The 6th International Conference of Asian Concrete Federation

21-24 September, 2014, Seoul, Korea

SUNDA STRAIT BRIDGE

A TITANIC PROJECT CONNECTING JAVA ISLAND AND SUMATRA ISLAND

FX Supartono†
†
CEO, Partono Fondas Engineering Consultant, Jakarta, Indonesia
E-mail: fxsupartono@gmail.com

Abstract

The Sunda Strait Bridge is a titanic project that will connect Java Island and Sumatra Island in
the western part of Indonesia, with a total length of +29.5 km. The bridge is considered urgently
needed to solve the transport problem between Java Island and Sumatra Island, as well as to
boost the economic development of the two islands and the surrounding regions i.e. Banten
Province and Lampung Province. Due to deep sea bed profile at Sunda Strait that shows some
very deep basins of 80 m – 135 m water depth, this bridge should have two ultra long-span
bridges in the east and west part of Sunda Strait crossing the deepest basins, two approach
bridges, and one viaduct connecting two long-span bridges that will cross through Sangiang
Island. As the bridge will be a combined rail-road bridge, the bridge deck is proposed to be
double level, with highway on the upper deck and railway on the lower deck. Due to very long-
span requirement and very deep foundation on the sea bottom, it will cause particular technical
complexity in the design and construction of the bridge, especially for the geotechnical stability
of its sub-structure and the aerodynamic stability of its super-structure.

Keywords: Sunda strait bridge; Ultra long-span bridge; Aerodynamic stability.

1. INTRODUCTION SSB is considered to be a vital and giant project

The transportation network between Java Island
and Sumatra Island, which is representing the
basic framework for supporting more than 80 %
of the Indonesian national logistics distribution,
is still served mainly by sea transport,
particularly for goods that are mostly served by
ferries crossing the Sunda Strait. Due to
unstable weather condition, this mode of
transport often causes long traffic queues that
may delay the transportation time and eventually
lead to expensive transportation cost and long
circulation time of goods.
representing high political and economical
values. In the future regional network, SSB will
also serve as a primary road connecting Trans
Java and Trans Sumatra network, as well as to
become part of the Trans Asian & Asean
Highway and Railway network. In addition, the
construction of SSB will bring about faster
economic development of the two islands, in
particular the Banten and Lampung Provinces.[1]

To overcome that obstacle, the Indonesian

Ministry of Public Works has set up a plan to
build the Sunda Strait Bridge (SSB) that will
connect Java Island and Sumatra Island, with a
total length of 29.5 km.
Fig. 1. Geographic area of SSB study
2. BRIDGE ROUTE SELECTION one viaduct connecting the two long-span
bridges.
The 2013 SSB route study was based on the
result of previous studies, particularly on the In the Alternative 3, due to very wide and deep
2013 Sunda Strait sea bottom profiling and sea bed basin that represents +7200 meters wide
bathymetry study [2] as well as the 2012 SSB at mostly 65 – 80 meters water depth, the bridge
route study [3]. On top of that, this study has should consist of multiple ultra long-span
particularly considered the difficulty of crossing bridges that will be very costly so that is
the deepest sea bed basin of Sunda Strait that economically not feasible to be built.
reaches 135 meters below sea level. As it is
technically uncertain to build the foundation at a Based on the consideration taken in various
depth exceeding 70 meters below sea level, then economical and technical aspects, the
we decide to propose a concept of SSB in Alternative 1 was chosen as the most favourable
accordance with that limitation. route for SSB, which is consisting of two long-
span bridges (Fig. 3 to 5):
Based on the above consideration, three  East Bridge: 2016 meters span, foundation at
alternative routes have been studied (Fig. 2) on 70 meters water depth.
this mixed rail-road bridge project.
 West Bridge: 1224 meters span, foundation at
Alternative 1 and 2 are both routing from Anyer 70 meters water depth.
to Bakauheni (southern route) crossing perpen-
dicular to the deepest sea bed basin. The
Alternative 1 is proposed to be routed through
Sangiang Island while the Alternative 2 does not
cross through that island. The Alternative 3 is
proposed to cross the northern part of Sunda
Strait from Merak to Bakauheni (northern route)
that represents less deep (maximum 80 meters
depth) but wider sea bed basin.

