DOI: 10.1002 / bate.
201500013
Alberto Carlucci, Martin Hooton, Hj Mazlan Abd Salim, Sammy Yip, Kelvin Moneypenny, Steve Kite
Temburong Bridge, Brunei – Design of two cable
stayed bridges
The Temburong Bridge Project is a 30 km long dual two-lane
highway crossing over the Brunei Bay. It will connect the rela-
tively isolated Brunei district of Temburong to the other three
Brunei districts. The main objective of the project is to stimu-
late economic growth in the Temburong region by connecting it
to the country’s airport and ports. The alignment crosses two
navigation channels resulting in the need for two cable stayed
bridges – the Brunei Channel Bridge (145 m main span) and the
Eastern Channel Bridge (260 m main span).
The design of these cable stayed bridges is one of the first ap-
plications of the Eurocode to a fully concrete cable stayed
bridge. Both cable stayed bridges draw on strong Islamic ar-
chitectural influences from the region to form a tower shape
that is unique and instantly recognisable.
Keywords Cable stayed bridge; concrete ladder beam deck; sea crossing;
Eurocodes
1 Introduction
The Brunei district of Temburong is separated from the
other three Brunei districts by the Brunei Bay and
Malaysian state of Sarawak. The journey time between
Temburong and the rest of Brunei can take several hours
by road through Sarawak, else, the journey can be made
by boat across the Brunei Bay. This separation has limit-
ed the potential economic growth of Temburong com-
pared to the more prosperous Brunei-Muara district.
The Cadangan Projekt Jambatan Temburong (Tem-
burong Bridge Project) is a proposed 30  km long dual
two-lane highway project to connect Temburong and
Brunei-Muara, thus giving Temburong an economic
boost from direct highway access to the country’s airport
and ports. The construction is planned for completion in
2018.
The whole crossing comprises of a 14.6 km long marine
viaduct, 12  km long section of elevated structure over
peat swamp forest, 3 km of tunnel and several kilometres
of highway at grade. Further description of the project is
given in [1].
There are two navigation channels along the marine sec-
tion of the crossing – the 130 m wide Brunei Channel and
the 235 m wide Eastern Channel. To cross these channels
220 © Ernst & Sohn Verlag für Architektur und technische Wissenschaften GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin. Bautechnik 92 (2015), Heft 3
BERICHT
Temburong Brücke, Brunei – Entwurf von zwei
Schrägkabelbrücken
Die Temburong Brücke ist eine 30 km lange Verbindung über
die Brunei Bucht mit zwei Richtungsfahrbahnen mit je zwei
Fahrstreifen. Sie wird den relativ isolierten Distrikt Temburong
mit den anderen drei Distrikten Bruneis verbinden. Hauptanlie-
gen des Projekts ist die Stimulierung von ökonomischem
Wachstum in der Temburong Region, indem sie an den Flugha-
fen und Seehafen des Landes angebunden wird. Die Trassie-
rung erfordert die Überquerung zweier Schiffahrtsrouten. Dies
wird mit der Anordnung zweier Schrägkabelbrücken ermög-
licht, der Brunei Channel Brücke (145 m Hauptspannweite) und
der Eastern Channel Brücke (260 m Hauptspannweite).
Die Bemessung der beiden Brücken stellt eine der ersten An-
wendungen des Eurocode auf Schrägkabelbrücken mit Beton-
überbau dar. Optisch sind die beiden Brücken geprägt von der
islamischen Architektur der Umgebung, die Pylonform ist ein
besonderes Erkennungsmerkmal der Brücken.
Keywords Schrägkabelbrücke; Betonüberbau; Meeresüberquerung
cable stayed bridges will be constructed, with main spans
of 145 m and 260 m respectively. These two cable stayed
bridges are the subject of this paper and are herein re-
ferred to as the Brunei Channel Bridge (BCB) and the
Eastern Channel Bridge (ECB).
2 Design Basis
Historically Brunei has adopted the British Standards
supplemented by local standards. As British Standards
have been superseded by the Eurocode in the United
Kingdom (UK), the Brunei authorities took the decision
to adopt the Eurocodes with the UK National Annex for
the project. These standards are supplemented with proj-
ect and location specific requirements, in particular to
take account of differences in climate and seismicity be-
tween Brunei and the UK.
The following are the main loading parameters adopted:
− The highway loading is in accordance with BS EN
1991-2 [2] and the UK National Annex. Load Model 1
and Load Model 3 – SV196 are both adopted.
− Brunei is a tropical climate with small annual temper-
ature ranges and high humidity. The design tempera-
ture range is 15–40Co.
 A. Carlucci, M. Hooton, H. M. A. Salim, S. Yip, K. Moneypenny, S. Kite: Temburong Brücke, Brunei – Entwurf von zwei Schrägkabelbrücken
Fig. 1 Site Plan of Temburong Bridge
Lageplan der Temburong Brücke
− Brunei is located just outside of the south-east Asian
region that is frequently hit by typhoons. Spikes in the
wind speed records from regional anemometers indi-
cate that wind speeds are generally low, but higher
speeds are being recorded due to the action of thun-
derstorms. The 10-min mean wind speed of 26 m/s for
a 50-year return period is a consequence of such thun-
derstorm phenomena.
− The site is a region of low seismicity. The bridges are
founded on a thick layer of soft material (Eurocode
class type S) with spectral horizontal ground accelera-
tion for a 975-year earthquake of up to 0.7 g.
3 General Description
