Spherical bearing are designed to carry combinations of vertical loads, horizontal loads, longitudinal and transversal movements and rotations and they are used in steel and concrete road and railway bridges. The bearing is composed by steel elements coupled with PTFE surface to allow movement and rotations. One side of the internal median plate is machined as a spherical surface to allow tilting movement (rotation) whilst on the other side a flat sliding surface is obtained to allow displacements. Depending on whether the bearing is fixed, guided sliding or a free sliding, Spherical bearings accommodate vertical loads and corresponding horizontal forces, as well as movements in longitudinal or transversal directions. Spherical bearings are producing accoding to EN 1337-7 but to the clients request they can produced according other codes as well.

Advantages of using Spherical Bearings
Spherical bearings fulfill the following requirements:

» Transmit the vertical loads due to permanent and randomly effects; it is possible to cover a wide range of loads about up from 500 to 100000 kN
» Transmit the horizontal loads with in practise no limitation of the design load
» Allow rotation as per a spherical hinge. The standard design rotation (±0.02 rad) can be easily increased to compensate structure slopes.
» No limitation for horizontal displacement
» Suitable for alltype of structures like steel and concrete bridges and buildings
» High durability andno maintenance