Trucks driving across the bridge

Recently, as 28 four-axle heavy trucks with a total weight of 980 tons slowly drove across the bridge, the Bridge Division of Tiezheng Company under China Railway 14th Bureau Group successfully completed the load test project for the Dong'e-Dongping Yellow River Highway Bridge, the company's first prestressed concrete low-pylon cable-stayed bridge, ensuring the final quality check before the bridge opens to traffic at the end of the year.

According to reports, this inspection combined currently advanced domestic equipment such as a multifunctional vibration testing system, bridge deflection detector, and wireless dynamic and static strain gauges. Through scientific and meticulous on-site testing, it comprehensively inspected and verified the construction quality of the bridge structure and its load-bearing capacity. A preliminary analysis of the on-site test data shows that the overall mechanical performance of the bridge meets the code and design requirements.

The company actively leverages its advantages in traditional inspection and testing experience, guides various business lines along the path of specialization, refinement, distinctiveness, and innovation, continuously intensifies technological innovation, attaches importance to cultivating multi-skilled talent, and uses new scientific instruments and equipment to seize market opportunities in the testing field. Since the beginning of this year, it has successively undertaken the load test of the Changhuikou Bridge, Weihai's first sea-crossing cable-stayed bridge, and the regular inspection and load-bearing capacity assessment test of the Binzhou Yellow River road-rail bridge, known as the "First Bridge over the Thousand-Li Yellow River."

"The load test was originally scheduled for three days, but you completed it 18 hours ahead of schedule, lifting the bridge closure period early, minimizing the travel inconvenience caused by traffic control to the greatest extent, and ensuring the normal operation of the road. Your professionalism showed me the fast and excellent Tiezheng speed." The load test undertaken by the company has been repeatedly recognized by the owner of the Binzhou road-rail bridge.

"Since entering the site, we have mobilized a total of 10 technical backbone personnel to work on the bridge site. The low-pylon cable-stayed bridge combines the characteristics of cable-stayed bridges and continuous rigid-frame bridges, and its structural stress state is complex. We designed a total of 15 combined test conditions, 150 stress measurement points, 145 deflection measurement points, and 196 cable force measurement points," introduced Zheng Dexin, the project's chief commander.

It is understood that the static load test used 28 four-axle heavy trucks with a total weight of 35 tons each as the design equivalent load. All test loading vehicles were assembled one day before the start of the static load test, and preparations such as loading, weighing, wheelbase measurement, and cleaning and covering were completed. At the start of the test, the 28 trucks with a cumulative weight of 980 tons loaded the most unfavorable positions of the bridge in four stages. Hundreds of sensors were installed on the bridge to observe the structural response under static load.

The dynamic load test items included obstacle driving tests and unobstructed driving tests. Four 35-ton trucks passed over the bridge at speeds of 20–100 km/h to test the dynamic strain of the main girder under actual moving vehicle loads, simulate the dynamic response of the bridge span structure under normal operating vehicle loads, and examine whether the bridge's impact factor and other parameters meet code requirements.

After the Dong'e-Dongping Yellow River Highway Bridge opens to traffic, it will greatly benefit people on both sides of the Yellow River, allowing them to cross the "natural moat of the Yellow River" within ten minutes. It will not only provide a convenient corridor for short-distance transport within the region and transit traffic inside and outside the province, but also improve transportation links between northwestern and southwestern Shandong. It will play a major role in improving the regional transportation layout, improving the investment environment, expanding opening-up, and promoting rapid regional economic development.

The successful conclusion of this load test marks the official start of the countdown to the bridge's opening to traffic, and will also provide a basic technical basis for the subsequent completion acceptance, health monitoring, and operation and maintenance management of the bridge.

Robot inspecting the appearance of the cable body