23 June 2023
Italian contractor Webuild, in collaboration with the Japanese firm IHI Infrastructure Systems, has completed load tests on the Braila Bridge in Romania, ahead of its inauguration.
Once completed, the bridge over the River Danube will be the second longest suspension bridge in continental Europe, with a length of 1,975m and a main deck measuring 1,120m.
The construction team undertook both static and dynamic load tests to confirm the structure’s stability.
As part of the testing the bridge was subjected to challenges, including up to 60 trucks, weighing a total of 2,400 tonnes, being strategically positioned across its decks.
Dynamic load testing featured two trucks driving across the bridge at speeds of up to 80kmh, evaluating the structure’s resistance to vibrations.
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Webuild said state-of-the-art high-precision instruments were used to monitor the bridge’s behaviour in real-time.
Two years in the making
Commissioned by the Romanian state-owned company CNAIR on behalf of the Ministry of Infrastructure, the bridge will feature four lanes, an emergency lane and dedicated paths for cyclists and pedestrians.
Construction of the bridge has been ongoing for two years, with the first phase seeing workers raising and positioning the bridge’s two supporting cables, intertwining more than 18,000 steel fibres (over 9,000 for each cable), with a combined weight of 6,775 tonnes.
In the summer of 2022, more than 250 workers and technicians collaborated to raise, position and install the 86 sections making up the bridge’s steel deck, with each section weighing 260 tonnes.
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