Sorok Bridge—Standard for an Economical Suspension

Bridge
Sung-bum Chun, Assistant Manager; Jin-hyuk Choi, Assistant Manager; Jae-hong Kim, PE, General Manager; Daelim Co. Ltd,
Technology Research & Development Institute, Bridge Engineering Team, Seoul, Republic of Korea. Contact: [email protected]
DOI: 10.2749/101686612X13216060213239

Abstract
The Sorok Bridge is believed to
represent the best solution for the
construction of a cost-effective sus-
pension bridge for several reasons.
First, in the construction of the foun-
dation, a decrease in the self-weight
of the concrete open caissons due to
their buoyancy allowed a reduction
in the capacity of the floating crane
when the caissons were fabricated on
a floating dock and submerged into
the sea. Second, the diamond shape
of the pylons minimized the scale
of the foundation and increased the
transverse resistance against wind and
earthquake loads. During their instal- Fig. 1: Full view of the Sorok Bridge
lation, the automatic climbing system
was used for the complicated pylon 470 m
geometry. Third, a trapezoidal steel 110 m 250 m 110 m
box girder with a steel deck is more
economical than other types in terms
87,4 m

50,0 m

87,4 m
of the amount of steel needed; it could
be erected using the large-block instal-
lation method because steel was used
for the girder. Finally, the main cable Shipping passage
was installed by the prefabricated 110,0 m × 21,5 m
parallel wire strand method without
a hauling system, thus eliminating the P7
P8
PY 2
cost of such a system and producing PY 1
significant cost savings. Fig. 2: General arrangement
Keywords: economical suspension bri-
dge;open-caisson foundation;diamond-
shaped pylon; trapezoidal steel box located at 25 m above the top slab of the via the ultimate strength design
girder; prefabricated parallel wire foundations. Regarding the stiffening method. During their construction,
strand. girder, the steel weighs 5,0 kN/m2 and they were not influenced by waves
it utilizes a trapezoidal steel box with and tidal current, as the distance from
the steel deck stiffened by U-shaped the seabed to the sea level is within
Introduction ribs. Its height is 2,5 m, and the central the range of 7–15 m. This simplified
space of 2,5 m on the deck supports the construction process. According
The Sorok Bridge,which links Goheung- the monocable and has safety fences. to the initial plan, open-caisson foun-
gun in Jeollanam-do to Sorok Island, It has a self-anchored and monoca- dations constructed on land should
across the South Sea of Korea, was ble system, the diameter of which is be placed by a floating crane with
under construction for seven years 310 mm. In the following section, the a capacity of 3000 t as the weights
before being completed in 2008. The design and construction of each part of of the foundation on pylons 1 and
suspension bridge has a main span of the structure are introduced in detail 2 are 1968 and 2305 t, respectively.
250 m and side spans of 110 m. The in terms of their efficiency, structural However, a floating dock was used
total length of the bridge including system, and aesthetic aspects. to reduce the weights of the founda-
approach bridges is 1160 m (Figs. 1 tions via a buoyancy design, allow-
and 2). The open-caisson foundations Foundation ing a weight reduction from 2305 to
have a diameter of 20 m. It also has 1985 t. By introducing the floating
diamond-shaped concrete pylons with The foundations of the Sorok Bridge dock, a floating crane with a capacity
a height of 87,4 m, with a crossbeam are concrete open caissons designed of 2000 t could handle the placement.

