Three Highway Strait Bridges in Modern China

Liu Gao & Huang Li-ji & Guo Chao

Bridge Technology Research Center (BTRC), CCCC Highway Consultants CO., Ltd.,
National Engineering Research Center of Highway Bridges, Beijing, 100088, P.R. China
Liugao77@vip.163.com

Abstract: With the rapid development of economics and the demands of cross-regional exchanges, more and more bridges are con-
structed from inland rivers to seas, and long span strait bridge has become a focus in bridge engineering. This paper summarizes the
development progress and trend of long span strait bridges in China. Several typical projects of strait bridges in China, Qingdao Bay
Bridge, one of the longest strait bridges, Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Link, an integration of bridge, tunnel and island, and the feasibili-
ty study of the Qiongzhou Strait Bridge, are introduced in detail. The features, challenges, and key technical problems of these three
long span strait bridges are analyzed and discussed.

1 DEVELOPMENT OF STRAIT BRIDGES
With the emergence of new material, and improvement of design
and construction in recent years, a large number of strait bridges
have been constructed all over the world. The present strait
bridges give us plenty of experiences and lessons, and now we
are facing many technical difficulties and challenges from new
strait bridges.
1.1 Development of Sea-crossing Bridges in the World
Since 1930s, based on solid science technologies and industrial
foundation, some developed countries such as USA, Japan and
European countries have constructed many strait bridges. Such as,
Chesapeake Bay Bridge in U.S, a 27.2 km marine tunnel and
strait bridges completed in 1964, was the longest bridge-tunnel
complex at that time; Bosporus Strait Bridge in Turkey, a suspen-
sion main bridge with main span of 1074m completed in 1973,
was the first strait bridge crossing Bosporus Strait and connecting
continents of Asia and Europe; Great Belt Bridge in Denmark, a
railway and highway link of 17.5 km in total length completed in
1998, consists of three parts of west bridge, marine tunnel and
east bridge which is a suspension bridge with main span of
1624m; The connecting bridges between Honshu and Shikoku in
Japan, include several strait bridges like southern and northern
Bisan-Seto Bridge completed in 1988, Akashi Kaikyo Bridge
completed in 1998, and Tatara Bridge completed in 1999.
With the development of international economic regions and
global marine resources, it is necessary to build intercontinental
and international corridors, which provide a broader potential for
the construction of strait bridges in the world, such as, Messina
Strait Bridge in Italy, Izmit Bridge in Turkey, Tsugaru Strait
Bridge in Japan, etc.
1.2 Development of Strait Bridges in China
Since the end of 20th century, Chinese social economy has been
accumulated for 30 years reform and opening-up, the science,
technology and industry have been improved greatly. With the
extensive construction of express highway, many long span
bridges have been constructed. In addition, with the development
of coastal economic zones, Chinese express highway is extending
to islands, bays and strait regions, and brings new chances to
strait bridges. Several strait bridges have been completed, such as,
East Sea Bridge, Hangzhou Bay Bridge, Zhoushan Islands Link,
Qingdao Bay Bridge, etc. Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Link and
Dalian Bay Bridge are under construction, some enormous sea-
crossing projects, such as Shenzhong Link, Qiongzhou Strait
Bridge and Bohai Strait Bridge are in planning stage. See Fig. 1.
East Sea Bridge
Hangzhou Bay Bridge
Zhoushan Islands Link
Qingdao Bay Bridge
HK-Zhuhai-Macau Link
Dalian Bay Bridge
Shenzhong Link
Qiongzhou Strait Bridge
Bohai Strait Bridge
Fig. 1. Plan of strait bridges in China
2 QINGDAO BAY BRIDGE
2.1 Site Conditions and Challenges
This project is located in the northern part of Jiaozhou bay,
which has a flat coastal bed with an average water depth of 3m
and max depth of about 11m. There is nearly 5km long tidal flats
in western part, and the baserock depth is about 30~40m. Com-
pared with other strait bridges in China and overseas, Qingdao
Bay Bridge faces some special challenges as follows:
(1) Freeze condition: sea water freezes after late December in
average year, 50 cycles of freeze-thaw each year.
 (2) High salinity: 29.4~32.6. tion of concrete cast in different periods; (3) Apply high perfor-
(3) High demand of environment: harmonious with Qingdao, a mance concrete and permeable scaffold into cofferdam prefabri-
national tourism city. cation to improve the durability; (4) Use cofferdam as the protec-
tion against vessel collision. These technologies play very
important roles in solving the concrete cofferdam sealing and pile
2.2 Project Overview caps cracking.
Qingdao Bay Bridge, the first super bridge complex in Chinese
northern cold sea, is 28.047km long of the main bridge in sea.
This project includes three channel bridges, namely Cangkou,
Red Island and Dagu, bridges for non-navigation water, Yellow
Island and Red Island access road, two interchanges at Licun
River and Red Island etc, as shown in Fig. 2.