3.1 Brunei Channel Bridge
The Brunei Channel Bridge (BCB) is a single tower cable
stayed bridge with a 145  m navigation span and a sym-
metrical 145 m side span.
Fig. 2 Brunei Channel Bridge General Arrangement
Übersicht Brunei Channel Brücke
BERICHT REPORT
The all concrete ladder beam deck is 37.2  m wide and
formed from longitudinal edge girders with transverse
cross beams at 4.15  m spacing. The stay cables are an-
chored into the edge girders. The edge girders and the
transverse cross beams are post-tensioned. The general
arrangement is illustrated in Fig. 2.
The main tower is a sculpted A-shape, 107 m tall, support-
ed on a group of 2.2 m diameter bored piles. Stay cable
saddles support the cables. The deck is monolithic with
the tower and the deck is supported on high damping
rubber bearings at the end piers which also support the
marine viaducts.
3.2 Eastern Channel Bridge
Despite a longer overall span and differences in width,
the Eastern Channel Bridge (ECB) is conceptually the
Brunei Channel Bridge with two towers.
The main span is 260  m with 130  m side spans. The
all concrete ladder beam deck is 30.2  m wide with a
transverse cross beam spacing of 4.9  m. The towers
are of a similar form to the BCB tower, but slightly taller
at 110.5  m and slightly narrower to suit the deck
width.
4 Parametric Analysis and Design
The two cable stayed bridges show a similar architectur-
al language which reinforces the idea of two bridges
being part of the same infrastructure link. This has been
translated into common shapes and details, even though
the overall arrangement, span lengths and deck widths
are different. The same structural system has been cho-
sen for both bridges and the similarity of the detailing
and the geometry will have a positive impact for the
construction phase as, in the case the bridges will be
built in series, the same equipment can be used on one
bridge might be re-adapted or even re-used for the erec-
tion of the other one.
Bautechnik 92 (2015), Heft 3 221
A. Carlucci, M. Hooton, H. M. A. Salim, S. Yip, K. Moneypenny, S. Kite: Temburong Bridge, Brunei – Design of two cable stayed bridges
Fig. 3 Eastern Channel Bridge General Arrangement
Übersicht Eastern Channel Brücke
Fig. 4 Structural analysis models for BCB (left) and ECB (right)
Computerberechnungsmodelle für BCB (links) und ECB (rechts)
Common structural features of the two bridges have led
to an efficient design process. In fact, given the geometri-
cal and conceptual similarities between the two bridges, a
parametrical analysis of them resulted effective and led to
an optimized design of both structures. A common data-
base to both bridges was created through which, by only
varying the few distinguishing geometrical variables of
the two bridges, it was possible to generate the structural
modelling of them from a unique source. The common
model generation was also tied with similar verification
tools adopted for both structures and this process helped
to improve the efficiency of the design process and re-
duce the total time spent on the design of both bridges.
5 Deck Design
Both Eastern Channel Bridge and Brunei Channel Bridge
have a ladder beam deck that is cast in-situ in sequential
deck segments. The option selection process showed how
this deck choice at this span range is capable of satisfying
the aesthetic requirement of a slender deck line with eco-
nomical use of materials.
Crossbeams span between the edge girders at regular
spacing and they are shaped with a T-section having the
sides slightly inclined to facilitate the removal and reuse
of the formwork system during their casting. They are
post tensioned along their axis by typically two tendons
per beam which are anchored at the deck edges. The
222 Bautechnik 92 (2015), Heft 3
spacing of the crossbeams along the axis of the bridges
was chosen so that the same cross section and a similar
tendon arrangement (i.e. tendon number profile and
types) can be adopted for both bridges. This explains why
the bridge with the wider deck (Brunei Channel Bridge)
has the smaller spacing of crossbeams and vice-versa.
With this configuration the weight of one cast segment,
comprising two crossbeams is similar for the two struc-
tures, and consequently similar erection equipment can
be used for both bridges.
Also the edge girders are longitudinally post tensioned
with the majority of tendons concentrated in the mid-
span regions where the maximum sagging moment oc-
curs. The same number and size of tendons (12 × 31
strand tendons) are defined for both the mid-span region
of the Eastern Channel Bridge and for the Brunei Chan-
nel Bridge spans. The tendons are curtailed to follow the
shape of the bending moment envelope, but they are not
present in the regions close to the tower where the axial
force induced by the stay cables is sufficient to provide
the resistance of the girder.
In parallel to having similar tendon arrangements, the
size of the edge girder is the same for both bridges, 2m
wide by 2.6m deep. The stays are anchored at the edge
girders in proximity to the connection with the cross-
beams and the anchorage blocks of the stays lie within
the width of the edge girders in a clear attempt to make
the detail compact and functional.
 A. Carlucci, M. Hooton, H. M. A. Salim, S. Yip, K. Moneypenny, S. Kite: Temburong Brücke, Brunei – Entwurf von zwei Schrägkabelbrücken

