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Design of the Nanay Bridge Iquitos - PERU

Diseo del Puente Nanay, Iquitos - PERU
Conference Paper January 2016

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Jack Lopez-Jara
J.L. Ingenieros sac
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Design of the Nanay Bridge

Iquitos, PERU
Jack Lpez Acua1 and Jack Lpez Jara2

ABSTRACT
The Nanay Bridge is a 2,157m structure crossing the Nanay River, north of the city of IquitosPERU, near to the confluence of the Nanay and Amazon Rivers. Once completed, the Nanay
Bridge will be the longest bridge in Peru. The lack of significant sources of aggregates for
concrete was an important factor to select composite steel-concrete solutions, allowing the
designer to minimize the use of concrete. For the main navigation channel, a composite cablestayed bridge with a total length of 423.5m was selected. The approach structures on the right
bank (1,191m) and left bank of the river (327m) use continuous composite plate girder spans.
Poor soil conditions along the main bridge and the approach structures require the use of deep
foundations. Steel pipe piles (42") driven piles up to 34m deep will be used for the
foundations of the approach structures. The towers and anchor piers of the main span bridge
use CIDH piles with a diameter of 2.00m and depths up to 60m.

Introduction
The city of Iquitos is the largest city in the Peruvian Amazonia. It is located in the Amazon
Basin, along the Nanay, Itaya and Amazon rivers in the Loreto Region.
The city can be reached only by airplane or boat. With a population of more than 420
thousand people, it is the largest city in the world that is not accessible by road.
The bridge over the Nanay River will be a 2,157m long viaduct located north of the city of
Iquitos. The viaduct will connect the districts of Bellavista on the right bank of the Nanay
River with the district of Santo Tomas on the left bank of the river.
The bridge is part of a larger highway project that, when completed, will connect the city of
Iquitos with the fluvial ports of the Putumayo river at the Peru-Colombia border.
The main span over the Nanay River is a Cable Stayed Bridge with a total length of 423.5m.
The approach structures are 1,184m long on the right bank of the river, and 319.9m long on
the left bank of the river. Figure 1 show an elevation of the main span and approach
structures. Both the main pan and the approach structures use light-weight composite steelconcrete solutions to minimize the use of concrete and to reduce the loads transferred to the
foundations. The lack of significant sources of aggregates for concrete further reinforced the
need to avoid as much as possible the use of heavier concrete components.

Figure 1. Nanay Bridge: Elevation View

1
2

Director, Jack Lpez Ingenieros sac, Lima, PERU

Bridge Engineer, Jack Lpez Ingenieros sac, Lima, PERU

Jack Lpez Jara, Jack Lpez Acua. Design of the Nanay Bridge. Proceedings of the International Symposium
on Steel Bridges, 2014.

Main Span
The main structure over the navigational channel is a symmetric cable stayed bridge with a
main span of 241.50m and total length of 423.5m (See Fig. 2). The bridge carries two lanes
of traffic and two pedestrian walkways. The roadway has a total width of 12.00, the
pedestrian walkways are 1.20m wide each. The bridge will be constructed by the balanced
cantilever construction method to avoid disruptions in the navigation along the Nanay River.

Figure 2.

Cable Stayed Main Span - Elevation

Foundations
The stratum at the bridge location is mainly composed by deep layers of soft clays on top of
deeper layers of mid-to-hard clays. Along the approach structures the soft clay layer is about
30m 34m deep. The areas around the main navigational channel, have deep layers (close to
40m deep) of organic soils and very softs clays. The poor soil conditions found along the
entire bridge required the use of deep foundations and also required the development of
light-weight superstructures to minimize the loads transferred to the foundations.
Cast-in-place drilled shafts (CIDH) are used on the cable stayed span due to the very poor
soil conditions found. Each of the main tower foundations have 18 drilled shafts of 2.00 m
diameter. Due to the poor soil conditions found on the uppers soil layers, it was necessary a
depth of 60m to reach the necessary capacity for the foundations.
The anchor piers P27 and P28 have 8 drilled shafts 2.00 m diameter with depths of 50 m and
45 m respectively.
The approach structures use steel ASTM A252 Grade 2 (35ksi) pipe piles 42 in diameter
driven to depths up to 34m below the ground level. The use of steel piles for the approaches
allowed to reduce the concrete requirements.
To minimize the volume of excavations and to facilitate the construction process during the
seasonal changes of the water levels, the bottom of the pile-caps were design right above the
natural ground level. All pile caps use concrete with a 28-day concrete strength of 28MPa
and reinforcing steel ASTM A615 (420MPa). The foundations (piles and pile-caps) were
design as capacity protected elements to avoid any inelastic behavior or the formation of
plastic hinges at locations difficult to inspect and maintain.

