The Messina Strait Bridge

Concepts and new perspectives for long span bridges

“…Similar results stand for other configurations or rail loads [4]. It can be seen that for spans around one thousand metres the deck weight is the largest component of cable tension, with significant contributions from road loads and less from the cable self weight.…”

“…If the value of this derivative was zero, no variation of the torsional frequency with the wind speed would occur, and no flutter instability would occur. However care must be taken in reducing this derivative because it must in any case remain positive for single degree of freedom stability here not discussed, see [4]. The chronicle of how concepts and solutions evolved to meet such a challenging goal for the 3300m span of the Messina Bridge is presented in the next paragraph.…”

“…Figure 5 shows the typical first mode frequencies of a super long suspension bridge, based on [4], which do not necessarily occur in the order listed:…”

“…Super long spans shall hence be, in the view of the author, still the domain of suspension bridges in the next years [4]. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the characteristics and limits of the present suspension bridge solutions and technologies, outlining new concepts and attempting to answer a question always present in the hearth of engineers: what shall the future bring ?…”

“…in [4]. When a body, here a bridge deck, is subject to a wind speed of velocity V the pressure distribution and friction action due to the fluid produces on the body a resultant force that can be resolved into in a drag force parallel to the wind and a lift force normal to the wind direction.…”