Author(s): Knut V. Hoyland; Morten Bjerkas; Brian C. Burrell; George Comfort; Shawn P. Clark; Ken Croasdale; Robert Frederking; Tadros Ghobrial; Wenjun Lu; Raed Lubbad; Nicolas Serre

Linked Author(s): Knut Vilhelm Høyland, George Comfort, Tadros Ghobrial, Raed Lubbad

Keywords: Bridges; River ice; Ice forces; Codes; CSA S6-1

Abstract: Bridges in ice-affected rivers can be damaged or destroyed by ice forces acting on the bridge (superstructure and substructure), and by scour and undermining of bridge foundation and piers. This paper identifies some of the challenges with respect to bridge design in ice-affected rivers. A bridge designer needs to evaluate how ice interacts with the bridge structure and design accordingly. To assist the designer, various codes have been developed such as the Canadian Highway Bridge Design Code CSA S6:25, which gives guidance on design ice loads using easy to apply equations and sets of inequalities. This paper includes explanation of the rationale behind some of these equations and inequalities, which is lacking in CSA S6:25. A comparison is also made to other codes that may give potential additions in the CSA code. Numerical comparisons may be challenging as they strongly depend on the choice of ice strength in the standards, but examples are given and discussed.

DOI:

Year: 2026