrough. (Crombie, 2019).
In the late 40s in the USA, Professor Edward Ashton, who began work on creating
an all-welded bridge even before the war, designed an all-welded bridge across the
Iowa River (Figure 12). This bridge, called the Benton Street Bridge, had a five-span
continuous girder span with a total length of approximately 175 m (Figure 13). The
bridge project was completed in 1947, it began operation in 1949 and served well until
1989 – until it was replaced by a wider new bridge (Kallee, n. d.).
Figure 12. View showing welders at work on both the north and south girders, with
the old bridge in the background, looking northwest , around 10 May 1949 (Kallee,
n. d.).
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Figure 13. View of the bridge from the west bank of the Iowa River (Kallee, n. d.).
Crossing the Iowa River in the south-central section of Iowa City, the Benton
Street Bridge is an all-welded, continuous, five-span, deck, plate-girder highway
bridge. Although all-welded bridges appeared in the United States as early as the
1920s, welding was not widely advocated for new bridge construction until
immediately after World War II, when a number of state highway departments began
preparing all-welded, deck, plate-girder plans. Designed in 1947 and erected in 1949,
the Benton Street Bridge introduced all-welded bridge construction to the State of
Iowa, and was nationally recognized as one of the most notable examples of the new
genre. An early champion of welding, the bridge's designer, Edward (Ned) L. Ashton,
had previously engineered several major Mississippi River crossings, and would
subsequently be responsible for the world's first welded aluminum highway bridge,
completed in Des Moines, Iowa in 1958. Ashton has justifiably been called "the most
distinguished bridge engineer in the history of Iowa" (Kallee, n. d.).
So, it can be said that by the beginning of World War II, traffic was carried out
on more than a thousand bridges built using arc welding around the world. But this
rapid adoption of welding in steel structures came with many challenges that were
probably overlooked in the euphoria surrounding bridge construction. Welded bridges
in different countries have begun to collapse (Alencar, de Jesus, da Silva, & Calçada,
2019).
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What were the main reasons for the destruction of metal welded bridges in
the first half of the 20th century?
In March 1938, the Hasselt Bridge suffered a catastrophic failure (Figure 14).
a
b
Figure 14. Photographs of the Hasselt Bridge over the Albert Canal before
destruction (a) and after the disaster (b) on March 14, 1938 (Schuermans, 2018).
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This is generally considered the first brittle failure of a large all-welded structure
(Espion, 2012) and received much attention at the time. The article by Espion (2012)
analyzed the main causes of cracks and failures in welded bridges. Between 1932 and
1937, about 50 welded road bridges of the frame construction type invented by
Vierendeel truss were built in Belgium to cross the Albert Canal or the Campine canals.
These were the first significant applications of electric arc welding in Belgium, and
they account for the majority of large welded bridges built in Belgium at that time. Of
the 50 typical Vierendeel road bridges with a parabolic top belt: 25 over the Albert
Canal, 23 over the Campine canals. and two in Dudzeel (near Bruges). Five of them
were partially welded, and the remaining 45 were fully welded. Twelve steel
fabrication contractors and three electrode suppliers were involved in the project:
Arcos, Esab and Thermarc. A total of 70 welded bridges were built in Belgium in the
late 1930s, of which 60 were considered "large", including 50 Vierendelle spans. By
comparison, Germany had about 100 welded railway bridges built by 1935, and an
impressive list of 800 welded road bridges and 300 welded railway bridges built by
1939 has been published.
An article by Petrova (2022) shows that in the winter of 1940, cracking problems
were reported on at least eight other large welded bridges of the same design. The most
notorious cases are damage to bridges in the city of Herental and in the city of Kaulil
(Figure 15). These bridges were not completely destroyed, but, as in the case of the
Hasselt Bridge, they received cracks in the lower truss: in both cases the air temperature
was about -14°C.
a b
Figure 15. Photographs of bridges in Belgium with cracks: (a) Cracks in Herenthals-
Oolen Bridge, 1940; (b) Cracks in Kaulille Bridge, 1940 (Espion, 2012).
A generalized analysis of available sources based on the results of the
investigation of these cases showed that for all these bridges, non-deoxidized
“Thomas” steel of the St-42 grade was used, which contains an increased amount of
phosphorus compared to open hearth steel (up to 0.079% P). Independent experts from
Germany concluded (Busch & Reuleke, 1946) that the sensitivity of steel to cracks,
caused, among other things, by welding defects, could be one of the reasons that
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provoked or aggravated the destruction. They called for eliminating the use of
undeoxidized steel for welded structures greater than 1.5 inches thick.
