This review article summarizes recent developments in the design and construction of medium and long span bridges for high-speed rail projects in China. It discusses three structural forms for medium spans of 100-200 meters: steel arch, rigid frame, and hybrid arch-girder. For long spans of 200-500 meters, it examines steel truss arches and cable-stayed bridges with truss girders. The article concludes by discussing technical features of long-span high-speed rail bridges and the feasibility of even longer spans.
This review article summarizes recent developments in the design and construction of medium and long span bridges for high-speed rail projects in China. It discusses three structural forms for medium spans of 100-200 meters: steel arch, rigid frame, and hybrid arch-girder. For long spans of 200-500 meters, it examines steel truss arches and cable-stayed bridges with truss girders. The article concludes by discussing technical features of long-span high-speed rail bridges and the feasibility of even longer spans.
This review article summarizes recent developments in the design and construction of medium and long span bridges for high-speed rail projects in China. It discusses three structural forms for medium spans of 100-200 meters: steel arch, rigid frame, and hybrid arch-girder. For long spans of 200-500 meters, it examines steel truss arches and cable-stayed bridges with truss girders. The article concludes by discussing technical features of long-span high-speed rail bridges and the feasibility of even longer spans.
Recent development of design and construction of medium and long
span high-speed railway bridges in China Nan Hu a , Gong-Lian Dai b , Bin Yan b, , Ke Liu b a Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA b School of Civil Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410075, China a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 18 September 2013 Revised 26 May 2014 Accepted 30 May 2014 Available online 20 June 2014 Keywords: High-speed rail Bridges Design Construction Medium-span Long-span a b s t r a c t Medium- and long-span bridges of the high-speed rail (HSR) projects play a signicant role when crossing certain obstacles, such as rivers, existing highways, etc. This paper provides a state-of-the-art review on the design practice of these special spans in the HSR projects of China. Given standard spans are usually smaller than 100 m, special spans can be divided into two categories by the length of main span: medium length (100200 m) and large length (200500 m). For medium length, three structural forms are dis- cussed as feasible design options, including steel arch, rigid frame and hybrid arch-girder. In addition, recently completed long-span bridges are reviewed to feature several innovative structural forms on the HSR of China, including steel truss arches and cable-stayed bridges with truss girder. Finally, the key technical features of long-span HSR bridges are summarized, and a discussion of the feasibility of longer spans is also included. 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Contents 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233 2. Deflection control. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234 3. Medium length (100200 m). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235 3.1. Tied steel arch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235 3.2. Rigid frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236 3.3. Arch-rigid frame hybrid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237 4. Long length (200500 m). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237 4.1. Steel truss arch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237 4.2. Cable-stayed bridge with truss girder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239 5. Discussion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239 6. Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240 Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240 1. Introduction High-speed rail (HSR) offers a fast and robust travel option that enhances the quality of life and supports economic growth. Japan was the rst country to build a passenger dedicated line for high speed travel, also known as Shinkansen. The rst Shinkansen opened Tokyo-Osaka segment for the Tokyo Olympics in 1964. HSR in Europe rst developed in several countries and now expanded into a regional service network. Over the past few dec- ades, a total of 13 countries have developed the HSR network, mainly in Europe and East Asia. International examples from those countries have proved that high speed trains are capable of reach- ing speeds over 250 km/h on high speed passenger dedicated line which signicantly reduce the travel hours. Detailed historical http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.engstruct.2014.05.052 0141-0296/ 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 13787799105.