BERICHT REPORT
Fig. 5 Brunei Channel Bridge Deck Cross Section
Brunei Channel Brücke Überbauquerschnitt

Fig. 6 Deck Stay Cable Anchorage Arrangement

Schrägkabelverankerungen am Überbau

Three-dimensional geometric coordination between the

crossbeam tendon anchorages, the stay anchorages and
the longitudinal edge girder tendon profiles was funda-
mental to the design of the edge beam. The area available
to place the longitudinal tendons was circumscribed from
the stay anchorages on one side, the crossbeams anchor-
ages at the top and at the bottom and from a required
minimum concrete cover on the other side to allow a
smooth bend out at the anchorage location.

As a result, the tendons are positioned closer to the cen-

troid of the girder than to the bottom surface but this,
rather than inconvenient, was a clear actuation of the Eu-
rocode design strategy.
In Eurocode 1992-2 [3] Section 7, for post tensioned con-
crete structures exposed to a marine environment, all ten-
dons under the Serviceability Limit State frequent combi-
nation shall remain within the compression zone with a
margin equal to at least cmin,dur to the neutral axis, and
that for the same combination the crack width shall be
limited to 0.2 mm. In conjunction with the tuning of the
stay cables, positioning the tendons close to the centroid
of the section helped to satisfy the decompression re-
quirement and it was found that their efficiency was im-
proved if, within the same combinations, the maximum
tensile stress at the surfaces of the beam was kept below
the mean tensile strength of the concrete, fctm. In this
case, the code allows the designer to consider the section
uncracked for the purpose of stress calculations, which
implies that by remaining uncracked, the entire section is
effective and the neutral axis is kept closer to the surface.
In addition, given that the section can be considered un-
cracked, the required crack width check is automatically
satisfied and the demand of additional passive reinforce-
ment at the surfaces was mainly governed by the Ultimate
Fig. 7 Deck Edge Beam Section
Querschnitt Überbaulängsträger
Limit State capacity checks both in service and, in partic-
ular, during construction.
Close to the tower, where there are not any tendons in
the edge girders, the member can be considered in those
regions as ordinary reinforced concrete element and
therefore the durability crack width check has to be car-
ried out for the SLS Quasi Permanent combinations,
which in accordance to the code do not include any traf-
fic live load. As a consequence, in those regions where
there is a substantial axial compression due to the hori-
zontal component of the stay cable pre-stress forces, the
sections are uncracked under the above combinations
and so, again, the durability crack width requirement is
automatically satisfied with the passive reinforcement
only governed by capacity requirements.
The deck has a 250 mm thick slab which spans between
the crossbeams and within the effective width acts in