Disasters of welded bridges have occurred not only in Europe. The collapse of the
Duplessis Bridge (1951, Canada) is a typical example of the action of metallurgical
factors, namely, the increased content of carbon, oxygen and sulfur in the destroyed
steel. The all-welded bridge across the Saint-Maurice River in Quebec collapsed three
years after construction. Figure 16 shows a photo of the Duplessis Bridge collapse
taken by Milt Loomis (Lambie, 2021).
Figure 16. Duplessis bridge collapse (Lambie, 2021).
On the frosty night of January 31, 1951 (at an air temperature of -34C, four long
spans of the bridge collapsed into the river (Figure 17) (South Clark, 2013). As a result
of the disaster, 4 people died in their cars, which fell through the ice.
The local newspaper, The Lethbridge Herald, dated August 29, 1951, wrote
(Lethbridge Herald, 1951): “defective and inferior steel blamed for the collapse of the
3,500,000 USD Duplessis Bridge.” A construction company spokesman told the
newspaper that low quality boiling steel was used. These claims were made against
steel plates used to strengthen cracked bridge beams a year before the accident. The
plates fastening the damaged areas were ordered from boiling steel CSA S40 (ASTM
A7), which, according to technical regulations, was only suitable for thin sheets. The
thick plates (2.5 inches) had to be made of calm, deoxidized grade C steel. It was the
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cold brittleness of the plates reinforcing the truss that led to the collapse of the bridge.
Analysis of the destroyed plates showed high local concentrations of carbon (up to
0.4% C) and sulfur (up to 0.116% S), and discovered many string slag inclusions. In
his book Fractures and Life, Brian Cotterell concludes (Cotterell, 2010, pp. 205‒206):
“Obviously, boiling steel was too brittle and almost guaranteed that the bridge would
collapse.” He explains: “Molten steel contains dissolved oxygen and other gases that
must be controlled during solidification. In boiling steel, the reaction of dissolved
oxygen with carbon is accompanied by the formation of gaseous carbon monoxide,
which leads to the formation of an ingot with gas bubbles... Boiling steels are the
cheapest, but have a high brittle transition temperature... The Charpy impact load for
the broken beams of the Duplessis Bridge was only 4‒8 J at 38C. Obviously, the steel
rimmed was too fragile and almost guaranteed that the bridge would collapse." Thus,
the stresses were too great for a notch-sensitive material: in such a brittle material, any
minor defect, combined with permanent stresses, could lead to catastrophic failure at
low temperatures.
Figure 17. Two remaining spans of the Duplessis bridge in the foreground and four
collapsed spans (South Clark, 2013).
As the analysis performed showed, catastrophic destruction most often occurred
under the influence of several factors, as well as a combination of external adverse
influences and the internal “unpreparedness” of the structure for them. The examples
given indicate that an irrational choice of steel could be both an independent cause
causing brittle failure of structures, and an aggravating factor in the presence of
structural violations, thermal stresses and welding defects.
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To the 70th anniversary of the history of the creation of the Evgeny Paton
Bridge.
In the Electric Welding Laboratory at the All-Ukrainian Academy of Sciences
(Kyiv, Ukraine), transformed in 1934 into the Electric Welding Institute of the
Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (Electric Welding
Institute AS USSR), they began to purposefully study the load-bearing capacity of
welded joints and structures (Malishevskij, 2003; Strelko, 2021). In this laboratory,
organized and headed by academician Evgeny Oskarovych Paton, experimental studies
were initially carried out by comparing the test results of identical welded and riveted
joints of samples, beams and entire structures under static, variable and impact loading.
The tests carried out made it possible to obtain the most visual and convincing evidence
of the strength of welded joints and the advantages of welding technology. In these and
other comparative tests, welded joints failed from fatigue not in the weld metal, but in
the base metal in the joint zone. It became obvious that the main reason for their
destruction is the concentration of stresses created by the shape of the joint and seams
or technological welding defects.