E-mail addresses: daigong@vip.sina.com (G.-L. Dai), binyan@csu.edu.cn (B. Yan), liuke1009@gmail.com (K. Liu). Engineering Structures 74 (2014) 233241 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Engineering Structures j our nal homepage: www. el sevi er. com/ l ocat e/ engst r uct reviews of the development of HSR in those countries can be found in papers by Taniguchi [1], Bouley [2], the European Commission [3], Gourvish [4], Zuber [5], and Harrison et al. [6]. HSR in China is composed of upgraded existing lines with an average design speed of 250 km/h and new lines with an average design speed of 350 km/h, including 9356 km of new built lines and 3209 km of upgraded lines. By 2020, the total length in China will reach more than 20,000 km with a complete grid network that will connect all provincial capital cities as well as large cities with population more than ve million. For a typical HSR line in China, most spans are composed of standardized simply-supported beam (with span of 24 m, 32 m and 40 m) when spanning lower than 40 m and a few standardized continuous beam bridges (main span from 48 m to 100 m). For example, 95% bridges in the Beijing Shanghai segment are standard span (90% simply-supported beam along with 5% continuous beam) and only 5% are special spans. Even though mediumand long span bridges only cover a small por- tion of a HSR line, it plays a key role in the completion of the entire line, crossing over physical barrier such as existing highway, HSR lines and rivers, etc. The selection of a rational and cost-effective structural form is the main assignment in bridge design. Structural forms for long- span railway bridges have evolved during the past two centuries, primarily featuring with longer span and more diverse forms. On the heel of the birth of the steam railways, iron truss bridges were widely constructed to support these earliest railway trains. In the late 19th century, three milestone railway bridges were successively built to support the larger live load of trains, includ- ing the Eads Bridge (1874, 158 m), the Brooklyn Bridge (1883, 486.3 m), and the Firth of Forth Rail Bridge (1889, 521 m). These bridges represented the advanced building techniques used on an arch bridge, a suspension bridge and a cantilever truss. The devel- opment of those well-recognized spans relied on the use of steel rather than iron which reduced the dead load weight. As railroads expanded throughout the world in the early 20th century, engi- neers raced to design bridges that were stronger and longer, without adding too much weight. A number of longer spans were developed, such as the Hell Gate Bridge in New York (1916), and the Sydney Harbor Bridge (1932). In the 1970s, Japan began the construction of the Honsh u-Shikoku Bridge Project, connecting Honsh u and Shikoku islands. The link between Okayama and Kagawa is the only one with railroad connections. A total of six long-span bridges were built to support both the highway and the railway, including a continuous truss bridge, two cable stayed bridges, and three suspension bridges. Currently, China is the leading country in the large number of regular rail upgrades and new HSR constructions. The development of railway bridges in China began with the completion of the Qiantang River Bridge in 1937. Two milestone steel truss bridges were built subsequently across the Yangtze River in Wuhan (1957) and in Nanjing (1968). Since then, the steel truss bridge was used as the main structural form for the railway bridges in China until the rst cable-stayed bridge with a main span of 312 m was completed in Wuhu over the Yangtze River in 2000. Then, a series of cable-stayed bridges were planned and con- structed [7]. Similar to the design of standard spans for HSR, the design of special spans also require a strict service limit due to the need for smoothness of the track and the stability of the high speed train. For a certain span range and site condition, several options of structural form are available [8,9]. Special spans in HSR of China can be divided into two categories by the length of the main span: medium length (100200 m) and large length (200500 m). Several cable-stayed bridges with a longer main span more than 500 m are also included in the long spans. No suspension bridges are currently used in the HSR of China. The sus- pension bridge is too exible to maintain low deection on main girder and tracks such that it is not easy to meet the service limits of HSR. Further studies on the use of HSR suspension bridge in China is still in progress. The objective of this paper is to present an up-to-date review of the emerging design and construction techniques on medium and long spans on the HSR of China, including the key design philosophies, the main structural dimensions and the construction methods. For medium length bridges, three forms are discussed, including steel arch, rigid frame and hybrid arch-girder. For large length bridges, the discussion focuses on steel truss arches and truss cable-stayed bridges. This paper summarizes the structural options for special spans for future HSR constructions. 