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 data: the most important span cable-stayed bridge, probably the most important span freeway and railway dual-purpose metal truss arch bridge, and the most important continuous-length metal truss bridge,” contractor China Railway Group Ltd. stated in an announcement.

Explaining the dimensions 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 serious a part of China’s infrastructure buildout in current many years. Six of the ten longest cable-stayed bridges on the planet are over the Yangtze and have been constructed within the final 20 years. 

Uncommon Asymmetrical Design

The bridge’s decrease deck incorporates a common railway line, a subway line, and a daily highway 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 highway lanes. Provided that the rail sections weigh as much as thrice as a lot because the highway, having it off-center brought on some issues. Uneven loading of the assist cables was recognized as drawback. A staff led by Qin Shunquan, chief scientist of the China Railway Group, needed to regulate 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 stated.

“We break up the issue into two components 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 route of site visitors on both aspect was pushed by different considerations, says Qin. “That set-up creates main inconveniences,” since when the lanes are break up emergency autos can’t simply flip round to achieve an accident, he defined.

The Mighty Yangtze

Sturdy water currents within the Yangtze River additionally offered a problem. “The bridge’s basis has been strengthened for further energy to resist the river’s currents,”stated Li Zhen, venture’s on-site chief for the Jiangsu transport division.

Two 350-m-tall, diamond-shaped strengthened concrete and metal towers assist the cables. The venture staff 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 provided for millimeter-level precision in putting ultra-heavy segments.

There have been different clever machines on the location as properly. “Throughout operations, the staff 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 stated.

Crews put in 80 everlasting sensors to trace micrometer-level structural shifts throughout multimodal site visitors. The bridge is designed to resist pure disasters comparable to earthquakes and typhoons, making certain its security and reliability underneath excessive situations, official sources stated.

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

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