Fig. 3. Selected SSB route

Fig. 4. East Bridge elevation

Fig. 2. Proposed alternative routes of SSB

In the Alternative 1 and 2, the bridge will
consist of one ultra long-span bridge crossing
the eastern basin (East Bridge), having main
span of 2016 meters with a foundation to be
built at 70 meters water depth below sea level,
and one other very long-span bridge that will
cross the western basin (West Bridge), having
main span of 1224 meters with a foundation to
be also laid down at 70 meters water depth. Front view Side view
Besides, the SSB will have two approach
bridges in the Java side and Sumatra side, and Fig. 5. East Bridge tower
This route is proposed to have a Rest Area and 3.3 Alternative 2: Double level deck equipped
SSB Exhibition Center in Sangiang Island, in with emergency lane
order to be able to provide a rest stop as well as
an emergency stop for the traffic if there is a
very strong wind condition.

3. BRIDGE DECK ALTERNATIVES FOR

ULTRA LONG-SPAN BRIDGES

In the bridge structural study, three types of

bridge deck have been proposed for the Fig. 10. Alt 2 East Bridge in normal condition
Alternative 1 and 2, using steel truss system
covered by steel plate of 12 mm thickness (Fig.
6 to 11) to form an aerodynamic shape, and to
be equipped with aeroflow system in the middle
of the bridge deck.

3.1 Alternative 1A: Double level deck

Fig. 11. Alt 2 East Bridge in strong wind condition

4. STRUCTURAL MODELING

Structural analysis of the ultra long-span bridges

Fig. 6. Alt 1A East Bridge
have been performed using two structural
analysis software by simulation in 3-D structural
modeling, i.e. Midas Civil (performed in Jakarta
by PT Partono Fondas’ team) [1] and Ansys
(performed in Shanghai by Tongji University’s
team) [4] as shown in the Fig. 12 and 13.

Fig. 7. Alt 1A West Bridge

Fig. 12. Modeling by Midas Civil on East Bridge 1A
3.2 Alternative 1B: Single level deck

Fig. 8. Alt 1B East Bridge

Fig. 13. Modeling by Ansys on East Bridge 1A [4]

Simulation of the main cable and hangers has

been performed by using the tension-only cable
element that is a three-dimensional spar element
with the unique feature of a bilinear stiffness
Fig. 9. Alt 1B West Bridge matrix resulting in a uniaxial tension-only
element. The bridge girders are semi-floated
above the tower’s main cross beam along the
longitudinal direction. However, the transversal
and rotational displacements of the stiffening
truss girder at those points are all restrained with
the towers.
Here below is the specified strength of structural
steel used in this conceptual design study:
 Main cables : fpu = 1770 MPa
 Hangers : fpu = 1100 MPa
 Steel truss girders : fy = 350 MPa
The bridge tower is proposed to be made by
concrete using 80 MPa High Performance
Concrete in low cement content limited to 200
kg/m3 and added with special additive of blast
furnace steel slag (Fig. 5).
bridge such as long-span suspension bridge can
even determine the feasibility of the project.
Considering this aspect, in our conceptual
design of SSB’s ultra long-span bridges, the
bridge deck is proposed to be equipped with an
aeroflow system in the middle of the deck (Fig
15), in order to be able to improve the
aerodynamic performance of the bridge.
However, final selection of the bridge deck
system between Alternative 1A and 1B was
provided by the Sectional Model Wind Tunnel
Test that has been performed at the State Key
Laboratory for Disaster Reduction of Tongji
University in Shanghai, China.

The above models have been used to perform

the static and dynamic analysis on the ultra
long-span bridges. Meanwhile, for more detailed
structural design check of the girder elements, a
Partial Grid Model [1] has been provided as
shown in the Fig. 14.

Fig. 15. Aeroflow system proposed on the bridge

deck Alt 1A & 1B

5.1 Dynamic Analysis and Mode Shape

Here-below shows part of the dynamic analysis

results that was performed on the SSB’s ultra
long-span bridge model (East Bridge Alt 1A),
on which the first order symmetrical vertical,
lateral and torsion modes are shown in the Fig.
16 to 18 [4].

Fig. 14. Partial Grid Model and Detail A

5. BRIDGE DECK SELECTION

The wind effect and in particular the

aerodynamic behavior of an ultra long-span
bridge can be a dominant factor determining the
bridge stability and safety, on which the
influence of aerodynamic forces is very
important.