(b) Capsule sealing

(a) Cofferdam erection (c) Sealing work

Fig. 3. New underwater concrete cofferdam

2.4 Durability Protection

Apart from the complex geology of the sea, Qingdao Bay Bridge
is different from other bridges in China in aspects of frozen con-
dition and high salinity. In order to guarantee project quality and
Fig. 2. Aerial view of Qingdao Bay Bridge
the design life of 100 years, different anti-corrosion methods are
designed towards different zones: atmospheric zone, splash zone,
In order to satisfy requirements of landscape, environment
tidal zone and water-level fluctuation zone, shown in Fig. 4.
protection, navigation and aviation clearance, Cangkou Bridge
Concrete protection system, as shown in Fig. 5, is formed with
adopts a double-tower parallel cable steel box girder cable-stayed
two main measures of proper concrete surface layer thickness and
bridge with main span of 260m; Red Island Bridge adopts single-
high performance concrete, plus surface coating, cathodic protec-
tower parallel cable steel box girder cable-stayed bridge with
tion, surplus current and anti-corrosion chemical, with auxiliary
main span of 120m; Dagu Bridge adopts single-tower self-
measures of permeable scaffold, fiber reinforced concrete and
anchored steel box girder suspension bridge with main span of
permanent steel casing. In addition, marine high performance
260m. Continuous concrete box girder bridge with a span of 60m
concrete with low cracking, low permeability and anti-freeze is
by full span erection is used for bridges in offshore non-
developed. For steel box girder, protection system is adopted
navigation water, and continuous concrete box girder bridge with
mainly based on dehumidification system, melted metal coating
a span of 50m, constructed by movable framework casting me-
and coating for severe corrosion. These measures effectively
thod, is selected for west part in tidal flats.
solve the durability of Qingdao Bay Bridge.

2.3 Concrete Cofferdam

In order to meet the requirement of Jiaozhou Bay landscape, all
1258 pile caps are set in splash zone and water-level fluctuation
zone with difficult construction condition and serious corrosion.
Due to the bottom of pile cap is under low tide level and pile cap
bottom plate is cast under water in traditional cofferdam, it is dif-
ficult to construct a great number of pile caps within required
time in marine environment. Therefore, after lots of experiments,
a new kind of underwater concrete cofferdam is developed, in-
cluding capsule sealing, deformation absorbing layer and coffer-
dam supporting transformation. Which has four features: (1) Seal
the bottom plate of cofferdam by capsule to create dry work field
under water level and utilize shear connector to connect coffer-
dam with piles and transform the support system; (2) Add
10~20mm thick stress absorbing layer between concrete coffer- Fig. 4. Environmental zone division
dam and pile cap to avoid cracks caused by inconsistent deforma-