2. Deection control HSR requires high deection limits to ensure track smoothness. No matter what structural forms selected for the special spans, the control of the deection on the main girder is still a key design issue because the average design speed of trains on those spans is more than 250 km/h [10]. The threshold limits on bridges with a ballastless track bed are higher than bridges with ballast track bed, because it is difcult to adjust the smoothness on the ballast- less deck. Thus, all the long-span HSR bridges in China used ballast track. However, no detailed requirements are applied to long-span bridges, since the design and analysis of those bridges are usually carried out case by case, which at least should satisfy those mini- mum limits of small span HSR bridges. Four key aspects on the deection control on small span are as follows: (1) Vertical deec- tion of the beam, smaller than 2.0 mm; (2) the rotation at the beam end, smaller than 0.4%; (3) long-term deections (for example, creep effects), smaller than L/1000 (L in m and result in mm); (4) longitudinal deection of the substructure. All those requirements must be met in order to ensure the smoothness of the track and the safety of the trains. Track stability and smoothness of the HSR is highly dependent on the control of the vertical and lateral deection of the main girder. Design specications by the former Ministry of Railways (MOR) of China have certain requirements on short-term and long-term deection on short length continuous beams [11]: the vertical deection must be smaller than 1.1 L/1000 (L is the main span); lateral deection must be smaller than L/4000; and beam end rotation must be smaller than 0.2% in a ballast track bed and 0.1% in a ballastless track bed. However, no such requirements in the design specications have been proposed for special spans, including the medium length continuous beam, the arch bridge and the cable-stayed bridge. Deection limits on similar bridges from international examples were studied and compared to develop a recommended range for the long-span designs [12]. Due to higher serviceability limits compared to conventional railway bridge design, other technical issues associated with dynamic response of HSR bridges have been studied by many pre- vious studies, such as seismic performance [1317], trackstruc- ture interaction [1820], creep effect [21,22], thermal effect [23], etc. In the development of HSR bridge in China, those special issues (such as thermal expansion, seismic design, wind effect and creep effect) have been considered and additional analysis may be required for multiple loading cases that may cause large deection. (1) A single span over 100 m long requires measures to control the thermal expansion and contraction of the rail, because the contin- uous welded tracks could become distorted in hot weather and cause the derailment of a train. Clips and anchors were widely used in the HSR on multiple span bridges [24]. Zhu [25] compared the multiple combinations of expansion devices on a cable-stayed bridge. It were found that the optimal way to control the thermal 234 N. Hu et al. / Engineering Structures 74 (2014) 233241 effect on the track is through the use of the small clips in certain spots along the main girder and large expansion devices at both end of the girder. Yan [26] carried out a numerical analysis on a single-tower 112 m long cable-stayed bridge and proved that longitudinal movement and the stress level of the rail can be signif- icantly reduced through using expansion device at the joint seg- ment of the tower and the girder. Performance-based requirements on seismic hazards are mentioned on the HSR design code of China, but those general requirements are only applied to small span bridges (i.e. main span smaller than 48 m). (2) Seismic design and analysis is required for long-span HSR bridges in China yet varied case by case. For example, Yue [27] showed that most of the long-span HSR bridges did install dampers along the longitudinal direction to reduce the large dynamic response under earthquake or emergency braking of the trains. (3) Similar to the seismic design issue, the aerodynamic effect of long-span bridges is also considered case by case, but the design process of most long-span bridges in China have went through dynamic analysis along with multi-scale wind tunnel tests. Li et al. [28] and Wang et al. [29] found that the deection of the main girder can be affected by train speed and wind speed. Li [30] carried out a wind tunnel test on a twin girder linked by a cross-beam to identify the optimal pattern of depth-width ratio for a better aerodynamic performance. (4) Excessive long-term deection (creep effect) may result in an uneven track surface, which could threaten the operation of HSR trains. For the medium and large-span of HSR bridges, all the long span HSR bridges currently used ballast track, which the creep effect was easier to adjust than ballastless track. From structural design point of view, the creep effect is controlled by increasing the depth of beam and lowering the difference of stress