Pylons
The H-type pylons (See Fig.3) have a total height of 80 meters measured from the bottom of
the pile cap. Two cross beams connect the tower legs at 18.50m and 47.50m above the pile
cap level. The pylon columns are rectangular hollow reinforced concrete elements. Below the
deck level the columns have variable dimensions: 3.00m x 4.00m over the pile cap, and
2.50m x 4.00m below the deck level. Above the deck level the columns have a constant
2.50m x 4.00m cross section. The opening within the column section has sufficient space to
install the stressing equipment for the installation of the cable stays.
Both cross beams are hollow reinforced concrete elements with a rectangular cross section
4.00m x 3.00m
The super-structure is vertically and transversely supported at the pylons. Under service
conditions the super-structure is free to move in the longitudinal directions. In the event of an
extreme event such as the design of earthquake, shear keys located at the level of the lower
cross beam will provide longitudinal restraint and transmit the forces from the super-structure
to the pylons. Concrete with a minimum 28-day compressive strength of 28MPa will be used
in most of the pylons, with the exception of the tower legs above the higher cross-beam
(anchorage zone), were a 35MPa will be used. The reinforcement used in the pylon legs is
ASTM A706 for a better control over the yield and tensile strength of the rebar, and to
improve the ductility in the event of an extreme earthquake.

Figure 3. Pylons: Elevation and side view

Anchor Piers
The reinforced concrete anchor piers are two-column bents with 2.40m x 2.40m octagonal
columns and 3.00m x 3.00m square cap beams as shown in Fig. 4. The concrete used in the
anchor piers has a minimum 28-day compressive strength of 35MPa. ASTM A706 (420MPa)
reinforcement is used in the pier columns due to the potential formation of plastic hinges in
the event of an earthquake. ASTM A615 (420MPa) reinforcement is used in the cap beams.
Vertical post-tensioning of the columns using ASTM A722 (1860MPa) strands prevent
tensile stresses in the columns under service conditions, and limit the tensile stresses in the
event of an extreme earthquake. Fixed spherical bearings with the capability to take the uplift
forces at the anchor piers are used to support the deck.

Figure 4. Anchor Piers: Elevation and side view

Superstructure
The deck is a steel-concrete composite structure with two longitudinal edge girders and floor
beams at regular intervals (ladder-type arrangement). The distance between the axes of the
longitudinal girders is 15.70m, the typical floor beam separation is 3.50m. The concrete slab
is 200mm thick with a thickening to 300mm over the longitudinal edge girders.
The edge girders are plate girders with a constant depth of 1.50m, the typical floor beams are
variable depth plate girders, 1.00m deep along the centerline of the bridge. A central
longitudinal stringer helps reduce the width of the pre-cast slab panels.
The use of conventional plate-girders (a well-known an simple to fabricate solution) for the
deck components have the advantage of maximizing the use of the available resources for
fabrication of the steel components in Peru.

In composite cable-stayed bridges, the concrete slab provide a top flange for both the
longitudinal edge girders and transverse floor beams. The slab is effectively post-tensioned
by the horizontal component of the stay-cable force in the longitudinal direction, and by
bending of the cross beams in the transverse direction. The induced compression forces
minimize any potential cracking after the initial construction phase. Nevertheless creep and
shrinkage effects have to be considered in the long term behavior of the structure.
The use of precast deck panels stored before their erection in the bridge can minimize long
term effects [1]. For the Nanay Bridge, pre-cast slab panels 3.20 m x 7.313 m (cured at least
60 days before their installation on the bridge) will be used to minimize creep and shrinkage
effects. The precast deck system has also several advantages from the construction point of
view such as a superior concrete quality, the possibility of implementing a modular
construction scheme, and the fact that there are fewer weather constraints since the volumes
of cast-in-place concrete are significantly reduced.
Composite action between the slab and the longitudinal girders and cross beams is provided
by shear studs in the CIP joints.

Figure 5. Main Span Deck

Cable Stays
The cable stayed bridge has two planes of cables located at the edges of the super-structure.
The bridge has a total of 44 cable stays distributed in a semi-harp arrangement. The stays are
connected to anchorage boxes bolted to the webs of the longitudinal girders. The typical
anchorage spacing along the superstructure is 10.50m. A closer anchorage spacing (3.50m) is
used for the cables stays over the anchorage piers.
The stays use ASTM A882 epoxy-coated 15mm - 7 wire strands with an ultimate strength
fpu=1860MPa. The number of strands per stay varies from 12 to 37 depending on the
location of the stay. The back anchor stays and the stays adjacent to mid-span have the largest
number of strands per stays (31 and 27 strands per stays respectively). Keeping the fatigue
and service stresses within the allowable limits was the controlling criteria to dimension the
cable stay components. The latest PTI recommendations for cable-stays were implemented in
the design [3]. The dead end of the stays is located at the super-structure level. The stays will
be stressed from the stressing chambers at the top of the pylons. The horizontal components
of the stay cable force is carried by longitudinal and transverse PT bars embedded in the
pylon columns.

