Natural Rubber bearing generally consists or interleaving layers of
rubber bonded sandwich fashion to steel plates. The whole unit is
covered with rubber to afford weather protection.
A bridge basically consists of bridge deck supported
by piers. In order to avoid over stressing and damage by movements
of vehicle and loading to the piers, bridge bearings are used to accommodate
these movements so as to reduce the reaction forces and bending movement
to within the safety limits of structure. Natural Rubber is an ideal
engineering material for bridge bearings as it is highly elastic and
sufficiently soft to accommodate these movements without transmitting
harmful stress and also it can absorb and isolate energies from impacts
and vibrations.
Types of bearings
- Laminated bearings – an elastomeric bearing containing
steel laminates bonded to rubber
- Plain pad bearing – a plain rubber pad containing
no steel plates
- Strip bearing – a plain pad bearing for which
the length is much greater than the width ( > 10 times)
- Pot bearing – a bearing consisting essentially
of a block of solid rubber enclosed between a metal piston and
metal cylinder
Manufacturing Process
- Preparation of rubber compound according to specification
required
- Preparation of steel plates
- Application of bonding agent to steel plates
- Assembly of compound and plates
- Compression moulding
- Performance Test
- Ready for installation
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