Bicyclists- and pedestrians bridge ‘Keizerspark’
Ingenieursbureau
STENDESS N.V.
Grote Baan 18
9920 Lovendegem
Belgium
Tel.: +32 9 370 71 25
Fax: +32 9 372 43 95
Contact: ir.
Geert Goethals;
ir. Jurn De Vleeschauwer
Email:
Website:
A steel and concrete engineering
company
Stendess can vouch for the total stability
analysis of projects.
Our approach covers
the initial study trough to the end project.
With its in-house know-how in steel as well
as concrete, the firm is able to offer full study
pack-ages for both materials.
Thanks to its accumulated know-how and
its advanced infrastructure, Stendess can fol-
low up on cross-border projects in accor-
dance
with
most standards and codes:
Eurocode,
NBN,
NEN,
DIN,
NF,
AISC, British
Stan-dards and specific national codes.
Key activities
•
Industrial
buildings
: steel factories,
power plants, depots, etc,
•
Other buildings
: service buildings, con-
cert
halls, sport facilities, swimming
pools, apartment buildings,
•
Bridge construction
: all types of bridges
•
Off-shore projects
: lock gates, Roro, oil
rigs,
…
•
Industrial
equipment
: silos, cranes,
crane ways
•
Erection engineering
: longitudinal and
transverse repositioning, skidding, hoist-
ing,…
Type
: cable stayed 3D-Truss bridge
Location
: Keizerspark, 900 Ghent, Belgium
Owner
:
Ministerie
van
de
Vlaamse
Gemeenschap;
Afdeling
Bovenschelde;
Administratie Waterwegen en Zeewezen
Architect
:
Ministerie
van
de
Vlaamse
Gemeenschap;
Afdeling
Bovenschelde;
Administratie Waterwegen en Zeewezen; Ir.
Luc Hesters
Engineering
office
: Ingenieursbureau
STENDESS N.V., Lovendegem, Belgium
Contractor
:
Metaalconstructie
Aelterman
B.V.B.A.,
Destelbergen, Belgium
Total steel
weight
: ± 70 tonnes
Total length
: 50 m
Highest point
: ± 40 m (top of pylon)
Building period
: end 2003 - begin 2004
Short description of the project
This project fits in the programme of “Her-
waarderingsplan voor de
Gentse binnen-
wateren en jaagpaden”.
By building this bridge, they connected, the
functional as well as the recreational bicy-
cle- and pedestrians traffic between the city
centre and the banks of the Scheldt.
With its current design and its 40 m high
and peak pylons, the bridge over the
Scheldt is a beacon in the environment and
it symbolizes the entrance for pedestrians
and bicyclists to the city centre.
The whole of three-dimensional pylons and
cables, inclined in various directions, give
together
with the asymmetrical and para-
bolic design of the bridge deck, a dynamic
character to the bridge.
The very light structure of the bridge deck
curves as a stretched parabolic arch above
the
water surface and gives an elegant
appearance in the landscape.
Use of ESA-Prima Win
Description of technical questions
solved with ESA-Prima Win
The following technical problems occurred
in the start of the project.
At first there was the simulation of the real-
istic behaviour of the cables. Second there
was the risk of instability of the pylons
because they were not moment connected
at the bottom and were stabilized by cables
going to the bridge and cables to the
ground resulting in a complex hyperstatic
system in which several cables came under
compression or axial force equal zero.
Pre-tensioning of the cables was partly the
solution, but because of the low weight of
the bridge deck, uplifting of the bridge was
possible.
Finding the balance between
weight and
stiffness of the deck and cable-section
together with pre-tensioning of the cables
was one of the challenges in this project.
Another challenge in this project
was the
theoretical aerodynamic study of the com-
plete structure
which
was imposed by
owner.
This because of the light and slender char-
acter of the structure.
Vibrations under live
load and wind load were feared and had to
be taken under control.
Description of how our experience with
ESA-Prima Win proved its completeness
• Checking the structure as a combined
1D and 2D-elemented 3D-model
with a
high hyperstatic degree according EC3.
• The possibility of doing a theoretical
aerodynamic study by using the possibil-
ity of ESA-Prima
Win to calculate the
eigenvalues of the bridge deck and the
pylons.
More in detail calculating the
eigenvalues of the bridge deck in accor-
dance to horizontal, vertical and torsion-
al stiffness to check for risk under wind
load like galloping, classical and stall flut-
ter, and calculating the eigenvalues of
the pylons to check the risk for
Von
Karmion effect under wind loads.
82
Company
Project
Bicyclists- and pedestrians bridge
‘Keizerspark’
SCIA User Contest 2005 / Civil Engineering
2
Categorie