between beam top and beam bottom under long-term loading combination. In addition, the train speed has been restricted to lower than 250 km/h to reduce the induced vibration. It should be noted that the design philosophy of considering creep effect in the Chinese design code is very conservative and improvement on the requirement of the long-term effect is undergoing. Overall, three most important limits for designing HSR bridges in the future is to ensure the vertical stiffness, beam end rotation and longitudinal stiffness of piers. It is note that no large structural health monitoring system has been reported to record the deec- tion history on the HSR bridges in China, but there are undergoing studies on the optimal arrangement of sensors, the use of different monitoring system and the fast diagnose of damage, etc. 3. Medium length (100200 m) Medium length spans are usually adopted to cross over the existing highways or railroads. Most of the standard spans have a main span smaller than 100 m and the maximum span is only 128 m. Even though the prestressed concrete continuous beam is still one of the options, alternative forms can be chosen for HSR special spans. Table 1 lists a total of 19 medium length spans that have been completed in the past ve years. It can be seen that the tied steel arch bridge and the rigid frame bridge are two commonly used structural forms. The hybrid system of these two forms also offered new solutions for the design of special spans. The detailed description on each form will be discussed in this section using design examples. 3.1. Tied steel arch Commonly used steel arch bridges can be divided into tubular arch and box arch by the cross-section of the arch rib. The tubular arch, also known as the concrete lled steel tube (CFST) arch, has been used in the Wuhan-Guangzhou segment of the BeijingGuangzhou line [31]. Tian et al. [32] proved that this arch type with inclined hangers has better dynamic characteristics including greater vertical and lateral stiffness than other arch types. It is noted that the 112 m long tubular arch with inclined hangers was standardized as shown in Fig. 1a such that this design can be used in similar conditions for spanning existing lines. The rise to span ratio of the main arch is 1/5 with a rise of 22.4 m from the top of deck [33]. The uniform-depth arch ribs have a twin circular tube connected by cross links lled with low shrinkage concrete. Each tube has a diameter of 1.28 m with a wall thickness of 18 mm. Two main arch ribs are inclined inward about 9, which has better dynamic characteristics including greater vertical and larger lateral stiffness. The spacing of the hangers is 8 m. The arch was designed without horizontal thrust due to the use of prestress- ing tendons as tied bars in the main girder. The main girder is a sin- gle box prestressed concrete structure with a depth of 2.5 m and a width of 17.8 m. The estimated structural responses under the dead load are a vertical deection of 19.4 mm and a beam end rota- tion of 0.0705%. Estimated material costs per unit length (one meter) are 37.2 m 3 of concrete, 8.9 tons of steel and 2.1 tons of the prestressing tendons. Small clips on the main girder and large expansion devices at both ends of the girder are used to meet the smoothness requirements. The construction of this bridge started Table 1 Recent completed medium length special span in the HSR of China. Structural type Bridge name Main span (m) HSR segment Built Tied steel arch East Lake 112 Wuhan-Guangzhou 2008 Hujiawan 112 Wuhan-Guangzhou 2008 Liangjiawan 112 Wuhan-Guangzhou 2008 Tingsihe 140 Wuhan-Guangzhou 2008 Yandangshan 2 90 Ningbo-Wenzhou 2009 Mulanxi 128 Fuzhou-Xiamen 2009 Xinkaihe 138 Harbin-Dalian 2012 Rigid frame Tianluo 160 Wenzhou-Fuzhou 2008 Baimahe 3 145 Wenzhou-Fuzhou 2008 Liuxihe 168 Wuhan-Guangzhou 2009 Zinihe 2 168 Guangzhou-Shenzhen 2010 Hybrid steel arch with concrete girder Kunyang 136 Wenzhou-Fuzhou 2007 Yichang Yangzte 2 275 Yichang-Wanzhou 2008 Shawan Channel 160 Guangzhou- Shenzhen 2009 Liugangyong 160 Guangzhou- Hong Kong 2010 Xiaolan Channel 220 Guangzhou-Zhuhai 2010 Zhenjiang Channel 180 Beijing-Shanghai 2010 Xianyang West 136 Xian-Baoji 2012 Songhuajiang Channel 3 156.8 Harbin-Qiqihar 2013 N. Hu et al. / Engineering Structures 74 (2014) 233241 235 with the fabrication of the arch ribs along with concrete cast as a tied beam. Then, the ribs are vertically rotated to the positions at the temporary hinges that are installed at four spring lines [34]. Additional analysis during the rotation of the ribs was carried out to ensure the stress concentrations at the spring line meet specication [35]. The Tingsihe Bridge built in 2008 is a classic example of tied box arch bridge for supporting a double track HSR line, as shown in Fig. 1b. This 140 m-long arch bridge has a rise-span ratio of 1/5. The 2.0 m uniform width arch ribs have a thin-wall rectangular cross-section with a depth varying from 3.0 m at the crown to 4.5 m at the spring line. The spacing between ribs is 16 m, con- nected with ve