(a) Concrete surface protection (b) Cathodic protection
Fig. 5. Concrete Protections
3 HONG KONG-ZHUHAI-MACAU LINK
3.1 Site Conditions and Challenges
The Hong KongZhuhaiMacao Link is located in marine envi-
ronment with the water depth 4~20m, sediment layer thickness
24.0~89.3m and variable baserock depth. The site conditions
and challenges include:
(1) Frequent tropical cyclones and typhoons, many navigation
channels and busy vessels, high navigation clearance and aviation
limitation from nearby airports.
(2) Design life of 120 years, longer than ordinary 100 years of
design life for super large span bridges in China.
(3) Water blockage due to the link, less than 10% for flood
control of Pearl River.
(4) Nonuniform soft bed and different settlement of immersed
tunnel with 6km long and max depth -44.5m.
(5) Interference with the protection zone of Chinese White
Dolphin, which needs adequate and effective measurements dur-
ing construction.
3.2 Project Overview
The Link, situated at the waters of Lingdingyang of Pearl River
Estuary, is a mega project linking Hong Kong, Zhuhai and Ma-
cau. The link is an integration of bridge, reclaimed island and
tunnel of 35.6km long, including the 6.7km long immersed tun-
nel beneath Lingding west navigation channel and Tonggu navi-
gation channel, 22.9km long bridges and two reclaimed island at
both ends of the tunnel for the transit of bridge and tunnel and
ventilation of tunnel, as shown in Fig. 6.
Fig. 6. Plan of Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Link
The bridge complex consist of bridges for navigation channels,
bridges for non-navigable water and bridges for Zhuhai-Macau
Port. Bridges for navigation channels include Qingzhou Bridge
with main span of 458m, Jianghai Bridge with main span of
2258m and Jiuzhou Bridge with main span of 298m, and these
three navigation channels all adopt steel box girder cable-stayed
bridges. In bridges for non-navigable waters, single steel box
girder, erected span by span by floating crane, is supported by
single pier for dual traffic with embedded prefabricated founda-
tion, which consists of composite pile, embedded prefabricated
pile cap and prefabricated pier, to reduce water blockage.
The tunnel shown in Fig. 7 is the first marine immersed tunnel
in China, including 33 segments 180m long each, which is as-
sembled from 8 elements by post prestress tendons, with shear
connector, embedded sealing strip and sealing strip inside at
joints between elements.
Fig. 7. Immersed tunnel section
The basic function of reclaimed islands is to fulfill the link of
bridges and tunnel over sea. The west island is for project man-
agement and the east for service. The west island, as shown in
Fig. 8, is an ellipse of an area of 97962m2 with the design theme
of oyster, 625m long and 190m wide. The layout of the east isl-
and is consistent of the west island.
Fig. 8. West island
3.3 Superstructure of Assembled Bridges
About 90% bridges of Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Link are in
non-navigable waters. The total length of bridges for non-
navigable water in deep water zone is over 14km. The rationality
of layout and structure of mega long bridges for non-navigable
water is dominant to the whole link. In order to achieve standar-
dized design, workshop prefabrication and long segment erection,
bridges are design in uniform spans with whole span erection to
reduce marine work time, to increase efficiency and to ensure the
quality, safety and durability. At the same time, life cycle cost op-
timization and scenic view consistency are also criteria for de-
sign.
Bridges for non-navigable deep water adopt steel box conti-
nuous girder system with uniform frame of 6110m spans. Erec-
tion joints are set at 1/5 span and max erection segment is 2270t.
Specific scaffold, jacking equipment and adjust equipment are
designed to meet the tolerance for large segment, and TMD is de- East Reclaimed Island
1600
West Reclaimed Island

signed inside of the box girder to reduce vortex-induced vibration. 1400

Natural Foundation Settlement mm
Soil Reinforced Settlement mm
1200

Final Settlement / mm
1000

3.4 Embedded Prefabricated Foundation 800

600

Bridges for non-navigable deep water are prefabricated in work- 400

shop and assembled in site. For the embedded prefabricated 200

CE3 E33 E30 E25 E20 E15 E10 E5 E1 CW4

0
foundation shown in Figure 9, firstly steel pile is driven into 6800 7800 8800 9800 10800 11800 12800

