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Preliminary Design of Four Optional Long Bridge Solutions for the Western
Scheldt Crossing, Netherlands
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Ryszard A. Daniel
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Summary
Two structural systems dominate the choice of a very long span bridge nowadays – the suspension
and cable-stayed bridge, both with one or more main spans and in steel or concrete version. Yet, the
combination of these possibilities leaves the designer with quite many options. The question which
option represents the best choice has been studied in details as part of the Western Scheldt Crossing
project in the Netherlands. This paper presents the conclusions of that study and the comparative
conceptual designs of four final bridge options. The results can be indicative for prospective studies
on long span bridge crossings in other projects.
Keywords: Long span bridge, suspension bridge, cable-stayed bridge, navigable clearance, pylon,
main span, multiple span, suspension cable, anchor block, bridge girder.
1. Introduction
Netherlands is a country with the most compact network of both roads and waterways in Europe.
These networks are of vital importance to the Netherlands’ economy, the big part of which directly
or indirectly serves the freight transport from and into the member states of the European Union.
The crossings of roads and waterways are, obviously, of prior concern too – in particular when not
only Dutch but also foreign vital interests are involved.
In the 1990’s, a project of the Western Scheldt river crossing was carried on. The river provides the
main access to the Belgian harbour of Antwerp, one of the biggest harbours in Europe. As the
crossing was to be located near the city of Terneuzen, i.e. downstream of Antwerp, the combined
bridge-tunnel option was considered. It was meant to provide an unlimited navigation clearance for
the largest vessels above the tunnel section – and a limited but still large clearance under the bridge
(Fig. 1). This idea was an option to the entire tunnelling that finally won the competition for other
than technical reasons. Nonetheless, the performed studies and designs of the bridge delivered many
valuable conclusions. Several of them are still valid now and will be presented in this paper.
Fig. 1: Situation sketch (a) and a bird view (b) of the intended bridge-tunnel crossing
2. Four bridge options
As the river width section to be bridged equalled more than 2 km and the navigation requirements
did not allow for many pillars in that section, only the long span bridge systems could be taken into
account. This included suspension bridges and cable-stayed bridges. Other systems, even if feasible
in technological sense, were considered economically not competitive for this project. The study on
possible longitudinal profiles of the crossing resulted in four options: two with suspension bridges
and two with cable-stayed bridges (Fig. 2):
1. Single main span suspension bridge;
2. Double main span suspension bridge;
3. Steel cable-stayed bridge of three middle spans;
4. Concrete cable-stayed bridge of four middle spans.
Fig. 2: Four bridge system solutions for the Western Scheldt crossing
All these options satisfied the navigation requirements by providing either one 400 m wide or two
250 m wide ship passages. Though the Western Scheldt is a tidal river in that area, the requirements
of proper navigation draught and overhead clearance did not present a major problem too. The
inclusion of a double main span suspension bridge option caused, however, some discussion. This
system was generally not favoured at that time due to the high horizontal loads on the middle pylon.
In Fig. 3, the horizontal and
vertical loads from each of the
two cables are compared for a
single and double main span
suspension bridge. The extreme
horizontal load on the middle
pylon of the double main span
bridge proved to be 12,5 times
higher than that on the single
main span bridge pylon.
Fig. 3: Cable loads atop pylons of the single and double main span suspension bridge
Despite that, the double main span suspension bridge still proved to be feasible and there was no
ground for ruling it out in this project. Today, this conclusion does not surprise any more, as we
know that long, double main span suspension bridges become a reality. At least two bridges of this
system undoubtedly prove it: the recently opened Jiangsu Taizhou Bridge and the Anhui Maanshan
Bridge, both over the Yangtze River. The Chinese engineers have taken the leading position in the
realization of this idea [1]. For the discussed project, a more detailed comparison between the single
and double main span suspension bridge has been presented on the IABSE Conference in Venice in
2010 [2]. The current paper aims at comparing the main parameters, performances and structural
details of all the four bridge options considered.
3. Design specifications
The Western Scheldt crossing was intended to provide a road traffic connection between the South
Beveland peninsula and the Zeeland Flanders – two lands in the Rhine, Meuse and Scheldt delta in
the Dutch province of Zeeland. The crossing had to enable single lane road traffic in both directions.