lateral bracings. Underneath each rib, a single box steel girder with a depth of 3.5 m and an inner width of 1.94 m is adopted as a tie to the arch rib. The hangers are designed as rigid components with equally spaced holes to improve the aerodynamic characteristics. The construction of this bridge con- sumed more than 3800 tons of steel. The cantilever method was used to erect the arch rib by segments to avoid interruption of the highway operation and reduce costs. The segments of the rib are hoisted by heavy duty truck cranes through temporary blocked half lanes on the highway without using falsework during the rib installation [36]. The estimated structural responses under dead load include a vertical deection of 48.7 mm and a beam end rotation of 0.186% [24]. Due to the high rotation at the end of tied girder, a short length beam is adopted as a transition element between the arch and the neighboring 32 m simply supported beam. Tied box arch bridges among the completed bridges, include other forms [37], as shown in Fig. 1c and d. 3.2. Rigid frame Due to the rigid connection between the beam and pier, rigid frame bridges can span a greater length and provide better vertical stiffness when compared to continuous beams [38]. This form is preferable at good site conditions; otherwise it may suffer from uneven settlement of the substructure, which leads to the reduction of track smoothness. Completed examples on the HSR line include the Tianluo Bridge (88 + 160 + 88) m (Fig. 2a) and the Liuxihe Bridge (84 + 168 + 84) m [39] (Fig. 2b). These two bridges have a similar structural conguration. Thus, only the Tian- luo Bridge was selected for the discussion of the structural design. The Tianluo Bridge is planned to span a shallow strait with a design wind speed reaching 56 m/s. This prestressed concrete structure was selected to satisfy the required clearance of 120 24 m. The cross-section of the superstructure is a varied- depth box with a top width of 13 m and bottom width of 8.2 m. At the rigid connection to the pier, the box girder has a depth of (a) Hujiawan Bridge (b) Tingsihe Bridge (c) Yandangshan Bridge (d) Xinkaihe Bridge Fig. 1. Steel arch bridges in the HSR of China. (a) Tianluo Bridge (b) Liuxihe Bridge Fig. 2. Rigid frame bridges in the HSR of China. 236 N. Hu et al. / Engineering Structures 74 (2014) 233241 9.8 m, a top wall thickness of 55 cm, a bottom wall thickness of 100 cm and a web wall thickness of 150 cm. At the two support columns, the bottom wall thickened to 200 cm. At the mid-span and the end of side span, the box girder has a depth of 5.0 m, a top wall thickness of 45 cm, a bottom wall thickness of 50 cm and a web wall thickness of 100 cm. Three additional thin walls are added in the lateral direction of the girder to main its stability, including two 160 cm thick walls at the end of each side span and one 80 cmthick wall at the mid-span. Two-way drainage is used on the bridge deck with a slope of 2%. The prestressing tendons are used in all three directions of the girder to ensure the main struc- ture is in a complete compressive stress state. The pulling pres- sures in prestressing jacks are usually between 1230 and 1300 MPa. Due to high corrosion potential at the bridge site, high performance C60 Grade concrete was used. The consumption of materials per meter for the beam is 26.1 m 3 of concrete, 3.3 t of steel and 1.5 t of prestressing tendons. The supports of a rigid frame are commonly two thin wall legs. In this case, two vertical legs with a spacing of 8 m are used with a leg height to main span ratio of 0.2, which maintain an optimal stress distribution on the legs and beams. The leg has a lateral width of 10 m and a longitudinal width of 2.2 m. The use of two legs improves the longitudinal stiffness of the beam and provides a relatively exible constraint for the mid-span as compared to sin- gle leg. The two legs are supported by a cubic concrete pile cap (14.5 m 19.7 m 5 m) and 12 drilled piles with a diameter of 2.5 m. C45 Grade concrete is used for the legs and C30 Grade concrete is used for the pile cap. Commonly, the cantilever method is adopted in the construc- tion of a rigid frame. The erection of the girder starts from the sup- ports and the closure is in the mid-span and the end of each side span. The key issue for the cantilever method is that real-time monitoring is required to measure the position of each segment and maintain a theoretical line shape at the top of the girder [38]. For the Tianluo Bridge, additional analysis was needed to measure and control the dynamic response of the girder during the construction phases. Gong [40] carried out the dynamic analysis for this bridge and found that the actual response of the structure was better than the estimate from an integrated model of the train and the structure. It was also found that the stability of a running train can be improved by increasing the depth of the noise barrier. 