Bautechnik 92 (2015), Heft 3 223

A. Carlucci, M. Hooton, H. M. A. Salim, S. Yip, K. Moneypenny, S. Kite: Temburong Bridge, Brunei – Design of two cable stayed bridges
Fig. 8 Tower Visualizations for BCB (left) and ECB (right)
Pylonvisualisierungen für BCB (links) und ECB (rechts)
composite action with the crossbeams in one direction
and with the edge girders in the other.
At their ends, the bridges have solid diaphragms sitting
over the bearings and thus also acting as counterweight
by eliminating undesirable bearing uplift.
In both bridges the deck is integral at the towers through
a torsionally resistant hollow box crossbeam which be-
comes a solid diaphragm at the tower joint.
6 Tower Design
The tower is the unique element of this pair of cable
stayed bridges. It is inspired by Islamic architecture with
the objective to be instantly recognizable.
The side legs have a curved tapering shape in the front
view from the deck, while they are linearly reducing in
section when viewed from the side elevation. The side
faces of the tower, perpendicular to the bridge axis, are
slightly curved in a way to reduce the perception of its
mass and at the same time to be consistent with the curvi-
linear architectural language. The tower legs are connect-
ed above the deck with a recessed infill wall which termi-
nates with an Islamic arch. The arch is framed with a
ribbed feature that originates from the pile cap kicker
level and then tapers out reaching the maximum width at
the crown of the arch. This element is strong with symbol-
ism as each of the four ribs represents one of the four dis-
tricts of Brunei. Above the arch there is a long window
slot in the infill wall, which allows sunlight to filter
through the tower and lighten the appearance of the front
elevation. The four ribs and the slot above them signify
the unification of four districts into one by the project
bridge link. The symbols of the moon and the star mount-
ed on top of the tower are the crowning features.
The apparent complex geometry of the tower was re-
solved structurally with relatively simple solutions and
well established means of construction. The side legs are
the primary structural elements of the tower, supporting
the stay cables. They are characterised by a hollow sec-
tion with constant wall thickness all round from founda-
224 Bautechnik 92 (2015), Heft 3
tion level to the deck diaphragm, and then again up to the
first stay saddle. Then the legs become solid so as to guar-
antee adequate material to resist the increasing localized
compression stresses at the stay cable locations. The re-
cessed upper tower infill provides the necessary stability
to the system being made up of two separate walls. The
cavity between them, in addition to making the structure
lighter and minimizing material use, provides also an in-
spection route from the hollow legs at deck level to the
top of the tower where operational equipment is mount-
ed.
7 Stay cables and saddles
The number of stay cables is an optimisation between the
quantities of the stay cables and the quantities of pre-
stressing required within the deck. As a result of an opti-
misation study, twelve stay cables per fan were optimal
for ECB and 16 for BCB. The stay cables are placed in a
modified fan arrangement. At deck level, the spacing be-
tween the first stay and the tower was maximised to ex-
ploit the structural capacity of the deck girder, and to in-
crease the angle between the first stay and the tower,
which improved the aesthetics of that connection. Stay
cables are anchored at alternate crossbeams so that there
is one stay per edge girder in each segment.
A multi-strand system is specified for the stay cables,
where each 15.7 mm diameter seven-wire strand is indi-
vidually protected against corrosion by being encapsulat-
ed in a tightly extruded HDPE cover along its length. This
system has the significant benefit of allowing installation
and tensioning of each strand, as well as individual strand
removal and replacement. Both bridges have been de-
signed to allow replacement of an entire stay, as well as
the accidental loss of a single stay cable.
During the design process, the determination of the stay
load factors in accordance with the Eurocode was not
straightforward. In fact, depending on the stiffness of the
structure, references should be made to BS EN 1992-2 in
the case of a stiff deck, and to BS EN 1993-1-11 [4] for a
flexible deck, but there is no clear guidance in the code as
to determine to which category a structure belongs. A
 A. Carlucci, M. Hooton, H. M. A. Salim, S. Yip, K. Moneypenny, S. Kite: Temburong Brücke, Brunei – Entwurf von zwei Schrägkabelbrücken
Fig. 9 Tower Cross Sections: section along mid plane (left), side legs hollow section (centre), side legs solid section (right)
Pylonquerschnitte: Querschnitt in Pylonachse (links), Hohlquerschnitt (mitte), Vollquerschnitt (rechts)
comparative study of built structures that were clearly
flexible was carried out. The conclusion was that a struc-
ture can be considered flexible when the application of
the stay force to the final stage model was within the al-
lowable tolerance and resulted in a deflection more than
or equal to the allowable vertical deck tolerance, i.e. it
can be easily measured. Both Brunei bridges satisfied this
rule and therefore the principles of EN1993-1-11 could be
applied. In accordance to section 5 of that code, (G+P)
was taken as equal to Self Weight + Super-imposed Dead
Load + Creep + Shrinkage + Stay prestress, all measured
and confirmed at the time of hand over by reference to
the actual stay loads and the actual achieved deflections.
The (G+P) case was then factored at ULS with factors
1.35/0.95 (or better still with the weighted factors which
consider the different SDL factors in the UK NA) with
the residual creep and shrinkage from handover to time
infinite factored at ULS with factors 1.2/0.0.
Saddles were chosen at the tower so as to avoid the
need for an inspection access route throughout the full
height of each tower leg, which would have been neces-
sary for an anchorage system. This resulted in more
compact and aesthetical appealing towers. Modern cable
saddles address the corrosion protection requirements of
the stay cable system and do not limit the multi-strand ad-
vantage of individual strand replacement. Asymmetrical
frictional loads transferred to the tower are taken up
through the strand and the allowable magnitude of this
force was checked against the rather conservative
COULOMB friction formula reported in the section 6 of BS
EN 1993-1-11.
  