Additionally, service lanes had to be provided on both sides of the road. In the bridge design, these
service lanes had, however, to be considered as second traffic lanes in terms of both geometry and
variable loads. On a suspension bridge, e.g., the specified road cross-section was as follows (Fig. 4):
The design traffic load was of the so-called class 60, according to the Dutch code NEN 6788, which
was the highest design traffic load on public road bridges in the Netherlands. The wind loads, high
at that location, were specified in accordance with the same code. Obviously, these loads were not
only relevant for the static stability but also for the bridge dynamic behaviour, in particular the wind
induced vibrations. The vibrations of different components – like the main girder, hangers and stay
cables – were subject to thorough feasibility studies. Due to the intensive navigation of large vessels,
thorough attention was also paid to the risk of ship collision on bridge piers. The collision loads had
to be considered at the most critical level for the structure. Their design values were related to the
number of bridge piers as follows:
• 2 piers: 110 MN on each pier;
• 3 piers: 130 MN on each pier;
• 4 piers: 140 MN on each pier;
• 5 piers: 150 MN on each pier.
The transition between the bridge and the tunnel required an island in the middle section of the river
crossing. All the four options required different dimensions of this island. Therefore, the total length
of the bridge was not determined in the project specifications. It was left free for tender conceptual
designs. However, an evident island location was the existing so-called middle plate in the riverbed.
The plate and the existing navigation conditions strongly indicated that the total length of the bridge
part of the crossing should be between 2000 and 2500 m. Other most relevant design conditions for
the bridge part of the crossing were as follows:
• Required safety factor for main cables, hangers and cable stays: 2,25;
• Failure of one hanger or cable stay may not cause functional failure;
• Sea level rising in the coming 100 years: 0.60 m;
• Required navigable width: one opening of 400 m or at least 2 openings of 250 m each;
• Navigation overhead clearance: at least +43.0 m above the normal sea level;
• Free navigable draught: at least -10.00 m under the normal sea level;
• Required total service life of the bridge: minimum 100 years.
Fig. 5: Four bridge options for the Western Scheldt crossing
4. Reference designs
The Netherlands’ Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management and the authorities of
the Zeeland Province decided to put up the project for tender in a design-and-build (D&B) contract.
However, the size and the unique character of the project required a thorough investigation of all
possible options prior to tendering. In order to investigate the feasibility, costs, construction time,
risks and other implications, detailed analyses and design drawings were performed. Fig. 5 presents
the side views of the 4 bridge options, along with their principal geometrical arrangements.
Obviously, the division into bridge spans, pylon heights, hanger and cable-stay spacing etc. reflect
the views of 1990’s. These views have slightly changed since then, e.g. a number of suspension and
cable-stayed bridges with larger spans have been constructed. These changes are, however, not big
when the ‘main stream’ of large bridge projects is considered, not only the current record holders. In
this view, the comparison of the Western Scheldt bridge designs remains indicative for the system
selection of large bridges today. Following is a short description of the four bridge designs.
Fig. 7: Pylons of
the double main
span suspension
bridge
economical choice (Fig. 7) [3]. The middle pylon does not look very heavy in Fig. 7 only because
for aesthetical reasons thicker plates rather than larger sections were chosen. In fact, it still weights
2100 tons, compared to 1400 tons of the side pylon of the same bridge and 1800 tons of the much
higher pylon of the single main span bridge, see Table 1 further in this paper.
References
[1] GE Y.J., XIANG H.F., “Bridging capacity innovations on cable-supported bridges”,
proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Bridge Maintenance, Safety and
Management, Seoul, July 2008, Taylor & Francis Group, London, 2008, 19 p.
[2] DANIEL R.A., DOOREN F.J. van, MEIJER R.H. de, Comparison of a Single and Double
Main Span Suspension Bridge for the Western Scheldt Crossing, proceedings of the IABSE
Symposium “Large Structures and Infrastructures…”, Venice, September 2010, 8 p.
[3] VIRLOGEUX M., “Millau Viaduct, France”, Structural Engineering International,
February 2005, vol. 15, no. 1.