3.3. Arch-rigid frame hybrid As discussed previously, both the tied steel arch and the rigid frame bridge offer certain advantages on the HSR line. The hybrid system of these two forms is also an alternative choice when the use of a steel arch or a rigid frame cannot satisfy the clearance requirement. Examples in the HSR line of China include the Kunyang Bridge in Fig. 3a and the Yichang Yangtze River Bridge in Fig. 3b. The key structural features of this hybrid system are dis- cussed below as related to the Kunyang Bridge. The Kunyang Bridge supports a double-track joint passenger- freight HSR line with a main span of (64 + 136 + 64) m. The 11.5 m wide main girder of the Kunyang Bridge has a double-box cross section with a varied depth from 3.5 m in the mid-span to 7.0 m at the support. High performance C60 Grade concrete was used to improve the durability of structural performance under the environmental impact. These dimensions are smaller than a solely rigid frame structure because the live load is partially sup- ported by the steel arch. The rise to span ratio of the main arch is 1/5 with a 27.2 m rise from the top of deck. The uniform-depth arch ribs have a twin circular tube lled with low shrinkage C50 Grade concrete. Each tube has a diameter of 2.8 m with wall thick- ness of 16 mm. Two arch ribs are connected by nine lateral truss bracings [41]. A total of 14 pair of hangers are used with a spacing of 8 m. High stress concentration at the joint region between on steel rib and concrete girder was reduced by using a special con- nection [42]. The construction of such bridge per meter consumed more than 23.6 m 3 concrete and 8.8 tons of steel. The common sequence of construction started from casting the girder segment by the cantilever method followed by the erection of arch ribs [43]. Huang et al. [44] estimated that the structural responses under dead load are a vertical deection of 35 mm, and a beam end rotation of 0.1%. 4. Long length (200500 m) There are only a few completed long-span HSR bridges in China, as shown Table 2. The reason is that the main girder of a long-span bridge is known to be exible compared to the medium spans. It can be seen from Table 2 that two existing structural forms are the steel truss arch and the cable-stayed bridge with truss girder. 4.1. Steel truss arch A cost-effective steel truss arch should have a main span between 300 m and 400 m. The structural efciency of the steel truss arch relies on the strength of each truss member. This form was rst used at the Wuhan-Guangzhou segment in 2009 to span over the Dongping channel as shown in Fig. 4a. The Dongping Bridge supported a four-track railway with a span arrangement of (99 + 242 + 99) m. This truss arch features three main trusses in the longitudinal direction with a spacing of 14 m, integrated joints for connecting truss members, the use of high performance Q370qD (yield strength is 370 MPa) Grade steel and the applica- tion of an orthogonal steel deck system. Detailed information can be found in a paper by Liu and Dai [45]. Later, a similar truss arch was built at the BeijingShanghai segment in 2011 with a longer span, i.e. the Dashengguan Bridge shown in Fig. 4b. The hybrid formof truss and arch has also be used, such as the Minjiang Bridge in Fig. 4c with a span arrangement of (99 + 198 + 99) m. The key (a) Kunyang Bridge (b) Yichang Yangtze Bridge Fig. 3. Hybrid arch-rigid frame bridges in the HSR of China. N. Hu et al. / Engineering Structures 74 (2014) 233241 237 structural features of steel truss arch bridge are introduced with the Dashengguan Bridge. The Dashengguan Bridge supports a six-line railway, including two regular rails, two HSR and two subway lines. A six-span steel truss with (108 + 192 + 336 + 336 + 192 + 108) m was selected to provide the large stiffness for such heavy live loads. Similar to the Dongping Bridge, the three truss planes in the longitudinal direction was used with a spacing of 15 m. The depth of the truss arch rib varied from 12 m at the crown to 96 m at the spring line. Sixteen meter depth uniform truss sections are used at both side spans. This bridge consumed more than 20.12 tons of Q420qE Grade steel (yield strength is 420 MPa). The use of a steel box as the deck system is another feature in the design of this steel truss arch. This 16 mmthick steel orthogonal plate is adopted as the bot- tom chord of the entire truss segment to reduce uneven deection on the deck. A nal design feature presented here is that the hang- ers of the main span have an octagonal thin-wall cross-section to improve the aerodynamic characteristics. A seismic analysis for this structure can be found in a paper by Xia and Zhong [46]. More detailed structural dimensions can be found in the paper by Gao et al. [47]. The greatest difculty encountered during the construc- tion of the superstructure was the installation of the prefabricated truss segments. The lifting of the main truss started from the sup- ports to the mid-span and side span, which is synchronized at three supports. Four closures for this truss arch includes two at the end of each side span and two at the crown of the two main Table 2 Recent