12 JUNE 2019 ENGINEERINGBEARINGS
Building Bridges
Bridges are sensitive structures. They become stressed by enormous forces,
must withstand heat and freezing cold temperatures, and can also be exposed
to storms and earthquakes. Often, hidden behind these steel and concrete
bridges are impressive interiors that must deliver on their promisesA
round the world, plain bearings,
cylindrical roller bearings and
spherical roller bearings from
Schaeffler are helping to ensure the
stability and durability of buildings,
sports arenas, man-made lakes and
bridges. For centuries, these structures
have physically connected urban
neighbourhoods, islands and countries,
as well as helping to bring different
people and cultures together.
The first bridges were inspired by
nature. In the wake of industrialisation,
the addition of concrete and steel
opened up new opportunities for
bridge builders around the world. In
many places today, aluminium alloys
and carbon fibre reinforced plastics are
also used. In 2019, the opening of the
first 3D-printed bridge is planned in the
Netherlands.From swing to suspension bridges
Equally varied are the types of bridges
that exist such as swing, bascule, rolling,
draw, lift, suspension and cable-stayed
bridges. Of all Europe’s cities, Hamburg
has the highest number of bridges –
some 2,500 in total – more than Venice
and Amsterdam combined.
Among existing bridges thereare numerous masterful feats of
engineering, joined by new ones such as
the “Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge.”
This bridge is 55 kilometres long, built
from 420,000 tonnes of steel, and is
the world’s longest sea crossing. The
bridge connects Hong Kong and Macau
to the Chinese mainland. This high-tech
structure is said to withstand wind
speeds of 200 km/h, 8.0-magnitude
earthquakes and collisions with tankers
and container ships of any size. Equally
important is the near-50-kilometre
bridge construction of the “Sheikh Jaber
Al Ahmad Al Sabah Causeway” above
Kuwait Bay. This structural behemoth is
planned for completion in 2019.
Even longer, albeit mostly traversing
land, is the Danyang-Kunshan Grand
Bridge. 164 kilometres make it the
longest bridge in the world. It meandersalong the Yangtze River, spanning rivers,
canals, canyons, creeks, plains, hills,
lakes and rice paddies for the Beijing-
Shanghai High-Speed Railway.
The operators of many bridges around
the globe rely on large bearings from
Schaeffler that provide high load ratings,
low friction and high reliability, even in
the most challenging environments.In the “Puente de la Mujer” rotating
footbridge, for example, which has
become a landmark of Argentina’s
capital Buenos Aires, a single,
maintenance-free axial spherical bearing
from Schaeffler supports the bridge’s
entire weight of 800 tonnes.
The four pivot points of the “Porta
d’Europa” bascule bridge in the port
of Barcelona rest in large spherical
plain bearings from Schaeffler with
670-millimetre bores. With a span of
106 metres, it is one of the world’s
largest double-leaf bascule bridges.
The twelve-lane “Van Brienenoord
2” freeway bascule bridge in Rotterdam,
across which more than 250,
vehicles travel each day, uses four
spherical roller bearings from Schaeffler.
They have 850-millimetre bores.
In the “Storebæltsbroen” bridge –
one of the world’s longest suspension
bridges at 1,624 metres – between the
Danish islands of Funen and Zealand, 12
spherical plain bearings from Schaeffler
compensate for any oscillations caused
by the wind and traffic.
In 2016, the “Osman-Gazi” bridge in
Turkey was opened with support from
Schaeffler. This all-steel bridge is located at
a height of around 60 metres above the
Sea of Marmara in the south of Istanbul.
The area is regarded as particularly
earthquake-prone, so the fourth-largest
suspension bridge in the world was
equipped with special technology that
constantly withstands potential tremors,
movements and stress. Schaeffler supplied
109 spherical plain bearings and 72
bushes for the areas in which individual
bridge sections and bridge cables are
connected to the foundations.Schaeffler field
engineers provided
assistance to
mount the bearing
in the cable sheave