40 Technical Report Structural Engineering International 1/2012

 the concrete quality at the foundations. Therefore, construction proceeded
By selecting a marine batch plant for without an additional device for dis-
the underwater, infill, and cap concrete placement control. In order to prevent
work, it was possible to ensure the additional moment due to horizontal
quality of the concrete. movement during construction, the
global positioning system was used
to monitor the stability of the pylons
Pylon (Fig. 4).
The pylon was designed with a dia-
mond shape, which made it eco- Stiffening Girder
nomical, structurally stable, and
aesthetically pleasing. Above all, the First, a stiffening girder was planned
diamond shape narrowed the distance as a trapezoidal steel box girder with
between the two legs of the pylon at a steel deck plate (Fig. 5). This was
its lower part. Therefore, the diam- regarded economical because the
eter of the open-caisson foundation steel in the trapezoidal box shape
was reduced to 20 m. By reducing (5,0 kN/m2) weighs less than that
the amount of concrete for the foun- when used as either a streamlined box
dation of the pylons, the pylons were shape (5,1 kN/m2) or a truss (6,4 kN/
given an economical design. In addi- m2). Moreover, a girder using steel
tion, the diamond shape increases the instead of concrete enables minimi-
transverse resistance against wind and zation of the foundation; it could be
earthquake loads. They are a part of erected by a large-block installation
Fig. 3: The open caisson lifted with the
floating crane after being constructed on the rigid-frame structural system in method with a floating crane because
the floating dock which the two legs meet at the top the weight per length of the super-
of the pylon. Finally, the appearance structure was reduced. Regarding the
of the pylons is also remarkable. The overall appearance, the bridge is in
The placement sequence was as fol- diamond shape is in harmony with good harmony with its surroundings,
lows (Fig. 3): (a) construction of the the monocable, and the proportion of in that its approach bridges utilize the
open-caisson foundation on the float- the length of each pylon leg above the same trapezoidal box-shaped girder.
ing dock, (b) reducing the weight deck to that below the deck is an aes- Finally, the box girder uses a cen-
of the foundations by floating the thetically pleasing 1,7 : 1. tral web, which divides the box into
completed foundations with buoy- two cells. The central web is required
Regarding the construction of the
ancy, and (c) bringing and placing the because with the monocable system,
main tower, the automatic climbing
foundations floating on the water.3 hanger ropes are located in the middle
system was used, as the axis of each
of the girder, meaning that the center
After the foundations were posi- pylon was changed, which decreased
of the girder requires some form of
tioned in their designated places and the danger related to working at high
reinforcement.
after excavation, underwater concrete places. The height of concrete place-
was cast to the level of their height ment was 4 m per lot, and a total of Erecting the stiffening girder pro-
to ensure stability, against their buoy- 22 lots were placed. Structural analysis ceeded as follows. After temporary
ancy. Water was then removed from was also carried out before connecting bents had been installed to support
the foundations, after which they were the crossbeam as some displacement of the girder temporarily, the girder was
filled with reinforced concrete. In the main tower was expected because erected on the bents with the large-
the case of underwater concrete, it is of the slope of the pylon. As the block installation method, using a
essential to place it in one go. The use maximum displacement is 14 mm, it floating crane for marine construc-
of ready-mixed concrete from a fac- is minuscule compared to the mea- tion. The steel box girder was assem-
tory would have led to problems with surement and construction tolerance. bled and welded at the factory and
was transported by barge. Four blocks
excluding the key segment were
installed by two floating cranes with a
capacity of 600 t, as they weighed 740,5
and 796,1 t. The key segment weighing
418,7 t was erected with one floating
crane of the same capacity (Fig. 6). For

15,7 m
0,6 m 6,0 m 2,5 m 6,0 m 0,6 m
2,5 m

3,72 m 8,26 m 3,72 m

Fig. 4: Pylons constructed by the automatic climbing system Fig. 5: Transverse section of the stiffening girder

Structural Engineering International 1/2012 Technical Report 41

Fig. 6: The key segment erected by a floating crane with a capacity Fig. 7: Strand installed from P8 to PY2
of 600 t

