China has a long history of arch bridge construction in wood and stone. Traditional Chinese timber rainbow bridges still exist, using woven timbers for extra span. Open spandrel stone arch bridges developed in China, with some recent failures highlighting structural issues. Modern bridges use steel, concrete and composite materials. The world's longest arch spans are found in China, including the longest concrete arch and steel truss arch. Reinforced concrete bridges were pioneered using cantilever construction. More recently, concrete filled steel tube bridges have achieved very long spans efficiently and economically, representing a uniquely Chinese solution to arch bridge design.

1. 中国的拱桥
China’s Arch Bridges

2. 中国的拱桥
China’s Arch Bridges
Arch bridges have been used for millennia, in China
the form has developed and the longest spans can
now be found there.
This presentation looks at traditional Chinese arch
bridges in timber and stone; it then looks at more
modern arches in reinforced concrete, Steel and
steel-concrete composite (often called CFST). These
modern structures, due to their size or location are
often as spectacular as the ancient ones.

3. 木桥
Timber Bridges
Rainbow bridges
Bridge Building
Covered Bridges

4. A crowded ‘woven timber’ rainbow bridges like this depicted on a 12 th
Century scroll, the interlocking timbers allowing the bridge to span
further than the length of any one timber.

5. A modern example of the woven
timber.
See 1

6. On those timber bridges that last the rainbow arch effect is lost
by the covering which keeps off rain and gives durability.
Picture from 1

7. 石桥
Stone bridges
Rainbow or Moon?
Open Spandrels
Ductility

8. An old rainbow arch, in China they are more closely symbolized with
the moon. A relatively inefficient structural form, can difficult to
cross with its very steep spandrels.

9. The Zhaozhou Bridge, Hebei with its open spandrels and segmental
stone arch it looks modern but was built 1400 years ago. For centuries
its 37m span was the longest span for such structures.
Picture from 1

10. This stone arch built in 1991 over the Wu-Choahe, Hunan, has a
span of 120m.
The longest stone span in China is 146m. But such structures lack
robustness and fall much more easily than reinforced concrete.

11. 混凝土桥
Concrete bridges
The Longest
Cantilevering

12. Wanxian Bridge, a reinforced
concrete bridge over the
Yangtze River with a world
record concrete span of 420m.

13. Wanxian Bridge, a
concrete
bridge
built using steel
tubes cantilevered
out over the river.
From ref 2

14. Cantilever
construction
From 3

15. 钢管混凝土拱
Concrete Filled Steel Tube
(CFST) Bridges
Rainbow bridge
Cantilever
Efficiency

16. The Wushan bridge over the Yangtze River, its 460m
span was the longest in 2005. Ref 4

17. Constructing the 530m span Bosideng Bridge over the
Yangtze River, again by cantilevering. For a short time a
rainbow sculptural form until its completion in 2012.

18. Structural behaviour of a CFST structure. The
composite whole being stronger than the steel alone.
From ref 2

19. 钢桥
Steel Bridges
Bird wing efficiency
A Western ‘de-optimised’ structure
Trussed arch longest span

20. Lupu Bridge, Shanghai, at 502m the efficient ‘bird wing’ style arch was the
longest in the world until 2009. Picture based on Jurgenlison

21. The Lingtie Bridge a modern 300m span bridge with its inefficient
leaning, de-optimised western architecture. From 5

22. Chaotian Bridge over the Yangtze
River, Its 520m trussed span is the
longest arch span in the world.
From 5

23. China’s Arch Bridges
Wood & Stone
Arch bridges have been used for millennia in China. The
local carpentry expertise still survives and woven rainbow
bridges in timber are still built.
The open spandrel stone arch form was developed in
China and is still used on large bridges. However, recent
failures have highlighted the lack of robustness in some
long span designs.

24. China’s Arch Bridges
Steel & Concrete
The longest arch span in the world is Chinese, in form it
borrows from the Western Steel Trussed Arch. Other
borrowings are occurring in wasteful de-optimised
architecture, yet there are many exceptions like the elegant
bird wing form.
The longest span concrete arch in the world is Chinese, it
uses a more traditional form. Its construction used steel tubes
cantilevered. CFST arches have been shown to be efficient,
economic and elegant; a uniquely Chinese solution. The
development of this CFST form is still continuing and
longer arch spans are likely in the future.

25. References
• Chinese Bridges, RG Knapp & AC Ong, Tuttle, Singapore,
2008.
• Steel-Concrete Composite Bridges, D Collings, ICE Publishing,
2013.
• Wanxian Long Span Concrete Arch Bridge over Yangtze River,
BZ Xie, Symposium Proceedings, 2008.
• http://www.highestbridges.com, this has some excellent
pictures and text from people who have seen the bridges.
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_longest_arch_bridge_spans,
take care this tends to be a bit western orientated, the longest
masonry spans are not in France!

26. …making the
complex simple…
David
Collings
大衛
http://www.slideshare.net/DavidCollings/david-collings-bsc-ceng-fice-personal-careerdc-summary

27. Teaching
David has lectured on the University of Surrey’s MSc course in steel
concrete composite bridges, and a visiting lecturer at Imperial College,
London. David is a Supervising Civil Engineer for the ICE training scheme,
he has seen many successfully pass their Professional Review and gain the
prestigious MICE qualification. During his time in SE Asia David learnt to
read, write and speak Chinese ( 汉语 ), continuing to learn as well as teach.
.
David also carries out bespoke lectures for company CPD requirements,
recent lectures include; Extradosed Bridges, Concrete Diaphragm Design,
Design of steel-concrete composite bridges, etc. Extracts or summaries of
some presentations are available for free download on slideshare.com:
http://www.slideshare.net/DavidCollings/steel-concrete-composite-bridges
http://www.slideshare.net/DavidCollings/extradosed-bridges-exploring-the-boundaries

28. Presentation by CRD and Wolf
productions.