More than for any other type of bridges, the

aerodynamic stability of a cable supported Fig. 16. First order symmetrical vertical mode 1A

Fig. 17. First order symmetrical lateral mode 1A
Fig. 18. First order symmetrical torsion mode 1A
From the above result, we obtained the torsion
to vertical mode frequency ratio = 0.1434Hz /
0.0691Hz = 2.0753 that shows a fair value of
flutter stability but needs to be verified by a
wind tunnel test.
5.2 Sectional Model Wind Tunnel Test
Wind-induced vibration behavior of SSB ultra
long-span bridge Alternative 1A and Alternative
1B in service stage are tested through the section
model wind tunnel tests of the stiffening girder
in smooth flow on the attack angle of -3, 0 and
+3 each. The geometrical scale of the models
of Alternative 1A and 1B are made for 1:80.
Those models are designed to simulate the
stiffening girders in conceptual design stage.
The tests are carried out in the TJ-2 Boundary
Layer Wind Tunnel of the State Key Laboratory
for Disaster Reduction in Civil Engineering at
Tongji University in Shanghai (Fig. 19).
The sectional model wind tunnel test for wind-
induced vibration of SSB includes mainly two
aspects, i.e. the flutter stability and the vortex-
induced vibration (VIV in short).
Fig. 19. Sectional model wind tunnel test
Flutter tests are aimed to measure the flutter
critical wind speed and getting eight
aerodynamic derivatives with each attack angle
of two schemes of bridge deck in conceptual
design stage. Besides, we can also obtain the
relationship between the bridge system damping
and wind speeds [4], which is usually difficult to
be simulated by theoretical approach.
Vortex-induced vibration sectional model wind
tunnel test includes six testing conditions,
involving Alternative 1A and Alternative 1B
both stiffening girder sections, with -3, 0 and
+3 of attack angles each. All tests are carried
out in smooth flow. Those tests are aimed to
measure the lock-in region of wind speed and
the maximum resonance within -3, 0 and +3
of initial attack angle [4].
5.3 Ultimate site wind speed for flutter check
The basic wind speed, that means the yearly-
maximum 10-minute mean wind speed in the
bridge site (Sunda Strait) at the elevation of 10
meters above sea level for a recurrence period of
100 years, is taken as V0 = 50 m/s. The terrain
category of the bridge site can be classified as
Type A, on which the exponent  of power law
at the mean wind profile can be taken as 0.12 [5].
According to the international navigation
requirement, the design clearance height of the
bridge deck at the center of mid span is set to
89.90 meters above sea level (≈ 90 meters), on
which the design standard wind speed at the
service state (Vd) can be determined as:
Vd = (z/z10)α V0 = (90/10)0.12 x 50 = 65.1 m/s
Considering the uncertainties in wind tunnel test
as well as in the design and construction of the
bridge, a comprehensive safety factor K is taken
to be 1.2, while the coefficient μf, considering
the effect of turbulence on wind speed and the
incomplete correlation of wind along the ultra
long-span bridge, is set to 1.19.
Then, the ultimate site wind speed for flutter
check in service state for a recurrence period of
100 years can be determined by the below
formula:
Vult = K μf Vd = 1.2 x 1.19 x 65.1 = 93 m/s
Based on the flutter criterion related to the
damping ratios of vertical and torsional
vibration that are controlled under 3‰ for SSB
ultra long-span bridges, we have obtained the
flutter critical wind speed of the East Bridge
Conceptual Design Alternative 1A (2016 meters
span) by identification on the wind tunnel test
results, particularly on the bridge system
damping graph as shown in the Fig. 20. Then,
the flutter critical wind speed of both deck
schemes are summarized in the Table 1.
Fig. 20. East Bridge structure damping ratio vs wind
speed in Alt 1A at +3°attack angle
Table 1. Flutter critical wind speed of Alt 1A and
Alt 1B at service state [m/s]
Ultimate
Wind attack
angle -3 0 
site wind
speed for
Deck scheme
flutter check
Alternative 1A 96.2 99.8 93.8 > 93 (OK)
Alternative 1B 90.8 106.5 110.9 < 93
The above result shows that East Bridge
Alternative 1A (double level deck) will be able
to resist the wind-induced vibration until a
critical wind speed 93.8 m/s (that means above
the required ultimate site wind speed 93 m/s) at
a critical wind attack angle +3o ; while on the
similar test, the Alternative 1B (single level
deck) is failed to fulfil the testing requirement
because it can resist the wind-induced vibration
on a critical wind speed at only 90.8 m/s, that
means below the required ultimate site wind
speed 93 m/s.
Based on those testing results, the Alternative
1A (double level deck) is considered to have
better resistance on wind-induced vibration
effect so that is chosen for further SSB ultra
long-span bridge studies. As the study will
continue, this aerodynamic performance of SSB
will still be a key research subject at the further
feasibility study or even in the future detailed
design stage.
6. ELEMENT FORCE AND DEFLECTION
ANALYSIS RESULT
Here below is the result of static analysis
performed on the East Bridge conceptual model
under all loading combinations, including
seismic load, which shows the highest stress
ratios of its main elements, e.g. the main cable,
hangers, steel truss girder, and the concrete
tower, which were taken from the Midas Civil
calculation’s output:
 Main cable : 0.46
 Hangers : 0.31
 Steel truss girder : 0.86
 Bridge tower : 0.90
The model analysis shows maximum girder’s
deflection under full live loads (that means
traffic moving loads) is 2444 mm, which is still
below the allowable deflection limit according
to Indonesian Bridge Code = 1/800 of the span
length = 2520 mm.
Deflection line of the East Bridge under full
traffic loads is shown in the Fig. 21.
Fig. 21. East Bridge deflections under traffic loads
7. COMPARISON WITH OTHER LONG- connecting East Bridge and West bridge through
SPAN BRIDGES Sangiang Island.

