Q. Discontinuity of joint – position of bearing?

Expansion joints in a bridge structures cater for movements inlongitudinal, transverse, vertical and rotational forms. Layout and position of expansion joins and bearings have to be carefully designed to minimize future maintenance problem.

Position of bearings affects discontinuity of a joint. If location of a bearing is too far away from a bridge joint, discontinuity of joint will be experienced when there is an excessive angular rotation at the joint. Henceforth by keeping the bearings and movement joints close in position, discontinuity in vertical direction canbe avoided. 

Fig. The effect of position of bearing to the discontinuity of joint.