F   
  8.2
max  Ed1   e  M,fr 
 FEd 2 
Where FEd1 and FEd2 are the design values of the force re-
spectively on either side of the saddle, μ is the coefficient
of friction between cable and saddle, α is the angle in ra-
dians, of the cable passing over the saddle and γ is the
partial factor for friction.
Following the normal saddle design approach, a similar
check was also introduced at the Serviceability Limit
BERICHT REPORT
State in order to prevent a sudden slippage of the saddle
in service.
8 Construction
For concrete deck cable stayed bridges, particularly those
that adopt saddles in the tower, the construction sequenc-
ing of the deck is critical to achieve an economical design
and stability during construction. The following construc-
tion sequence has been assumed in the design as no con-
tractor has been appointed at the time of writing.
8.1 Tower construction
The tower construction sequence is conventional, but
with additional complexities due to the shape of the tow-
ers. The tower legs can be cast in constant height lifts of
approximately 4m with a jump-formwork system capable
of adapting to the tapering cross section. The ribs on the
inside of the legs form a constant sized feature within the
leg formwork to a point above deck level where the ribs
start to grow in size. At this point the arch ribs are cast
separately and the leg casting continues up the tower.
Due to the inward inclination of the tower legs, the two
legs are connected with temporary horizontal struts at
regular intervals. These struts can also be used to assist
the casting of the infill concrete wall that spans between
the tower legs. Once the infill wall is cast between the
tower legs the final task is to cast the growing rib feature
above deck level.
Deck construction
(1)
A cast in-situ deck cycle was developed to avoid additional
materials to those required for the in-service condition of
the bridge. For both cable stayed bridges, the first portion
of the deck from the tower to the first stay is cast on false-
work supported by the wide tower pile cap. For the further
segment casting a balanced cantilever erection cycle is pro-
posed. The sequence is that traveller forms are launched
forward, simultaneously or sequentially, into position to
cast the new segments, then all segment reinforcement is
Bautechnik 92 (2015), Heft 3 225
A. Carlucci, M. Hooton, H. M. A. Salim, S. Yip, K. Moneypenny, S. Kite: Temburong Bridge, Brunei – Design of two cable stayed bridges

