Structural Engineering International

ISSN: 1016-8664 (Print) 1683-0350 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tsei20

The Tsukuhara Extradosed Bridge near Kobe

Atsuo Ogawa (Chief Eng.), Tetsuo Matsuda (Construction Mgr) & Akio Kasuga
(Chief Eng.)

To cite this article: Atsuo Ogawa (Chief Eng.), Tetsuo Matsuda (Construction Mgr) & Akio
Kasuga (Chief Eng.) (1998) The Tsukuhara Extradosed Bridge near Kobe, Structural Engineering
International, 8:3, 172-173, DOI: 10.2749/101686698780489199

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.2749/101686698780489199

Published online: 23 Mar 2018.

Submit your article to this journal

Article views: 21

View related articles

Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at

https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=tsei20

The Tsukuhara Extradosed Bridge near Kobe
Atsuo Ogawa, Chief Eng.
Tetsuo Matsuda, Construction Mgr
Japan Highway Public Corp., Kobe. Japan
Akio Kasuga, Chief Eng.
Sumitomo Construction Co.. Ltd. Tokyo, Japan
Fig. 1: The Tsukuhara Bridge
Background
The concept of "extradosed" bridges,
where the stay cables are functionally
similar to external post-tensioning ca-
bles, was introduced by Jacques Mathi-
vat in 1988. The Tsukuhara Bridge
(Fig. 1), part of a road network with
the Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge, is the sec-
ond application of this technique by
the Japan Highway Public Corp. A
decade ago, bridges with a 180 m cen-
ter span were mostly cable-stayed or
massive box-girder bridges, but the
extradosed concept can be applied to
such span lengths, resulting in lower
construction costs.
Originally the Tsukuhara Bridge was
planned as an arch bridge, but the
bridge type was changed because of
the success in Japan's first extradosed
bridge, the Odawara Blueway Bridge.
The extradosed design was also felt
to fit better visually with a nearby
cable-stayed pedestrian bridge. Finally,
seismic design was an important con-
sideration.
172 Structures in Japan
______
Design
The Tsukuhara Bridge is a three-span
frame structure with a main span
180 m long (Fig.2). This clear span was
needed to avoid disturbance of the
lake it crosses, which is used for drink-
ing water. In order to reduce the over-
turning moment of the piers, a con-
crete counterweight has been placed
inside the box girder of each side span.
The ratio of the center span to the tow-
er or girder height is the same as on
the Odawara bridge.
322 800
-
5 400
T
180 000
Al
P1
Fig. 2: Elevation
Structural Engineering International 3/98
Girder
The Tsukuhara Bridge is constructed
with single-cell box girders instead of
the conventional two-cell girders. The
efficiency of erection was enhanced by
using form travellers, and by reducing
the dead weight of the girders. result-
ing in a slab span of 9 m. A finite
element analysis was used in the de-
sign to ensure durability similar to that
of a traditional prestressed concrete
slab deck with a 6 m span.
Twelve external tendons, comprising
19 strands 15.2 mm in diameter, are
placed inside the box girder at the cen-
ter span to resist positive bending mo-
ments. The internal tendons. which are
mainly used for cantilevering. are 12
strands of 12.7 mm diameter. More-
over, a single 28.6 mm strand after-
bond" system is used for transverse
prestressing. which means that epoxy
resin inserted between the strands and
the polyethylene sheathing hardens af-
ter tensioning. Cement grouting is not
necessary in this system.
Pylons
Piers and pylons are V-shaped and stay
cable forces can flow straight from top
to bottom (Fig. 3). Cross beams be-
tween the pylons are not necessary be-
cause the pylon is shorter than for a
comparable cable-stayed bridge. Sad-
dles are used at the top of the pylons to
simplify the installation of reinforce-
ment.
— 76400
P2
Stay Cables
The stay cables of the Tsukuhara
Bridge form a replaceable external ca-
ble system. Each stay cable consists of
27 strands 15.2 mm in diameter, pro-
tected against corrosion with a double
layer of polyethylene. As the maxi-
mum stress change in the stay cables
due to live load is 3.7 kgflmm2, 0.6 fpu
(fpu is the strength of the stay cables)
is adopted. as an allowable stress of
stay cables. Therefore, there is no need
for anchorages with high fatigue
strength. such as those used in cable-
stayed bridges.
The stay cables of extradosed bridges
are functionally comparable to exter-
nal post-tensioning cables. As they are
located on the outside of the girders,
adequate provision has to be made for
the damping of wind vibration. Vibrat-
ing stay cables not only are unsettling
to bridge users, but vibration may lead
to actual breakage of the cables. The
dampers installed in the Tsukuhara
Bridge use the high damping capacity
of rubber for base isolation. This type
of damper is easy to maintain and its
performance is relatively immune to
temperature variations. The dampers
are designed to achieve more than a
0.03 logarithmic decrement, which is
necessary to suppress wind-rain-in-
duced vibration.
Seismic Design
The magnitude of the January 1995
earthquake in the Kobe area was
Fig. 4: Erecting the girder with travellers
Structural Engineering International 3/98
greater than that of the Great Kanto 16800
Earthquake in 1923, the previous 2000 12800 2000
benchmark for seismic design in Japan.
A new set of provisional specifications
for seismic design has subsequently
been drawn up based on the 1995
quake. The Tsukuhara Bridge was de-
signed according to these new specifi-
cations because detail design started
just after the 1995 earthquake. In or-
der to simulate the behaviour of the
bridge during earthquakes, nonlinear
seismic response analyses allowing for
concrete cracking and yielding of rein-
forcement were also carried out in
both the longitudinal and transverse
directions.
Construction
The girders are constructed by the free
cantilevering method, using form trav-
ellers (Fig. 4). An extra-large traveller
with a maximum block length of 7 m
was used for the critical P1 pier, in or-
der to shorten the construction sched-
ule. It was around twice the size of a
standard form traveller.
One of the advantages of the extra- Fig. 3: Pier and pylon
dosed structural scheme compared
with cable-stayed bridges lies in the
tensioning of the stay cables. No ad- in the form traveller. Moreover, the
justment for stay cable forces is need- low pylons can contribute to improve
ed and the stay cables are tensioned at the performance of both the pylons
the same time as the internal tendons. and the stay cables.
This means that a special device for
holding hydraulic jacks is not neces- Construction costs for the Tsukuhara
sary because the jacks can be housed Bridge were lower than for a similarly
sized cable-stayed bridge. Increased
understanding of the structural behav-
iour of this innovative bridge system
is needed to fully exploit its promising
characteristics.
SEI Data Block
Owner:
Japan Highway Public Corp.
Structural engineers. Contractors:
Sumitomo Construction Co. Ltd
Service date: April 1998
Deck surface (m2): 5980
Amount of steel (t): 2000
Volume of concrete (m3):
Structure 10800
Substructure 5600
Total: 16400
Total cost (USD millions): 44.2
Structures in Japan 173