Design of a rail-road asymmetrical low-pylon cable-stayed bridge with a main span of 588 m

摘要

The Shangqiu–Hangzhou high-speed railway is 794.55 km long with a design speed of 350 km/h. The third Wuhu Yangtze River Bridge stands out as the key project of the whole railway. Restricted by the site conditions, the bridge is an asymmetrical low-pylon cable-stayed bridge with a main span of 588 m. To overcome the technical challenges of low stiffness and unfavourable axial force induced by the low pylons, a box-truss type composite section with a strong box at the lower deck and a weak truss above was creatively used in the design of the main girder. In addition, parallel steel wire cables coated with a zinc–aluminium alloy and with a tensile strength of over 2000 MPa were developed to withstand the tremendous axial force in the inclined cables. These two innovative solutions were successfully implemented in the construction of the bridge. This paper describes problem solving through creativity by addressing a few key issues faced by the designers.