Here below Table 2 and Table 3 shows the

comparison of SSB ultra long-span bridges’
properties and performance with other long-span
bridges.

Table 2. Comparison of bridge properties with other Fig. 22. Approach bridges’ longitudinal section
long-span bridges
Bridge
Main Width Height Mass 10. CONCLUSION
span [m] [m] [m] [t/m]
Messina Strait 3300 60.40 5 22.4 1. Based on the various studies in economical
Akashi Kaikyo 1991 35.50 15.86 43.8 and technical aspects, the conceptual design
of SSB has chosen a bridge route from Anyer
SSB Alt 1A 2016 51.80 9.76 48.2
to Bakauheni that is crossing perpendicular
SSB Alt 1B 2016 60.35 5.80 51.1 to the deepest eastern sea bed basin and
routing through Sangiang Island, with a total
Table 3. Comparison of aerodynamic performance length of 29.5 km.
with other long-span bridges 2. The bridge consists of two ultra long-span
Bridge Main span [m] V10 [m/s] Vcr [m/s] bridges, i.e. East Bridge that has the longest
Akashi Kaikyo 1991 46 >86
span of 2016 meters, and West Bridge with
span length of 1224 meters. Both bridges are
Tsing Ma 1377 45 >95
proposed to use 80 MPa concrete towers and
Xi Hou Men 1650 41.1 >84 350 MPa (yield strength) steel truss girders
SSB Alt 1A 2016 50 >93.8 formed with an aerodynamic shape.
SSB Alt 1B 2016 50 >90.8 3. Foundations of both ultra long-span bridges
are proposed to use 60 MPa precast concrete
caisson that is to be placed at 70 meters water
8. BRIDGE FOUNDATION depth below sea level.
4. Based on the sectional model wind tunnel
Foundation of SSB ultra long-span bridge’s testing result, the double level deck type is
tower is proposed to use the large concrete chosen for the ultra long-span bridges,
caisson in the form of 130 meters x 80 meters because it is considered to have a better
straight edge oval and 20 meters of thickness, resistance on wind-induced vibration effect.
which is proposed to be made by 60 MPa 5. As the study will continue, the aerodynamic
precast hollow concrete in a dry dock yard on performance of SSB will still be a key
shore, then to be pulled away and laid down research subject at the further feasibility
later onto a reinforced ballasted sea bed at the study or even in the future detailed design
correct tower’s position, and finally to be poured stage.
with continuous concreting on the hollow part
using 60 MPa high performance concrete
simultaneously with the giant pier construction. 11. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author would like to thank the Sunda Strait

9. APPROACH BRIDGES AND VIADUCT
The SSB’s approach bridges and viaduct are
proposed to use the concrete bridges with 150
meters span [1], which can be a type of precast
balance cantilever girders with concrete closure
in the middle of each span (Fig. 22). Among
those spans, it is considered to provide a simple
supported movable closure in every five spans
in order to allow longitudinal deformation of the
bridge decks. The approach bridges will consist
of that from Java to East Bridge and from
Sumatra to West Bridge as well as the viaduct
Bridge Design Working Group of the
Indonesian Ministry of Public Works in Jakarta
as well as the State Key laboratory for Disaster
Reduction in Civil Engineering of Tongji
University in Shanghai, China, for their kind
support and cooperation in this study.
REFERENCES
[1] PT. Partono Fondas, ‘Study and Conceptual
Design Report of Sunda Strait Bridge Route
and Structures’, 2013.
[2] PT. Perencana Djaja, ‘Study Report on the
Long-span Bridges of Sunda Strait Bridge’,
2011.
[3] PT. Delta Tama Waja, ‘Sunda Strait
Bathymetric Survey and Compilation
Report’, 2013.
[4] State Key laboratory for Disaster Reduction
in Civil Engineering of Tongji University,
‘Sunda Strait Bridge’s Sectional Model
Wind Tunnel Test Report’, 2014.
[5] Ministry of Communication of the People’s
Republic of China, ‘Wind-resistant Design
Specification for Highway Bridge (JTG/T
D60-01-2004)’, 2004.