The pouring of the arch abutment on the Wujiang River bank for the Yanhe Shatuo Extra-large Bridge has been successfully completed.

Release time:

2017-01-01 08:39

Source:

Recently, the concrete pouring for the arch abutment on the west bank of the Wujiang River was successfully completed for the Shatuo Super Bridge, designed by our company’s Bridge Design Institute.

The Shatuo Special Bridge is located approximately 800 meters upstream of the Shatuo Hydropower Station Dam in Qitan Town, Yanhe County, Tongren City, Guizhou Province. It is a concrete arch bridge with a main span of 240 meters, constructed using the cantilever cast-in-place method. The total length of the bridge is 626.8 meters. The normal reservoir storage level of the Shatuo Hydropower Station is 365.0 meters, and the designed elevation of the bottom of the arch abutments is 352.151 meters—thus, the bottom elevation of the abutments lies below the normal reservoir storage level. During construction, cofferdam methods were employed.

The dimensions of the arch abutment on the west bank of the Wujiang River are 14.5 m (length) × 15 m (width) × 8.4 m (height). After excavating the abutment to the design elevation, geophysical surveys will be conducted on the base of the abutment and the back of the arch to ensure that there are no adverse geological conditions.

Rebar tying for the arch seat Arch abutment

Concrete pouring completed.

The cantilever cast-in-place arch bridge adopts new design and calculation concepts as well as advanced construction techniques. Compared to traditional methods such as segmental steel arch erection and full-support scaffolding, this approach offers superior structural integrity, easier control during construction, and greater span-carrying capacity. The province’s first cantilever cast-in-place arch bridge is the Mupeng Bridge, designed by our company, with a main span of 165 meters. The main arch ring features a single-box, double-chamber box-shaped cross-section and has now been completed and opened to traffic. Another bridge designed by our company—the Yelang Lake Supermajor Bridge on the Zhipu Expressway—is a 210-meter-long cantilever cast-in-place box-type arch bridge. Its main arch ring employs a single-box, single-chamber cross-section. To reduce the length of the long cantilever during the casting process and thereby minimize risks in the cantilever construction, the mid-span section of the arch ring is designed with a 28-meter rigid skeletal structure encased in concrete. Currently, this bridge is under smooth and successful construction.

The Shatuo Special Bridge ranks first in span length among bridges of the same type constructed using similar techniques in China. Compared to the two arch bridges previously undertaken by our company, this bridge has an even greater span, significantly increasing both the design and construction challenges. By drawing on and summarizing the design and construction experience gained from those two earlier bridges, we have optimized the structural design for this project, resulting in a more rational bridge structure and greatly reduced construction difficulties.

The Shatuo Special Bridge is scheduled to be completed in mid-2018. Upon completion, the project will help improve transit traffic through the riverside counties and enhance the capacity of the urban road network.