It was also assumed that the insufficient strength and toughness of the weld metal,
its lower homogeneity than the base metal, would reduce the resistance of structures to
fatigue failure. In the late 1930s – early 1940s, work was carried out at the Electric
Welding Institute AS USSR to find rational design and technological solutions that
ensure the specified cyclic durability of welded joints and assemblies. The studies
mainly concerned bridges, carriages and cranes. They convincingly showed that
welded joints and assemblies can be reasonably used in critical structures that can
withstand the effects of alternating stresses. The equal strength of butt joints with the
“seam reinforcement” removed and the base metal under variable loads was proven.
The question of the construction of a road bridge across the river in Kyiv the
Dnipro was raised before the World War II. At the same time, a technical design of a
bridge with a ride on top and split through main trusses spanning spans 58 m long (in
the floodplain part) and 87 m long (in the navigable part) was drawn up and approved.
Since during this period the Electric Welding Institute AS USSR developed a method
of automatic submerged arc welding, which made it possible to obtain high-quality
seams, its director, Evgeny Oskarovych Paton, proposed manufacturing bridge spans
using welding. The bridge design was based on large blocks and the maximum use of
automatic and semi-automatic welding in the manufacture of bridge beams at the
factory and during their direct installation.
The construction of this bridge is the result of a collaboration between designers,
scientists and builders from Ukrproektstalkonstruktsiya, the Kyiv Bridge Construction
Trust of the Ministry of Transport, the Electric Welding Institute AS USSR and Metal
Structures Plant named after Babushkin (Dnipro, Ukraine).
The team of the Electric Welding Institute AS USSR, introducing welding into
bridge construction, carefully checked the results and monitored the behavior of
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structures. A new grade of steel was created that was resistant to the formation of brittle
and fatigue cracks, its welding technology was developed, a technology for installation
welding of vertical sheets with forced formation of a seam was developed, and suitable
welding materials were selected.
On November 4, 1953, the Government Commission inspected in situ the
constructed road bridge across the river Dnipro in Kyiv, got acquainted with the
technical documentation and decided to accept the bridge into permanent operation
from November 5, 1953 with the passage of all types of loads provided for by the
project, without speed restrictions. The Government Commission gave the main work
on the construction of the bridge an “excellent” rating.
On November 5, 1953, the Council of Ministers of the Ukrainian SSR, by its
Resolution No. 2348, approved the act of the Government Commission on the
acceptance into permanent operation of an all-welded road bridge across the river. The
Dnipro in Kyiv and the opening of traffic on the bridge was scheduled for November
5, 1953 (Figure 18). Thus, ended the crucial and most difficult stage in the development
of welded bridge construction.
Figure 18. Rally on the Paton Bridge on the day of its opening, view from the right
bank of the Dnipro, November 5, 1953 (Central State Audiovisual and Electronic
Archive, n. d.).
On December 18, 1953, by Decree of the Council of Ministers of the Ukrainian
SSR No. 2644, the newly built bridge was named after Evgeny Paton.
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In 1995, the American Welding Association built an all-welded bridge in Kyiv
across the river the Dnipro is included in the list of outstanding engineering structures.
After 70 years of operation, the Evgeny Paton Bridge continues to operate reliably
with the design load N-10 and a significantly increased traffic intensity (80 thousand
vehicles per day with a design value of 10 thousand).
An analysis of numerous documents devoted to the design and construction of this
bridge allowed to establish the following. The Kyiv welded road bridge named after
Evgeny Paton is unique in a number of its characteristic features not only in Ukraine,
but throughout the world (Figure 19).
Figure 19. View of the Evgeny Paton Bridge from the right bank of the Dnipro from
the place where the monumental sculpture “Motherland” now stands. (Central State
Audiovisual and Electronic Archive, 1956).
Its uniqueness lies in the fact that all connections in the bridge spans are made at
the factory and installed by welding, i.e. the bridge is all-welded. If we take into
account that it has a total length of 1,543 m and that about 10 thousand tons of steel
were used for the spans, and the total length of the welds is 10,668 m, then we can say
that it is still the largest all-welded bridge in the world (Kornienko & Litvinov, 2008).
When manufacturing mounting elements at the factory and making assembly joints,
they were carried out mainly using automatic and semi-automatic welding (Lobanov &
Kyrian, 2013). Manual welding was used to perform less critical elements of the bridge
(braces, transverse beams, etc.). When designing the bridge, the large-block principle
was used, which allowed 97% of all factory seams of the main trusses and 88% of all
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installation seams of the main trusses to be performed using automatic and semi-
automatic welding. In addition, the presence of large blocks of the same type made it
possible to mechanize assembly and welding operations and organize an in-line
manufacturing method at the factory and installation, which improved the quality of
welding work and reduced its labor intensity.