seabed, prefabricated pile cap and pier is sunk into position with
pile cap embedded into seabed, then capsule sealing and fast-set
mortar provide dry work site, shear connector is welded, concrete
is cast, finally pile cap and pier is connected with piles. With this
special foundation, the water blockage due to piers and pile caps
are finally reduced to only 10% for the whole link.
Position / m
Fig. 10. Settlement of foundation before and after treatment
3.6 Seismic Resistance of Super Long Marine Immersed Tunnel
Based on beam-spring model, a fast design method for seismic
analysis of ultra-long immersed tunnel is proposed, in which soil-
structure interaction, the nonlinear dynamic characteristic of ele-
mental joint and segmental joint are accurately simulated. Effects
of water inertial pressure and plastic redistribution are also well
considered in the method. The research has provided technical
supports for choosing the GINA type, determining the bearing
capabilities of the concrete and steel shear keys, and setting up
the foundation treatment scheme. The dynamic model of tunnel is
shown in Fig. 11.

Fig. 9. Embedded prefabricated foundation

3.5 Settlement Control of Super Long Marine Immersed Tunnel

HZMB Immersed Tunnel is the longest under-construction im-
mersed tunnel in the world. Its features include long length of
element about 180m, segmental connection of each element, deep
water condition, large sedimentation load and soft and uneven
soil base. Thus its very difficult to control the longitudinal diffe-
Fig. 11. Dynamic model of super long marine immersed tunnel
rential settlement. In the longitudinal settlement calculation,
CPTu in-situ tests and oedometer tests are used to get the calcula-
For the segmental immersed tunnel, temperature variations
tion parameters. According to the theoretical analysis, the rela-
have large effects on the dynamic characteristic. Expansion of
tionship of allowable shear key forces, allowable joints opening
tunnel elements at higher temperature in summer causes bigger
and allowable differential settlement are derived, shown in
compression at GINA gasket and produces stiffer structure, while
Eq. (1).
shrinkage of tunnel elements at lower temperature in winter caus-
es bigger opening at joints and produces more flexible structure.
6Qk 2
(1) Based on the dynamic model including adjacent ramps, the cut-
(k L 6Q)(k L 6Q) and-cover portions and the immersed tunnel, seismic response
analyses of the immersed tunnel are implemented under the two
extreme temperature conditions, summer and winter. Results
where [] is the longitudinal differential settlement between 1
show that the slope segments are the most critical sections along
meter; Q is the allowable shear key force induced by differential
settlement; is the settlement of calculation point; k is the vertic- the tunnel, and the deformation of GINA and shear forces of
al foundation stiffness of calculation point; L is a characteristic shear keys are the critical issues. Furthermore, the sensitivity ef-
length. fect of temperature on the segmental immersed tunnel is also ad-
According to the settlement requirements, the tunnel is di- dressed and revealed. The opening of elemental joint at earth-
vided into four parts: shallow buried part, buried part, slope part quakes is shown in Fig. 12.
and deep buried part, as shown in Figure 10. For the four parts,
different foundations are designed respectively, namely the ce-
ment composite foundation, rigid pile foundation, Sand Compact
Pile (SCP) foundation with surplus load, and natural foundation.
These delicately designed foundations achieve smooth transition
of settlements. Settlement of foundation before and after treat-
ment is shown in Fig. 10.
 30
Elemental joint openings Unit: mm

25

20
Some concerns and monitoring are specially given to Chinese
15
White Dolphins, an endangered species. To minimize the acous-
10
tic disturbance to this lovely mammal, all construction vessels
only navigate through designated channels under controlled
5
speed with equipments mounted for acoustical decoupling to
0
avoid transmitting noise into the waters. Drilling of rocks for
EJ
EJ &C
EJ 3/3 33
EJ 2/3
EJ 1/3
EJ 0/2
EJ 9/2
EJ 8/2
EJ 7/2
EJ 6/2
EJ 5/2
EJ 4/2
EJ 3/2
EJ 2/2
EJ 1/2
EJ 0/1
EJ 9/1
EJ 8/1
EJ 7/1
EJ 6/1
EJ 5/1
EJ 4/1
EJ 3/1
EJ 2/1
EJ 1/1
EJ 0/9
EJ / 8
EJ / 7
EJ / 6
EJ / 5
EJ / 4
EJ / 3
EJ / 2
E1 / 1
C
3 /
3 2
3 1
3 0
2 9
2 8
2 7
2 6
2 5
2 4
2 3
2 2
2 1
2 0
1 9
1 8
1 7
1 6
1 5
1 4
1 3
1 2
1 1
1 0
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
/C
&
bored piles is not allowed during the calving season of dolphins

C
Element position
in May and June.