Fig. 10 Deck casting sequence

Ablauf Überbauherstellung

fixed and the cable stay anchors, stressing anchors and
ducts are installed. The stay cable is then installed and sub-
ject to a first stage of prestressing against the formwork.
Portion 1 (Figure 10) of the east and west segments are
cast, and afterwards Portion 2, and in both cases simulta-
neously or sequentially. Finally the second stage of stress-
ing of the stay cable from both ends is performed after hav-
ing been released from the formwork system.
This sequence will allow the contractor flexibility to cast
the two ends of the cantilevers independently and se-
quentially on the condition that the cantilevers are not
out of balance by more than 50  % of the deck segment
weight acting with the same lever arm. 100 % deck seg-
ment out of balance was not possible as it resulted in an
uneconomical deck and tower, with greater likelihood of
saddle slip during construction. The adoption of tempo-
rary buffeting cables between the deck and the tower pile
cap are assumed in the design for the following benefits:
9 Conclusions
When built, the Brunei Bridges will be landmark and
iconic structures for Brunei.
The towers are the most recognizable elements and,
whilst having an apparent complex geometry, they have
been designed with conventional and well established
structural solutions and means of construction. The
bridges show evident similarities, both in the towers and
in the ladder beam decks, and this led to an improved de-
sign efficiency by adopting a parametric procedure of
analysis while common detailing is expected to bring ben-
efits during the construction.
These bridges have been one of the first applications of
Eurocode to the design of a fully concrete cable stayed
bridge.

− Reduction in wind buffeting response of the bridge 10 Acknowledgements

during construction, in particular at the maximum ex-
tent of the balanced cantilever construction; This paper has been published with the permission of the
− Reduction in the unbalanced bending moment in the Public Works Department, Ministry of Development, the
tower legs due to differential weight of cantilevers can Government of Brunei Darussalam.
be compensated with the prestress of the buffeting
cable.

Bibliography

[1] KITE S., YEE K.O., HUSSAIN N., CHIN K. K., YIP S., TO M.: Autoren:
Temburong Bridge, Brunei – A new 30 km road link. Alberto Carlucci, Senior Engineer;
IABSE Symposium Madrid 2014: Engineering for Progress, Martin Hooton, Associate;
Nature and People, September 2014 Kelvin Moneypenny, Senior Engineer;
Arup, 13 Fitzroy Street London W1T 4BQ United Kingdom
[2] BS EN 1991-2, Eurocode 1: Actions on structures – Part 2:
alberto.carlucci@arup.com, martin.hooton@arup.com,
Traffic loads on bridges, 2003
kelvin.moneypenny@arup.com
[3] BS EN 1992-2, Eurocode 2: Design of concrete structures –
Part 2: Concrete bridges – Design and detailing rules, 2005 Sammy Yip, Associate;
[4] BS EN 1993-1-11, Eurocode 3: Design of steel structures – Steve Kite, Associate Director;
Part 1-11: Design of structures with tension components, Arup, Level 5 Festival Walk 80 Tat Chee Avenue Hong Kong
2006 sammy.yip@arup.com , steve.kite@arup.com

Hj Mazlan Abd Salim, Senior Executive Engineer

Public Works Department
Brunei Darussalam
mazlan.salim@pwd.gov.bn

226 Bautechnik 92 (2015), Heft 3