Difference between revisions of "Qingganhe Bridge"

Revision as of 23:01, 27 August 2016

Qingganhe Bridge
青干河大桥
Zigui, Hubei, China
318 feet high / 97 meters high
814 foot span / 248 meter span
2000

Qingganhe Bridge crosses one of the many tributaries along the south side of the Yangtze River in China's famous 3 Gorges region. Water behind the giant 3 Gorges Dam has backed up into the Qinggan River canyon, often reducing the bridge deck height to just 12 meters.

Qingganhe is one of China's earliest CFST or concrete filled steel tubular bridges whereby concrete is pumped inside the two main steel arch ribs from the foundations upward to the crown. First used by the Chinese in 1990, they have refined and improved the technique and now use it on the majority of their steel arch bridges. Depending on the length of the span and the width of the bridge, different styles of tubing are used. For Qingganhe,double dumbbells were adopted. Other configurations have single tubes further apart or a tight cluster of tubes known as “multiple contiguous”. Once hardened, the concrete solidifies and stiffens the arch, improving the compressive strength of the entire structure.