Fig. 12. Openings of elemental joint in winter cooling scenario at

earthquakes

Meanwhile, the parameter sensitivity analysis is carried out.

Effect of dynamic water pressure on the tunnel seismic response
is studied. The results indicate that the inertial effect of the tunnel
is negligible when the seismic loading and soil parameters are
constant. In addition, because the soil characteristics along the
tunnel are variable, local field effects do have great influences on
the seismic response of the tunnel. Also, effects of the vertical
and longitudinal seismic input are significant to the seismic re-
sponse of the immersed tunnel.

3.6 Foundation Treatment and Excavation Support for Marine
Reclaimed Island
The mega reclaimed islands are the important connections of
bridges and tunnel. With the disadvantages of offshore environ-
ment 20km off land and soft subsoil 20~30m deep, foundation
treatment and excavation support are critical for the project. By
means of numerical simulation and centrifugal test, sand compact
pile is designed for the foundation treatment, and steel cylinder
with diameter of 22m is developed and driven into clay to form
waterproof structure, as shown in Fig. 13.
Fig. 14. Chinese White Dolphin
4 FEASIBILITY STUDY OF QIONGZHOU STRAIT
BRIDGE
4.1 Site Conditions
Qiongzhou Strait is situated between Leizhou Peninsula and Hai-
nan Island. The east part of the strait is complex with at 10km
wider water at a depth of above 50m and max depth of 90m. The
terrain of west part is relatively flat with the depth of 40~51m.
According to statistics, tropical cyclone occurs an annual average
of 1.8 times, 5 times at most. Tornado occurs an annual average
of 2.26 times. The design flow velocity occurring once in 100
years is between 1.90~3.50m/s, and the height of the wave occur-
ring once in 100 years is between 7.1~9.5m. There are three
faults across the strait, which influence the project and need fur-
ther study. Peak ground acceleration with the recurrence period
of 475 years is 0.2g. According to boring hole, there are no rocks
or good supporting layer within investigation depth 200m~300m.
Three navigation channels, south, middle and north, are consi-
dered in this bridge. The middle channel should satisfy the re-
quirements of DWT300, 000t ship.
These site conditions really impose challenges, such as super
large span, deep water foundation, super vessel collision, ty-
phoon and big waves.

