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ts going to be a beautiful bridge.

Near the southern tip of the Republic of Korea (South Korea), the new Yi Sun-sin Bridge will soon connect the city of
Gwangyang with its neighbor to the south, Yeosu. Named for a famous 16th-century Korean admiral, the new bridge
will open a direct route between the two cities commercial areas, eliminating the need for cars and trucks to follow a
circuitous 60-km (37-mi) route. Te bridge will cut travel time between the cities from more than one hour down to ten
minutes. With a total length of 2.26 km (1.4 mi), the bridges central span is the fourth-longest in the world. Planned for
completion in autumn 2011, the US $400-million project will be a key attraction for YEOSU Expo 2012, which is expected
to draw thousands of visitors to the Yeosu-Gwangyang metropolis.
The bridges design is a three-span suspension, with two main pylons roughly 1.5 km (0.93 mi) apart. The pylons, which
stand roughly 270 m (890 ft) tall, are the tallest concrete pylons ever built. When seen in cross section, the pylons have a
trapezoidal shape, which provides both aesthetic and aerodynamic advantages. The pylons curve gently inward and taper
towards the top. Its a complex geometry that produces graceful, visually pleasing results.
The bridges three-span design ofers excellent structural integrity and good visibility for vessels sailing beneath it. The
four-lane roadway will be 20.7 m (67.9 ft) wide and will utilize twin box girder construction for strength and wind resistance.
Te suspension design provides a foating roadway, which ofers improved trafc capacity as well as resistance to damage
by earthquakes.
DAELIM Industrial Company began construction on the bridge in 2009 with the placement of foundations for the two
massive pylons. Te pylons were erected using slipform technology, in which concrete is poured continuously as the form
moves slowly up the pylon. As the slipforms move up the tapering pylon, they are adjusted to produce the correct shape.
Te slipform approach is faster than stationary forms, and there are no construction joints in the fnished structure.
Vertical Curves
Long Distances and Complex Shapes
Stand Tall on a Bridge Project in Korea
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Because of the pylons complex shape, engineers needed to
develop methods to calculate the cross-section shape of the
pylon at any height. Project specifcations call for the slipforms
to be positioned with an allowable error of 50 mm (2 in). The
construction team used Trimble S8 Total Stations to ensure
that the forms stayed within the required tolerances. According
to DAELIM, the Trimble S8 was selected because of its high-
accuracy measurement of angles and distances, rapid measuring
speed and ability to correct for curvature and refraction.
Early in the project, GPS and optical positioning were used to
establish two key control points near the base of each pylon.
Both control points provide a clear line of sight to the opposite
pylon. At each point, a permanent mount and small building was
built to house a Trimble S8 Total Station. The coordinates of the
instruments mount points are known to an accuracy of 5 mm
(0.2 in) relative to the project coordinate system. To provide
targets for the instruments, teams installed large (63.5 mm or
2.5 in) round prism targets in special mounts attached near the
tops of the slipforms. With the instruments and targets in place,
technicians could make frequent measurements of the position
and progress of the slipforms.
To ensure accuracy and precision, most measurements took place
in the early morning, when errors due to atmospheric conditions
are at a minimum. Sighting across open water to the top of the
distant pylon, technicians used the Trimble S8 Long-Range
FineLock technology to automatically point and measure to the
prisms on the slipforms. They made multiple measurements in
direct and reverse positions, and compared the results with ob-
servations from GPS and vertical and rotating lasers. As part of
the projects quality control process, operators compared manual
and automated pointing using the Trimble S8. Tese tests showed
that the Trimble S8 Long-Range FineLock removed human error
and reduced the time needed for measuring.
When each days observations were completed, engineers
compared the measured position of the prisms with positions
computed using each pylons design data. Using an automated
calculation sheet, they could quickly determine that the slipforms
were in the correct location, orif neededmake adjustments.
In the coming years, South Korea expects to build more large
bridges. As the height of pylons and other structures continues to
increase, precise construction processes will become the norm.
To support the demanding construction, high-precision mea-
suring tools and techniques must be closely linked to design and
quality control systems. The technologies used for the Yi Sun-sin
Bridge represent a major step forward in the geometric control for
constructing tall, complex structures. The results are beautiful.