It’s not your average bridge. Sutong Bridge in China’s Jiangsu Province can claim the world’s longest cable-stayed span – 1,088 meters – and the longest cables. China’s Highway Planning and Design Institute (HPDI) designed the bridge in cooperation with a consortium of local and international consultants. For this effort, the team relied on RM Bridge software and the Bentley TDV team.

They faced extraordinary challenges due to environmental factors and operational demands. Through extensive analysis using RM software, the Sutong Bridge can withstand earthquakes and a marine monsoon subtropical climate – characterized by heavy rains, fog, typhoons and tornados. In addition, it can resist the impact of a 50,000-ton ship. Complex hydrology and deep bedrock problems were solved by pile caps resting on bored piles sunk into sandy soils.

Sutong underwent sophisticated 4D analyses of the structure’s dynamic behavior under many configurations and conditions over time – in the construction stages as well as the final stage. To address large displacements, designers analyzed geometric nonlinearities, from preliminary design through detailed design.

Multiple investigations looked at the impacts of heavy winds in all conditions of operation. A “best-design” girder cross-section resulted from bearing capacity and wind loading analyses. Using RM, the team optimized distribution of cable forces, minimized stay cable vibrations, and determined stressing for proper cable tension at each stage.

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