4.2 Main Research Subjects

Fig. 13. Foundation treatment and excavation support
The studies of bridge general design, deep water foundation,
coupled action of wind and wave, vessel collision performance,
3.7 Environment Protection
seismic-resistant performance and wind-resistant performance are
Large steel cylinders, just mentioned above, instead of dredge carried out for this super strait bridge. In the following part,
reclamation, are applied in construction of reclaimed island, some results are introduced as follows.
hence the sea water is less polluted. Furthermore, this also saves
tens of million cubic meters of sand for backfilling, which reduc-
es the impact to the marine environment. Curtains are installed
around the areas of piling and reclamation and dispersion of sus-
pended particles and other pollution are carefully under supervi-
sion.
4.3 Bridge General Design
The super long span bridge can be realized by suspension bridge
and cable-stayed bridge. One of the concept designs is shown in
Fig. 15.
Fig. 15. Photomontage of the Qiongzhou Strait Bridge
(1) Suspension bridge
The navigation clearance of single-channel dual-traffic for
middle channel is 2650m by 81m following IABSEs suggestion.
A double-tower three-span continuous suspension bridge is pro-
posed. The bridge span layout is 1120m+2800m+1120m, shown
in Fig. 16, with flat streamlined double-box separation section
connected by transversal beams for stiffening girder, concrete
frame tower and PPWS main cable.
Fig. 16. Layout of suspension bridge (unit: m)
(2) Three-tower cable-stayed bridge
A main span of 21500m three-tower cable-stayed bridge is
another solution for the middle channel. The span layout is
244+408+1500+1500+408+244=4304m, shown in Fig. 17. Side
span is provided with auxiliary abutments. Side towers are A-
shaped in transversal direction, and the mid-tower is designed
with four columns to provide more longitudinal stiffness.
Fig. 17. Layout of cable-stayed bridge (unit: m)
4.4 Deep Water Foundation
Proper foundation in over 50m deep water and 300m deep soft
subsoil is crucial to the strait bridge. According to the hydrogeo-
logical condition and the superstructure, the studies of bearing
capacity, settlement and construction feasibility of deepwater
foundations such as caisson, open caisson and pile are conducted.
Colligating the advantages that the high stiffness of caisson and
the low settlement of pile, a new foundation of caisson-pile com-
bined foundation with reversed construction is proposed, shown
in Fig. 18, which is constructed by setting caisson firstly, driving
steel piles through pile holes in caisson, and finally connect piles
with caisson. This foundation takes advantages of subsoil bearing
capacity and low settlement. Eqs. (2) (5) are suggested for calcu-
lating the load sharing between caisson and pile group in the
caisson-pile combined foundation and the settlement of the new
foundation. Furthermore, connection of caisson and piles, preci-
sion driving of steel pile in deep water, and structure durability
are studied in detail.
Pc F1 c F2 (1 c )(1 U1 ) F1 (2)
Pp (1 c )[(1 U1 ) F1 F2 ] (3)
(1 cp ) Kc
c (4)
K p K c (1 2 cp )
F1 F F
s U1 1 (1 U1 ) 2 (5)
Kc K pc K pc
where Pc is the total load carried by caisson in caisson-pile foun-
dation; Pp is the total load carried by pile group in caisson-pile
foundation; c is the proportion of load carried by caisson in the
caisson-pile foundation under F2; s is the total settlement of cais-
son-pile foundation; cp interaction factor of pile group on cais-
son; Kc is the overall stiffness of caisson in isolation; Kp is the
overall stiffness of pile group in isolation; Kpc is the overall stiff-
ness of caisson-pile foundation; U1 is the degree of consolidation
of the foundation at the time of pile installation; F1 is the applied
load on foundation before connecting pile with caisson; F2 is the
added load on foundation after connecting pile with caisson.
(a) Elevation view (b) Plan view
Fig. 18. Configuration of caisson-pile combined foundation (unit:
cm)
In addition, scour protection is another key point to ensure the
safety during construction and operation. Tests are carried out fo-
cusing on scour and protection of this new deep water founda-
tion, shown in Fig. 19(a). Under the action of bi-directional tidal
currents, the contour of foundations local scour is plotted shown
in Fig. 19(b). Based on these tests, double backfilling is proposed
with the first backfilling in construction period and the second
backfilling at the corners of caisson in operation period.
(a) Local scour test (b) Contour of scour depths
Fig. 19. Local scour of deep water foundation
4.5 Anti-wave Coupling Interaction
For conventional offshore structures, depending on the ratios of
their projected member dimensions to the wavelengths, wave
