Engineering Connections Earthquake Proof Bridge | Science Documentary | Reel Truth

Science
The Rion-Antirion Bridge is situated in gulf of Corinth, connecting Rion and Antirion on mainland
Greece. This bridge spans 2,280 meters and it is practically “earthquake proof”. The Rion-Antirion
Bridge lies on the most active seismic zones in Europe. In the gulf of Corinth in Greece, the sea is 65
meters deep and then sand and silt for hundreds of meters down. No solid bedrock means no solid
foundation. Additionally, when an earthquake strikes on a wet and sandy soil, the sand will liquify.
Moreover, building a bridge on this condition is very difficult. Furthermore, the engineers’ solution is to
adapt the properties of a Vetiver grass. The roots of vetiver grass help stabilize soil and river banks across
the world. Therefore, beneath the 3 of the 4 piers of the bridge are 200 metal piles driven into the sand.
Each pile is at least 25 meters long and it still doesn’t reach the bedrock. However, it keeps the sand in
liquidizing during an earthquake and the bridge don’t sink. The piers are about 30 storeys and during an
earthquake, it needs to move freely. Another concept they used is sliding. The piers need to move freely
in the sand but they don’t slide well in sand because of their shape. One solution is to make the bottom of
the pier to curl up but is virtually impossible to construct. Instead of changing the shape of the pier, they
decided to change the properties of the seabed. The solution is the particle size. So, they put gravel in top
of the sand to make the piers move freely in times of earthquake. The purpose of the pier is to hold the
deck of the bridge. During an earthquake, it is safe to say that the bridge has many vehicles passing
through. Additionally, to reduce the shaking of the deck. Moreover, they needed to build the deck in a
way that It allow to move freely from the pier. Engineers adapt the concept of a hammock and a
pendulum. The deck of the Rion-Antirion bridge is fully suspended. As an earthquake strikes and the
piers started moving, the deck will move freely from the piers. However, suspending the deck from the
bridge is not enough. If the deck moves so strong, it might it the four pillars above the piers. So, the
engineers installed a viscous damper. Viscous damper is used to soften movement. Moreover, they adapt
the principle of “predictable failure”. Just like a sprinkler, it will trigger if the surrounding temperature
reaches 68 degrees. Adapting the principle on the bridge, they installed a trigger or a fuse on the viscous
damper below the deck of the bridge that will make the viscous damper work. So, when an earthquake
strikes, there is a fuse that is designed to break at a certain limit and it will cause the viscous damper start
to work. Lastly, the cables are very sensitive to wind just a gust of wind could be dangerous. Thus, a
helical strake is a solution to stabilize and to reduce forces and deflections caused by vortex shedding.
The Rion-Antirion Bridge is truly a marvelous work as it stands on a sand seabed, and the coast of Rion
and Antirion moves away from each other everyday despite that it is able to withstand the impact of an
180,000-ton tanker moving at 16 knots, it is able to resist high velocity windstorms, and it is able to face
tremendous earthquakes.
Reference: Reel Truth Science Documentaries. (2018). Engineering Connections Earthquake Proof
Bridge | Science Documentary | Reel Truth Science. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=dQf_vE7tOlw&feature=youtu.be