The bridge is rightly named after Evgeny Paton (Figure 20), and can be presented
as the largest all-welded bridge in Europe at the time of construction, in which for
the first time all seams, including assembly ones, were made using automatic and
semi-automatic welding.
Figure 20. Evgeny Paton Bridge with night architectural illumination and panorama
of the Left Bank (Naumov, 2017).
The Evgeny Paton Bridge has never been closed for major repairs. To improve
traffic safety, a semi-rigid decorative and artistic fence was installed on the Paton
Bridge in 1968 (for the first time in the USSR) (Figure 21). It was carried out by a
company from Donetsk, Remkommunelektrotrans.
In 2019, the bridge was declared unsafe; two outer lanes were closed to traffic due
to danger. Design work is currently ongoing on the bridge, after which the first
reconstruction in 70 years should begin.
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Figure 21. Evgeny Paton Bridge across the Dnipro in Kyiv, 1960s. (Central State
Audiovisual and Electronic Archive, n.d.).
How relevant is welding technology to modern bridge construction?
Touran and Ladick (1989) examined the financial aspects of welded bridge
construction. Their research found that welding, including consumables, accounted for
an average of 14% of the total module manufacturing cost, 38% for material costs, and
48% for additional labor costs.
The construction of metal bridges using welding continues in our time
(Markashova, Berdnikova, Bernatskyi, Sydorets, & Bushma, 2019; Poznyakov,
Markashova, Shelyagin, Zhdanov, Bernatskyi, Berdnikova, & Sydorets, 2019;
Chandramohan, Roy, Taheri, Karpenko, Fang, & Lim, 2022). Welded bridges play an
important role in modern infrastructure, ensuring safe and efficient transportation
systems. The largest bridge in the world today (Guinness World Records, n.d.), the
Danyang-Kunshan Viaduct (Figure 22), was also built in 2011 using welding
technologies (iXBT.com, n.d.).
Nowadays, the undisputed favorite of all bridge builders in the world is steel,
which has good mechanical properties under various operating conditions under load
and is perfectly amenable to processing. It is carbon and low-alloy steels that are the
most popular and cost-effective materials, widely used for the construction of small,
medium and simply gigantic bridge structures of our time (Bazaras, Cesnavicius,
Ilgakojyte-Bazariene, & Kersys, 2017; Lenner, Ryjacek, & Sýkora, 2020; Tkachenko,
Tsegelnyk, Myntiuk, & Myntiuk, 2022).
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Figure 22. Danyang-Kunshan Viaduct (iXBT.com, n.d.).
The use of high-strength and high-strength steels and the use of welded structures
helps reduce metal consumption, so a steel bridge is often a cheaper and more practical
alternative to other options.
Conclusions.
The history of the development of the construction of metal bridges using welding
goes back a little over 100 years. The short period from the construction of the first
welded bridges to their first disasters led to the need to analyze the possible causes of
these destructions. As the analysis performed showed, catastrophic destruction most
often occurred under the influence of several factors, as well as a combination of
external adverse influences and the internal “unpreparedness” of the structure for them.
The examples given indicate that an irrational choice of steel could be both an
independent cause causing brittle failure of structures, and an aggravating factor in the
presence of structural violations, thermal stresses and welding defects. Over the years,
bridge manufacturing technologies have been improved in different countries, and new
steels and materials for their welding have been developed.
Thanks to the use of carbon, low-alloy and alloy steel, designers abandoned the
brutal “railroad-type” beam trusses and today metal bridges with graceful and beautiful
silhouettes powerfully stride across the water surface, mountains and valleys. They
became real attractions of megacities and country landscapes, and builders were able
to successfully solve numerous technical and economic problems.
An important contribution to the development of global bridge construction using
welding technologies was made by the team of the Institute of Electric Welding of the
Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR under the leadership of Academician
Evgeny Oskarovych Paton. The team of the Institute of Electric Welding of the
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Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, introducing welding into bridge
construction, carefully checked the results and monitored the behavior of structures. A
new grade of steel was created that was resistant to the formation of brittle and fatigue
cracks, its welding technology was developed, a technology for installation welding of
vertical sheets with forced formation of a seam was developed, and suitable welding
materials were selected.
