STRUCTURAL THEORY 1

GENERAL  INFORMATION:    LOCATION:  Millau,  France  USE:  Motorway  Bridge  STATUS:  In  Use  COST:  €  394,000,000  HEIGHT:  343  meters  LENGTH:  2460  meters  WIDTH:  32.05  meters  WEIGHT:  290,000  tons  DURATION  OF  WORKS:  38  months  AWARDS:  IABSE  Outstanding  Structure  Award    PROJECT  TEAMS  ARCHITECTURAL:  Norman  Foster  STRUCTURAL:    Michel  Virlogeux  MANAGEMENT:  Eiffage  Concessions  CONSTRUCTION:    

• Eiffage TP (Concrete), • Eiffel Company(Steel Roadway), • Enerpac Company (Hydraulic Supports), • Appia (Asphalt Coating), • Forcium (Electrical Installations)

   

         The Millau Viaduct is the world’s tallest and longest bridge constructed as a cable-stay design that began construction in October of 2001. It is a bridge that marveled the world with new inventions and techniques in order to make this incredible structure exist.

ENGINEERING  ASPECTS    

ü Transportation Engineers developed a way to give solution for the extreme traffic Millau is experiencing.

ü Geotechnical Engineers have to consider the route chosen to be feasible but then, they encountered rock cavities that damaged the limestones which will eventually cause serious landslides. They stabilized the slopes to prevent the repeat.

ü Use of only one set of cables down the center of the bridge instead of the usual two along the sides of the bridge

ü Designed the bridge to have its pylons to split into two instead of having a solid pylon on the way up the bridge. The reasoning behind the split pylon design is not only for aesthetic purposes but also for the purpose of contraction and expansion.

ü Aerodynamic underside to the bridge which actually looks like an airplane wing turned bottom side up. This allows the wind to cut around the bridge in a smooth manner lowering the chance of twisting. To protect the drivers they installed elegant curved wind break grates down the length of the bridge which take the brunt of the force from the wind and pushes it up and away from the roadway.

ü Use of pre-built materials coupled with self moving forms for the pylons.

ü GPS systems were used to assure that pylons would not be off their mark.

ü Use of Hydraulic Pushing System to put the deck in place.

 

REFERENCES/ACKNOWLEDGMENTS:  • Google Sites. Project Millau Viaduct.

Retrieved from https://sites.google.com/site/projectmillauviaduct/

• Structurae. Millau Viaduct. Retrieved from https://structurae.net/structures/millau-viaduct

• Images from Google Images

 

 

 Pylons  

 Aerodynamic  Underside  

 GPS  Systems  

Hydraulic  Launchers