completed and ongoing long-span bridges in the HSR of China. Structural type Bridge name Main span (m) HSR segment Built Truss arch Dongping 242 Beijing-Guangzhou 2009 Dashengguan 2 336 Beijing-Shanghai 2011 Minjiang 198 Fuzhou-Xiamen 2011 Cable-stayed with truss girder Tianxingzhou 504 Beijing-Guangzhou 2008 Zhengzhou Yellow River 5 168 Beijing-Guangzhou 2010 Yujiang 228 Nanjing-Guangzhou 2011 Tongling Yangtze 630 Hefei-Fuzhou 2013 Anqing Yangtze 580 Nanjing-Anqing 2014 (expected) Huanggang Yangtze 567 Wuhan-Huanggang 2014 (expected) Concrete arch Beipanjiang 445 Shanghai-Kunming 2015 (expected) (a) Dongping Bridge (b) Dashengguan Bridge (c) Minjiang Bridge Fig. 4. Steel truss arch bridges in the HSR of China. (a) Tianxingzhou Bridge (b) Yujiang Bridge (c) Zhengzhou Bridge Fig. 5. Steel truss cable-stayed bridge in the HSR lines of China. 238 N. Hu et al. / Engineering Structures 74 (2014) 233241 spans. The truss segments at the two main spans were lifted by a cable hoisting system on temporary towers and installed by 70 tons capacity heavy cranes. 4.2. Cable-stayed bridge with truss girder Cable-stayed bridges with truss girders have been widely used as long-span HSR bridges in China. It can be seen in Table 2, the main span of the Anqing Bridge and the Tongling Bridge each exceeded more than 500 m. The milestone project for the HSR cable-stayed bridge in China is the Tianxingzhou Bridge (Fig. 5a) that supported four-track traf- c and a six-lane highway over the Yangtze River with a span arrangement of (98 + 196 + 504 + 196 + 98) m. Similar to the long-span steel truss arch, three 15.2 m uniform-depth truss planes in the longitudinal direction were used, with a spacing of 15 m in order to improve the torsional stiffness of the cross-section and the average tensile stress in each truss member. The truss gir- der has a total length of 1092 m, 14 m per segment for fabrication and erection. This truss girder consumed more than 43,600 tons of steel. At the lower level for the HSR lines, the ballast track bed was adopted. The top chord of the truss segment served as the deck sys- tem for the motor trafc by using 158 m long concrete plates from each end of the side span and a 756 m long orthogonal steel plate for the rest of the main span. The purpose of using a composite sys- tem is to reduce the unbalanced effect on the piers at the side span under the live load. Each truss plane on the girder is supported by a pair of 16 cables for each of the three truss planes (a total of 192 cables) with a total consumption of 4500 tons of steel. The reinforced concrete tower is 188.5 m tall from the top of pile cap, consuming 11,240 tons of steel and 44,088 m 3 of concrete. A detailed description can be found in papers by Liu [48], Qin [49], Zheng and Dai [50]. Since the completion of the Tianxingzhou Bridge, similar spans have been designed. The Yujiang Bridge in Fig. 5b has a span arrangement of (36 + 96 + 228 + 96 + 36) m for supporting dou- ble-track HSR line with a design speed of 300 km/h. The 14 m depth main girder has two truss planes with a spacing of 15 m. Fabrication of girder was conducted using 12 m segment. The rein- forced concrete tower has a height of 105 m. Another example with a longer span is the Anqing Bridge over the Yangtze River that has six-spans (101.5 + 188.5 + 580 + 217.5 + 159.5 + 116) m, using three 15 m depth truss planes with a spacing of 14 m. Fabrication of girder was conducted using 14.5 m segment. The reinforced con- crete tower has a height of 210 m. The material consumption on this bridge is 66,293 t of steel and 53,120 m 3 of concrete [51,52]. Some long span bridge designs use a variation from the tradi- tional cable-stayed bridge with truss girder. For example, the Zhengzhou Yellow River Bridge is an eight-span extradosed bridge with six short pylons, supporting six-lanes of motor trafc on the upper deck and a double-track HSR on the lower deck, as shown in Fig. 5c. A total of 1684.35 m is divided into eight spans with (120 + 5 168 + 120) m length to satisfy the required clearance of the channel. This 14 m depth cross-section has an inverted trap- ezoid shape with a top width of 24 m and a bottom width of 17 m. The truss girder is supported by a total of 60 cables. Six 37 m tall steel pylons stand on the top of the middle truss plane and are rig- idly connected to the main truss girder at each support. Each pylon is fabricated in three segments and connected on the bridge site. The consumption of material includes 26,970 t of steel and 14,109 m 3 of concrete. More details on the design and construction (incremental launching method) can be found in a paper by Gao [53]. 