At the time of construction in 1953, the Kyiv Evgeny Paton Bridge across the
Dnipro River was the largest all-welded bridge in Europe, all seams of which, including
assembly ones, were made for the first time using automatic and semi-automatic
welding. In addition, the presence of large similar blocks in the design of the Paton
Bridge made it possible to mechanize assembly and welding operations and organize
an in-line method for their production at the factory and installation, which increased
the quality of welding work and reduced its labor intensity.
Funding.
This research received no funding.
Conflicts of interest.
The author declare no conflict of interest.
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Олег Стрелко
Державний університет інфраструктури та технологій, Україна
До питання історії будівництва металевих мостів у 20 столітті з
використанням технології зварювання
Анотація. Історія будівництва мостів є важливою частиною історичного
знання. Розвиток технології будівництва мостів відбиває як інженерні
досягнення, так й соціальні, економічні та культурні аспекти суспільства.
Інженери та вчені, проектуючи та будуючи мости, стикалися з унікальними
викликами залежно від технологічного рівня епохи, доступних матеріалів та
потреб суспільства. Цей процес може бути відображенням технологічного
прогресу, змін у транспортних потребах, а також культурних та соціальних
змін. Метою цієї статті є короткий огляд ключових моментів та етапів історії
будівництва металевих мостів з використанням технології зварювання у 20
столітті. Історія розвитку будівництва металевих мостів із застосуванням
зварювання налічує трохи більше 100 років. Невеликий період від будівництва
перших зварних мостів, до перших катастроф, призвів до необхідності аналізу
можливих причин цих руйнувань. Як показав виконаний аналіз, катастрофічні
руйнування найчастіше відбувалися під дією кількох факторів, а також при
поєднанні зовнішніх несприятливих впливів та внутрішньої «неготовності»
https://www.hst-journal.com Історія науки і техніки, 2023, том 13, випуск 2
History of science and technology, 2023, vol. 13, issue 2
455
конструкції до них. Наведені приклади свідчать про те, що нераціональний вибір
сталі може бути як самостійною причиною, що викликає крихке руйнування
конструкцій, так і погіршуючим фактором за наявності конструктивних
порушень, термічних напружень і дефектів зварювання. За ці роки у різних
країнах було вдосконалено технології виготовлення мостів, розроблено нові
сталі та матеріали для їх зварювання. Завдяки використанню вуглецевої,
низьколегованої та легованої сталі проектувальники відмовилися від брутальних
балкових ферм «залізничного типу» і сьогодні металеві мости з витонченими
та красивими силуетами потужно крокують через водну гладь, гори та долини.
Вони стали справжніми визначними пам'ятками мегаполісів та заміських
ландшафтів, а будівельники змогли успішно вирішити численні технічні та
економічні завдання. Важливий внесок у розвиток світового мостобудування із
застосуванням технологій зварювання зробив колектив Інституту
електрозварювання Академії наук УРСР під керівництвом академіка Євгена
Оскаровича Патона. Колектив Інституту електрозварювання Академії наук
УРСР, впроваджуючи зварювання у мостобудування, виконував ретельну
перевірку результатів та вів спостереження за поведінкою конструкцій. Було
створено нову марку сталі, стійку до утворення крихких і втомних тріщин,
відпрацьовувалась технологія її зварювання, розроблялася технологія
монтажного зварювання вертикальних листів із примусовим формуванням шва,
підбиралися відповідні зварювальні матеріали. На момент побудови у 1953 році,
київський Міст імені Євгена Патона через річку Дніпро був найбільшим у Європі
цільнозварним мостом, усі шви якого, включаючи монтажні, вперше виконали за
допомогою автоматичного та напівавтоматичного зварювання. Крім того,
наявність великих однотипних блоків у конструкції Моста імені Євгена Патона
дозволило механізувати складально-зварювальні операції та організувати
потоковий метод їх виготовлення на заводі та монтажі, що підвищило якість
зварювальних робіт та знизило їх трудомісткість.
Ключові слова: історія будівництва мостів; історія металевих мостів;
історія зварювання; Київський Міст імені Євгена Патона; Нагорода за
Історичні Зварні Конструкції; Інститут електрозварювання АН УРСР
Received 19.07.2023
Received in revised form 02.11.2023
Accepted 09.11.2023
