What are the innovations in the construction process of steel bridges?

2025-03-27 15:56:52

As an important form of modern bridge engineering, the construction process of steel bridge is undergoing unprecedented technological changes. Under the background of the deep integration of industrialized construction and digital technology, a number of breakthrough innovations have emerged in the field of steel bridge construction, which not only reconfigure the traditional mode of bridge construction, but also promote the transformation of the whole industry in the direction of intelligence and greening.

Accurate construction driven by digital twins

The 3D modeling system based on BIM technology realizes the whole life cycle management of Steel Structure bridges. During the construction of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, CCCC Second Public Company Limited simulated the steel box girder segments with millimeter-level accuracy through BIM modeling, and discovered and solved 136 design conflicts in advance. This digital pre-assembly technology enables the on-site lifting error to be controlled within 3mm, which improves the accuracy by up to 80% compared with the traditional process. During the construction process, the intelligent monitoring system composed of laser scanner and total station can capture real-time steel structure deformation data and automatically adjust construction parameters through algorithms, forming a closed-loop control system of “perception-analysis-regulation”.

The application of intelligent welding robot cluster significantly improves the construction efficiency. In the project of Shanghai-Sutong Yangtze River Bridge, the self-developed six-axis welding robot realizes the automated welding of U-rib full penetration weld, and the welding volume in a single day reaches 5 times of the traditional manual welding, and the qualified rate of weld is increased from 92% to 99.8%. This technological breakthrough not only solves the quality control problem of high-altitude welding, but also frees the workers from high-risk working environment.

Second, the industrialization breakthrough of modular construction

Integral lifting technology of large components is rewriting the temporal and spatial logic of bridge construction. Shenzhen-Zhongshan Channel steel box girder using 12,000-ton floating crane for the overall installation, a single lifting weight exceeded 4,000 tons, creating a new world bridge lifting record. This industrialized construction mode of “prefabrication on land and assembly at sea” shortens the operation time at sea by 70% and reduces the carbon emission of ships by 45%. Modular construction brings not only efficiency improvement, but also gives birth to a new ecology of “design-manufacturing-construction” integration industry.

The application of new weather-resistant steel materials has revolutionized the steel structure of bridges. Yangsigang Yangtze River Bridge in Wuhan adopts Q345qDNH weathering steel, together with nano-composite coating technology, which extends the anti-corrosion cycle of the steel structure to 100 years. The innovative breakthrough in materials reduces maintenance cost by 60% and carbon emission by 40% in the whole life cycle, creating a new era of paint-free steel bridges.

Third, the technological innovation of green construction

3D printing technology shows unique advantages in the field of manufacturing shaped steel components. The curved steel anchor box of Chongqing Baijusi Yangtze River Bridge is manufactured by metal 3D printing technology, and the complex internal cavity structure is molded at one time, and the material utilization rate is increased from 55% to 95%. This additive manufacturing process breaks through the geometric limitations of traditional machining and opens up a new path for the manufacturing of free-form steel structures.

The carbon emission intelligent control system during construction builds a new paradigm of green construction. Relying on the Internet of Things platform to track the carbon footprint of welding, transportation, lifting and other links, the Guangshen Yanjiang Expressway Reconstruction and Expansion Project achieved a 32% reduction in carbon emissions per unit of output value. The integrated application of rainwater collection system and photovoltaic power generation device made the energy self-sufficiency rate of the construction site reach 40%, forming a replicable green construction standard system.

The wave of innovation in steel bridge construction technology is essentially an inevitable product of the dual transformation of industrialization and digitalization in the construction industry. These innovative technologies not only solve the quality problems and efficiency bottlenecks in traditional construction, but more importantly, build a new construction system of “digital design, intelligent production, intelligent construction”. With the continuous penetration of 5G, artificial intelligence and other new technologies, steel bridge construction will continue to evolve in the direction of digitalization of all elements and intelligentization of the whole process, setting a new technical benchmark for modern bridge engineering.