forces are calculated either by the Morison equation, or by dif-
fraction theory which describes the potential flow as a summation
of the incident flow and the disturbance caused by the presence
of the body. Because the ratio of bridge base dimension to the
wavelength is big, it is appropriate to use diffraction theory to
calculate wave forces of bridge base. Assumed that bridge base is
a fixed body, design wave forces on bridge base are calculated
based on linear diffraction theory and the panel method (boun-
dary-integral-equation method). Surface pressure distribution of
bridge base under a 100 years return period wave is shown in Fig.
20. Shear force and bending moment of the bridge base section at
sea bed under static wave loads are 1.1108 N and 4.45109 Nm,
respectively. It can be seen that the wave forces are big and are
mainly concentrated near the wave surface. It shows the signific-
ance of wave loads analysis for the design of sea-crossing bridge.
Fig. 20. Surface pressure distribution of bridge (Pa)
With the growth of strait bridges span, the bridge becomes
more flexible and bridge's natural frequency becomes much
smaller which increases its sensitivity to dynamic loads. In ma-
rine environment conditions, wave frequency is small. Wave fre-
quency is close to bridge's natural frequency, strong resonance
will be induced. Wind usually comes with wave, or else, there are
correlations among them, then when the bridge is under the com-
bination action of wind and wave at the same time, it is more rea-
sonable to consider the coupling effect of bridge, wind and wave
loads. Therefore, a dynamic response analysis method of bridge
under coupling of wind and wave loads is proposed. The equa-
tion of motion for bridge subjected to coupling of wind and wave
loads are expressed in the following matrix form.
ms mb x cs ca cb x k s k a x pa pb (6)
where ms , cs and k s are the mass, stiffness and damping matric-
es of bridge, respectively; x is the displacement vector; x and
x are the first and second order derivatives of x with respect to
time t; k a and ca are the aerodynamic stiffness and damping
coefficients matrix respectively, reflecting the coupling effect be-
tween wind and bridge; m b and c b are hydrodynamic added
mass coefficients and damping coefficients matrix respectively,
reflecting the coupling effect between wave and bridge; p a is the
wind excitation forces on bridge; p b is the wave excitation forces
on bridge.
Using the above method, bridge dynamic response subjected
to the coupling of wind and wave loads are researched. Research
findings provide technical support for the bridge design.
4.6 Vessel Collision
The collision of DWT 300 000t ship upon bridge foundation is
analyzed with LS-DYNA software, as shown in Fig. 21. The im-
pact force history is shown in Fig. 22. For the safety of the bridge,
ship and human, modern equipment and administration, such as
Automatic Identification System (AIS) and Vessel Traffic Servic-
es (VTS) should be utilized to prevent vessel collision upon
bridges.
Fig. 21. Finite element model of vessel collision upon bridge
foundation
7.0E+08
6.0E+08
5.0E+08
Impact force (N)
4.0E+08
3.0E+08
2.0E+08
1.0E+08
0.0E+00
0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0
Time (sec)
Fig. 22. Impact force history
4.7 Seismic Resistance Performance
A rational seismic system of bridge can achieve the best combi-
nation of structural strength; stiffness and deformation and reach
rational balance between economy and safety. For the suspension
bridge with main span length of 2800m, neither floating system
nor longitudinal rigid restraint system between tower and girder
cannot effectively control relative displacement between tower
and girder, and properly reduce seismic force response of critical
section simultaneously.
In order to realize optimal seismic design, a damping limit de-
vice combined with dynamic damping and static displacement re-
straint between tower and girder is arranged. Dynamic damper is
achieved by liquid viscous damper while limit device uses high
strength steel blocks, on which elastic cushion is arranged to mi-
tigate collision. The separated performance simplifies the de-sign
of viscous damper and has no requirements of displacement re-
stricting internal force. And high strength steel displacement
block has simple configuration, reliable force bearing and easy
rigidity adjustment.
Compared with floating system, the seismic structural system
of damping limit devices arranged between tower and girder pro-
posed in this study can both effectively control relative displace-
ment between tower and girder and can properly reduce structural tral stabilizer, besides of central-slotted section, are put forward,
key sectional seismic bending moment as shown in Fig. 23. as shown in Fig. 24.

