World’s Longest Cable-stayed Bridge Opens in China

China’s just lately inaugurated Chantai Yangtze River Bridge, whose 1,208-m-long most important span secures it the title of the world’s longest cable-stayed bridge, got here with its share of engineering challenges. 

“It has set three world information: the biggest span cable-stayed bridge, essentially the most vital span freeway and railway dual-purpose metal truss arch bridge, and the biggest continuous-length metal truss bridge,” contractor China Railway Group Ltd. mentioned in a press release.

Explaining the scale of the ten.3 km lengthy bridge over the Yangtze River in Jiangsu province, Chinese language media compares it to constructing a bridge over the Mississippi River. The bridge, which opened to the general public Sept. 11, reduces the journey time between the cities of Changzhou and Taizhou from one hour to twenty minutes.

Document bridges over the Yangtze have been a significant a part of China’s infrastructure buildout in latest many years. Six of the ten longest cable-stayed bridges on the earth are over the Yangtze and had been constructed within the final 20 years. 

Uncommon Asymmetrical Design

The bridge’s decrease deck encompasses a common railway line, a subway line, and an everyday street in a single construction. 

The bridge’s designers selected to not to go together with a regular design of getting the rail alignment alongside the middle of the bridge in between the street lanes. On condition that the rail sections weigh as much as thrice as a lot because the street, having it off-center triggered some issues. Uneven loading of the help cables was recognized as drawback. A workforce led by Qin Shunquan, chief scientist of the China Railway Group, needed to modify the cable tensions on the bridge’s railway aspect to maintain the deck degree.

However this repair to the cables in flip shifted the construction itself, misaligning its centerline. That drawback was resolved by calibrating the form of every prefabricated bridge section throughout manufacturing, permitting the deck to naturally straighten out as soon as assembled, official sources mentioned.

“We break up the issue into two elements and solved them individually. That’s how we cracked the problem of constructing the world’s first asymmetrical large-span bridge.” Qin Shunquan, chief scientist of China Railway Group, informed state broadcaster, CCTV.

The choice to not find the railway alignment in the course of the bridge with every path of visitors on both aspect was pushed by different issues, says Qin. “That set-up creates main inconveniences,” since when the lanes are break up emergency automobiles can not simply flip round to achieve an accident, he defined.

The Mighty Yangtze

Sturdy water currents within the Yangtze River additionally introduced a problem. “The bridge’s basis has been strengthened for additional power to resist the river’s currents,”mentioned Li Zhen, undertaking’s on-site chief for the Jiangsu transport division.

Two 350-m-tall, diamond-shaped strengthened concrete and metal towers help the cables. The undertaking workforce used what it calls the world’s first clever tower crane for exact placements. With a lifting capability exceeding 10,000 metric tons, the deck crane is supplied for millimeter-level precision in putting ultra-heavy segments.

There have been different clever machines on the location as properly. “Throughout operations, the workforce employed the most recent clever robots for the primary time. These robots might navigate advanced underwater terrains and clear sand from the caisson’s corners,” Li Zhen mentioned.

Crews put in 80 everlasting sensors to trace micrometer-level structural shifts throughout multimodal visitors. The bridge is designed to resist pure disasters similar to earthquakes and typhoons, guaranteeing its security and reliability beneath excessive situations, official sources mentioned.

It additionally incorporates clever monitoring programs to offer real-time information, permitting for proactive upkeep and guaranteeing long-term security.

“By introducing large-scale automated manufacturing gear clusters, 3D laser-scanning inspection programs, clever manufacturing processes and micro-innovations, we efficiently overcame the high-standard high quality management challenges of enormous bridges.” mentioned Ma Zenggang, undertaking supervisor at China Railway Baoji Bridge Group, one other member of the undertaking workforce.