Independent innovations promote Nansha Bridge project

New anchoring system

Behind the main tower of the Nizhou Waterway Bridge of Nansha Bridge is an anchor as large as 15 basketball courts and weighing 650,000 tons.

The 82 meter-wide giant anchor will pull the main cable. As the lifeline project of the suspension bridge, the anchoring system's reliability and durability are essential.

The bridge's anchoring system consists of 29,000 strands. If the replacement time of a single strand was one hour and if the maintenance staff worked 12 hours a day, the time needed to replace all the strands would be about 6.7 years.

The anchoring system stood out among many solutions after analysis and comparison. It solved the problem of uneven forces on the long-span bridge.

Super steel wire

The main cable, the "lifeline" of the suspension bridge, is composed of 32,004 steel wires with a diameter of only 5 mm. It will not need to be replaced for 100 years.

The main cable is made of 1960 MPa ultra-high-strength galvanized aluminum parallel steel wires independently developed and manufactured in China. The Nansha Bridge project is the largest application of this new material in the world.

World's widest suspension bridge steel box girder

The stock is erected in 2017. [Photo by Liu Wei/gznsnews.com.cn]

In 2017, a steel box girder weighing 272 tons was slowly raised. It was erected to the predetermined position of the Dasha Waterway Bridge of Nansha Bridge, marking the world's widest suspension bridge entering the "building blocks" stage of the steel box girder.

Two sections of the Nansha Bridge project are connected on Jan 9, 2018.[Photo by Liu Wei/gznews.com.cn]

The full width of the single-type suspension bridge steel box girder of Nansha Bridge is 49.7 meters, the greatest in the world. The erection of the steel box girder of the Dasha Waterway Bridge also set a world hoisting record.