Seismic Design
Peru is a country located in the Pacific Rim with a high hazard of seismic events. Even
though the city of Iquitos is not the city with the highest seismicity in the country, the local
soil conditions have the effect to amplify the seismic demands to significant levels.
A comprehensive seismic design was performed for all the structures of the bridge. The latest
AASHTO recommendations for seismic design were implemented [2], including the use of
the Displacement Capacity Design Methodology.
The structures were designed for an event with a 7% probability of exceedance in 75 years
(approximately 1,000 year return period). The peak ground acceleration (PGA) at the rock
basement in 0.19 g, this is a relatively low seismic acceleration for Peruvian standards.
Nevertheless the presence of deep layers of soft and very-soft clays have an amplification
effect, and raise the seismic category of the structure to SDC-C (AASHTOs Seismic Design
Category-C), the second highest design category considered by the AASHTO Bridge
Specifications. Detailed Push-Over analysis models were developed to estimate the actual
displacement capacity of the structures. Special seismic detailing was used in the areas were
high seismic demands or plastic hinges are expected in the case of an extreme seismic event
to ensure a ductile behavior. The design of several components such as the foundations, capbeams and cross-beams as Capacity-Protected-Components allowed the designers to
concentrate the damage and plastic hinge formation to specific areas in the structures such as
the pier and pylon columns.

Aerodynamic Stability
At the location of the Nanay Bridge, the Peruvian Design Code establishes a design wind
speed of 95 Km/hr at 10m above the ground for a return period of 50 years. Despite the use
of a torsionally weak open section, the use of a H-pylon configuration with two planes of
cables allowed the bridge to achieve a ratio between the first eigen frequencies in torsion and
bending fT / fB = 0.561 / 0.373 = 1.50, ratio that is within the limits to prevent flutter
instability [4]. Wind tunnel testing will be conducted to further ensure the stability of the
bridge during construction.

Approach Structures
Long approach structures on the right and left banks of the river connect the districts of
Bellavista and Santo Tomas with the main span bridge.
The approach structures use multi-span continue solutions with composite steel-concrete
plate girders. The right bank approach structure is 1,184m long and is conformed by 7 multispan modules continuous over 4 to 5 spans. The typical span length is 48m.
The left bank approach structure is 319.9m long and is conformed by 2 multi-span modules
continuous over 5 and 2 spans, the typical span length is also 48m. The geometric design of
the road required the design of the modules with a significant curvature (150m to 300m
radius of curvature).
Similarly to the case of the cable stayed main span, the extensive used of plate girder
elements for the deck components, have the advantage of being a simple to fabricate and
simple to erect solution, that can effectively use the resources available for steel construction
in Peru.

Single column hammerhead piers were used along the entire approaches. The column have
a cross section with an elongated octagonal shape. The overall column dimensions vary
depending on the total height of the pier. The cap-beam have a rectangular shape with
cantilevers of variable depth. Concrete with a 28-day compression strength of 28MPa was
specified for the columns and cap beams. The reinforcement for the cap beams is ASTM
A615 (420MPa). For the columns ASTM A706 (420MPa) is specified for a better ductility
and performance in the case of an earthquake. The potential plastic hinges regions at the base
of the columns were detailed to improve their confinement and ductility.

Figure 6. Approach Piers: Typical elevation and side view

Conclusions
The Nanay Bridge is the largest bridge project in Peru, when completed it will be also the
longest bridge in the country and will connect the largest city in the Peruvian Amazonia with
the rest of the Loreto Region. Due to the special conditions at the site, the extensive use of
steel and composite elements proved to be most efficient and cost effective solutions.

Acknowledgments
A large team of professional within the Servicio Industrial de la Marina SIMA-PERU and the
Ministry of Transportation of Peru PROVIAS DESCENTRALIZADO have been involved
in the development of the design of the Nanay Bridge. The authors want to acknowledge their
valuable input and participation in the Design Phase.

References
1.

Taylor, Peter R. Composite Cable-stayed Bridges: The Concept with the Competitive Edge. Engineering
Journal / American Institute of Steel Construction; Fourth Quarter, 1987; 157-163.

2.

AASHTO. Guide Specification for LRFD Seismic Bridge Design. American Association of State Highway
and Transportation Officials, 2014.

3.

PTI DC-45: Cable Stayed Bridge Committee. Recommendations for Stay Cable Design, Testing, and
Installation, Post-Tensioning Institute, 2012

4.

Carl C. Ulstrup. Guidelines for the design of cable-stayed bridges. Committee on Cable-Stayed Bridges,
American Society of Civil Engineers, 1992.