Design and calculation of the main tower structure of the Longtan Yangtze River Bridge
ZHANG Qingkai
ZUO Ying
HU Chuankai
ZHENG Huakai
Abstract：To improve the safety,stability,and economy of the main tower design of long span suspension bridges,this study takes the Longtan Yangtze River Bridge(with a main span of 1 560 m)as the engineering reference.It analyzes the theoretical key points of the design and calculation of the main tower structure,considering basic actions such as vehicle loads,temperature,wind loads,and earthquakes.Additionally,it takes into account the geometric nonlinearity of the bridge structure,vertical load-lateral displacement effects,and the elastic-plastic behavior of concrete materials.Based on comprehensive calculations,adverse sections are selected,and the calculated length coefficients of components are determined under various adverse load combinations.A variable thickness design is adopted for the transverse and longitudinal main tower walls,adjusting the thickness according to the height of the tower columns.A bi-directional compression-bending static analysis and elastic-plastic analysis are conducted on the selected sections to assess the overall stability of the bridge.The calculation results indicate that using a cubic variable cross-section design for the tower wall thickness along the height can meet the structural stress requirements.Stability calculations show that eliminating the middle crossbeam can ensure the safety of the main tower while enhancing the economic viability and aesthetic effect of the bridge.This can provide a basis and reference for the design and calculation of main tower structures of larger slenderness ratio bridges.
Keywords：long span suspension bridgecalculated length coefficientgeometric nonlinearityelasto-plastic analysisbidirectional bendingslenderness ratio
Publication Date：2025-11-30
Online Publishing Date：2026-05-22(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：8( 78-85 )