a connection between the blocks in the head of the strands through the the unreeler located on the first side
the field, a steel deck was welded. The driving force of the winches on the span behind the end pier, the socket
lower flange and the web plate were deck at anchorage and on top of of the strand was conveyed with a
linked with high-tension bolts. the pylons (Fig. 7). Of course, this side-span carrier driven by a tower
method is somewhat disadvantageous winch of pylon (PY) 2 (Fig. 8). The
in terms of the required installation strand was then installed from pier
Main Cable period and the degree of constructa- (P) 8 to the top of PY2. On the main
bility, but it is preferable as a set of span, the strand was installed by one
The most notable aspect of the cable
expensive equipment in the form of a tower winch of PY1 from the top of
system is that the main cable was
hauling system is not necessary. PY2 to the center of the bridge and
installed by the prefabricated par-
by another tower winch of PY1 from
allel wire strand (PPWS) method The details of the main cable installa-
the center of the bridge to the top of
without a hauling system. This led tion are as follows. First, a catwalk, as
PY1. On the last side span, the winch
to significant cost savings. A haul- a temporary workspace for the instal-
on the deck of P7 was used to install
ing system for suspension bridges lation of the main cable, composed
the strand from the top of PY1 to
allowed materials to be conveyed by of four ropes with a diameter of 28
P7, and the socket of the strand was
cable equipment attached to a haul- mm and a floor was used. The cat-
fixed at the anchorage of the stiffen-
ing rope driven by a winch. In the walk rope was unreeled and arranged
ing girder.1
common PPWS method, socket car- on a previously constructed deck,
riers move the strands through the because the cable of this bridge is
hauling system. However, especially self-anchored at the stiffening girder. Conclusion
for suspension bridges on the scale It was then anchored both on top of
of the Sorok Bridge, dispensing with the pylon and at the anchorage after In this article, the design and construc-
the use of a hauling system is consid- being clamped and lifted by a crane tion of the Sorok Bridge are explained
ered to be economical and feasible. positioned on top of the pylon. The in terms of its efficiency, structural sys-
The force of the cable is relatively catwalk floor was also raised by the tem, and aesthetic aspects. During the
small because of its not long main hydrocrane on the deck and installed installation of the open-caisson foun-
span, which is only 250 m, and the to the pylon from both the center dations, a floating dock was used to
large sag ratio of 1/5.2 Moreover, and the end. Second, two ropes with reduce the weight of the caissons via
large wires with a diameter of 6,59 a diameter of 32 mm and one carrier buoyancy, allowing the capacity of the
mm are used. These lower the num- running on them were installed onto floating crane to be reduced. Diamond-
ber of strands to 14, with 127 wires each span; the tramway support ropes shaped pylons minimized the diameter
per strand. Therefore, carriers run- served as the rails for the carrier. of an open caisson, and reduced the
ning on two-lane ropes can transport Finally, after a strand reel was set in amount of concrete necessary for the

TS rope
PPWS strand
PPWS carrier 50 t truck crane
Unreeler
trolley PPWS roller 20 t truck
Tower winch wire
Guide roller
Long roller

2900

Anchor bent

Fig. 8: Equipment arrangement at P8

42 Technical Report Structural Engineering International 1/2012

foundation. They also increased the standard for a cost-effective suspen-
transverse resistance efficiently by sion bridge. SEI Data Block
means of the rigid-frame structural Owner:
system. A trapezoidal steel box girder References Jeollanam-do
with a steel deck was applied, as it is
inexpensive compared to other types [1] The construction report of the Sorok Bridge. Contractor:
Daelim Co.Ltd. 2008 (in Korean). Daelim Industrial Co., Ltd
in terms of the amount of steel used. In
addition, the use of steel enabled the [2] Jong-hoon M, Bong-gyo J. Construction of Steel (t): 3900
large-block installation method for the Sorok Bridge. Daelim technical review. 2007 (in Concrete (m3): 9413
girder to be applied. The main cable Korean).
was installed by the PPWS method, Cable (t): 283
[3] Tae-sup Y, Seung-wook J, Hyun-woung K.
and the absence of a hauling system The design and construction of Sorok Grand Estimated cost (USD millions): 44
led to considerable cost savings. Thus, Bridge. Korean Society of Civil Engineers Report
Service date: June 2008
this structure can be considered as a 2005; 3327–3330 (in Korean).

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Structural Engineering International 1/2012 Technical Report 43