1.2
Maximum Earthquake Displacement Unit m

0.9

0.6

(a) Central-slotted with aerodynamic winglets

Floating System
0.3
Seismic System of Damping Limit Devices

Top of Tower Main Girder Girder-Tower Connection

Critical Position

(a) Longitudinal displacement

70 (b) Central-slotted with aerodynamic winglets and central stabi-

Earthquake Sectional Force Unit 10 kNm

lizer
5

60 Floating System
Seismic System of Damping Limit Devices
Fig. 24. Combined aerodynamic measures
50

40
Then, the flutter critical wind speed of the improved suspen-
sion bridge option is calculated with wind attack angles of +3, 0
30 and -3, respectively, as listed in Table 1. It is found that the com-
binational aerodynamic measures can improve the aeroelastic
20 stability of the bridge effectively.
Bottom Transverse Beam Bottom of Tower Bottom of Pile Cap

Tower Critical Section

Table 1. Computational results of flutter critical wind speed of
improved bridge options
(b) Bending moment about transversal axis
Flutter critical wind speed
Option (m/s)
Fig. 23. Seismic response comparison of critical positions in
2450 years return period +3 0 -3
Central-slotted (Original option) 73.7 68.6 61.5
Central-slotted with aerodynamic
4.8 Wind-resistance performance 96.4 98.4 83.6
winglets
The long-term observed data of wind speed recorded at Xuwen Central-slotted with aerodynamic
115.7 119 104.5
station and Haikou station near the bridge site are used to deter- winglets and central stabilizer
mine the relevant wind speed parameters at the bridge site. Tak-
ing 10m as the reference height, the reference mean wind speed
for an averaging duration of 10min is 51.58m/s for the return pe- 5 CONCLUSION
riods of 100 years. Then the design wind speed of girder is
65.7m/s for the suspension bridge with main span of 2800m, and
There are many complex and harsh conditions for future design
its checking wind speed of flutter is 93.8m/s. So the wind will be
and construction of strait bridges, like complex geology, deep
one of the dominant factors for the design of Qingzhou Strait
water, soft subsoil, strong wind, rapid current, strong wave, big
Suspension Bridge scheme.
earthquake, etc., and the increasing demands of navigation, envi-
The natural dynamic properties at the service state of the
ronment protection, landscape and durability also advance higher
bridge are analyzed by using ANSYS software. It can be found
technical challenges. This paper advances several technical issues
that the fundamental symmetrical natural frequencies of deck ver-
as follows which need to be further studied:
tical bending and torsion are 0.0638Hz and 0.11518Hz, respec-
(1) Design, construction and equipment for bridge foundations
tively. The frequency ratio of torsion to vertical bending is 1.8.
on deepwater soft bases;
The aerodynamic derivatives of the bridge girder are identified by
(2) Design of rational structural system, design and construc-
using CFD method with Bridgefluent software. The numerical
tion for key structures of super long-span bridges;
calculation of critical wind speed for the bridge flutter is con-
(3) Construction and equipment for multi-span long bridges;
ducted by using the structural dynamic characteristics and the
(4) Development and application of high performance mate-
aerodynamic derivatives under different wind attack angles. The
rials with light weight, high strength and good durability;
flutter critical wind speed for the original suspension bridge op-
(5) Research and application of life-cycle design method con-
tion fails to exceed the checking wind speed of 93.8m/s, as listed
sidering life cycle performance optimization.
in Table 1. Thus, to improve the critical wind speed of flutter, the
combined aerodynamic measures, aerodynamic winglets and cen-
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Bridge Pier Construction of Qingdao Bay Bridge. Port & Wa-
terway Engineering 5: 132-137.
The authors are grateful for the support from Key Science and Zhou Chang-yan et al., 2007. Study on Concrete Durability De-
Technology Program of Ministry of Transportation sign Scheme for Qingdao Trans-bay Bridge. Coastal Engi-
(2011318494001), National High Technology Research and De- neering 26(4): 68-71.
velopment Program (2012AA112501), Science and Technology Liu Xiao-dong. 2011. General Design and Technical Challenge
Program for Western Transportation (2009318494041), and Na- of Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge. Proceedings of 15th
tional Science and Technology Support Program Seminar on Marine Engineering and Offshore Engineering in
(2011BAG07B00). China: 17-20.
Wang Ji-yun. 2011. New Construction Technology in Immersed
Tunnel of Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Island Tunnel
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