The Rion-Antirion bridge—when a dream becomes reality

Abstract

Opened to traffic in August 2004, the Rion-Antirion Bridge crosses the Gulf of Corinth near Patras in western Greece. It consists of an impressive multi cable-stayed span bridge connected to the land by two approaches.

An exceptional combination of physical conditions made this project quite unusual: high water depth, deep strata of weak soil, strong seismic activity and fault displacements. In addition a risk of heavy ship collision had to be taken into account.

The structure has been designed in view of challenging severe earthquakes and ensuring the everyday serviceability of the link as well. To make the bridge feasible, innovative techniques had to be developed: The strength of the in situ soil has been improved by means of inclusions; the bridge deck has been suspended on its full length, and therefore isolated as much as it can be.

Keywords

bridge / multi cable-stayed spans / soil reinforcement / inclusions / yield theory / capacity design / push-over / dry dock / wet dock

References

[1] Teyssandier J P, Combault J, Morand P. The Rion-Antirion Bridge Design and Construction. In: Proceedings of the 12th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering. Auckland, New Zealand, 2000

[2] Pecker A. A seismic foundation design process, Lessons learned from two major projects: the Vasco da Gama and the Rion-Antirion Bridges. ACI International Conference on Seismic Bridge Design and Retrofit, La Jolla, Californi, 2003

[3] Combault J, Morand P, Pecker A. Structural Response of the Rion-Antirion Bridge. In: Proceedings of the 12th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering. Auckland, New Zealand, 2000

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2014 Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg