Project

Arup and Aas-Jakobsen conducted an independent design check on what will become the world’s longest suspension bridge, combining international knowledge of long-span bridge design, structural engineering, and geotechnical engineering. The 1915 Çanakkale Bridge will have a main span of 2,023 meters, side spans of 770 meters, a tower height of 318 meters, and a total length (including approach bridges) of 4,608 meters. The bridge is situated near the historic site of Gallipoli, about 250 kilometers southwest of Istanbul. It will connect the Asian and European continents and is part of the new highway between Kınalı and Savaştepe. The main challenges for the design are the record span and the geotechnical conditions at the site, as a result of the bridge being located in a seismic region, and the aerodynamic stability. To address the latter issue, the designer chose a split deck design, and the behavior has been confirmed by extensive wind tunnel testing.  

Solution

To address aerodynamic stability, a split deck design was chosen and its behavior confirmed by wind tunnel testing. Aas-Jakobsen and Arup developed an advanced model of the bridge by utilizing a combination of integrated modeling functions and the versatile input script capability in RM Bridge (now consolidated into OpenBridge Designer, an integrated bridge solution to meet the modeling, design, and construction needs of bridge software users). The program allowed full geometry and cable force control, even for highly flexible structures like long suspension bridges, which would have been difficult to design without these capabilities. The team used the wind module to verify the split deck and performed time history analyses with non-linear bearings and dampers to verify the seismic behavior. The team also used spreadsheets to deliver extensive data for detailed local analyses and design checks throughout the process.