5. Discussion As discussed above, a large number of long-span bridges for HSR have been built in China during the past decade. Based on those examples, it can be seen that the development of medium- and long-span bridges in China relied on the use of high performance materials, efcient structural systems and new construction methods [49,53,54]. High strength steel and high performance concrete have been widely used in the long-span HSR bridges in China. As discussed in the medium span section of this paper, high performance con- crete is commonly used to provide higher strength and durability. For long span HSR bridges, a steel truss girder is widely used. Heavy live loads lead to a larger internal force in truss members. For example, the maximum member force on the Dashengguan Bridge exceeds 10,000 tons. Thus, two types of steel were devel- oped to meet this need, including the Q370qE (yield strength is 370 MPa) for relatively lower force members (<5500 t) and the Q420qE (yield strength is 420 MPa) for higher force members (>5500 t). Two major improvements on the structural system of HSR long-span bridges in China are the use of a three truss planes main girder and the use of the orthogonal steel bridge deck. Fig. 6 shows two typical cross-sections of two long-span bridges with three truss planes. This form has been widely used because these long- span bridges need to support multiple lines with a heavy live load. Truss members in these forms can be designed with a smaller size such that the internal force in each member is lower and the trans- port of such members is easier. The orthogonal steel deck is also widely used as a part of the truss system in order to maintain smoothness on the tracks so that high speed trains can run more than 200 km/h on the bridges. Inter-city railway HSR 15 15 1 5 . 2 6 highway lanes HSR City railway 14 14 (a) Tianxingzhou Bridge (b) Dongping Bridge Fig. 6. Three truss planes from HSR bridges. N. Hu et al. / Engineering Structures 74 (2014) 233241 239 The construction of these long-span bridges mainly used the cantilever method, hoisting prefabricated members into position. The main truss girder is generally divided into segments (typically 1416 m per segment). Other construction method was also avail- able for special circumstances, such as the incremental launching method used in the Zhengzhou Yellow River Bridge. Auxiliary facil- ities that ensured the safety of the bridge, as well as the high speed trains include: (1) small clips along the main girder and large expansion devices at the end of main girder to reduce the rotation of the girder and thus maintain the smoothness of the track; (2) High strength ball bearings with freedom of movement in all direc- tions to support large live loads and control the rotation of the gir- der; (3) a number of magnetorheological (MR) dampers were installed along the longitudinal direction to reduce the large dynamic response under earthquake or emergency braking of the trains [55]; (4) Anti-collision devices and warning lights are attached to the bridge to avoid collisions. It is noted that the main span of these HSR bridges are shorter than some highway bridges. For example, the main span of the recently completed highway bridge over the Yangtze River in China exceeded 1000 m. HSR bridges required higher serviceability limits to ensure an average train speed of 200300 km/h with much heavier live load than highway bridges. Nevertheless, the development of new special spans in the future will depend on the social need, the design competition, new concepts and experi- ence [56]. Based on the new techniques discussed above, longer spans have been planned in China with careful feasibility studies. For example, a cable-stayed bridge with a main span of 1092 m has been studied for span over the Yangtze River as part of Nan- tong-Shanghai line that supports both highway and HSR [57]. In addition, feasibility studies of HSR suspension bridges are being carried out, such as a bridge at Yangzhou over the Yangtze River with a main span of 1120 m and a bridge over the Qiongzhou Strait with a main span of 1408 m. 6. Summary HSR offers safe, affordable, green transportation that relieves congestion on highways and traditional railways in China. This paper presented a brief history of the special spans that support HSR over rivers and existing lines with a single span more than 100 m. The construction of medium- and long-span HSR bridges during the past decade is driven by the ongoing development of the national HSR network. Compared to the design and construc- tion of standard spans, special spans still require high serviceabil- ity limits so the trains can maintain high speed on these spans. A variety of structural forms have been used to meet the deection requirements. For medium length, the tied steel arch and the rigid frame are two commonly used forms. The hybrid system of these two forms also offers an alternative choice. For large lengths, the steel truss arch and cable-stayed bridge with truss girder are widely used. Such progress on the design and construction of spe- cial spans in the HSR of China depended on the use of advanced material and construction technologies. 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A Short Guide to the Types and Details of Constructing a Suspension Bridge - Including Various Arrangements of Suspension Spans, Methods of Vertical Stiffening and Wire Cables Versus Eyebar Chains