My Thuan Bridge,

Vietnam
Contract Period
1996-1997
Completion
2000
Construction cost
USD 60 mill
Services rendered

Bridge design concept

development

Static analysis

Dynamic wind and seismic

analyses

Dynamic ship collision

analysis

Detailed design
Client
AUSAID

The My Thuan Bridge is a 4-lane high level road bridge

with a main span of 350 m, 660 m length of the cablestayed bridge and 1535 m total length. The bridge
spans the Tien Giang Channel in the estuary of the
Mekong River in southern Vietnam. The ship channel is
30 x 300 m and max. water depth approximately 25 m.
This bridge is the first major cable-stayed bridge in
Vietnam and provides a ferry free connection for the
national highway No. 1. The design work by AasJakobsen AS on the cable-stayed bridge was done as
sub-consultant for Maunsell Pty. Ltd. under contract
with AUSAID (the Australian Agency for International
Development) and the Ministry of Transport and
Communications of Vietnam. In this project AasJakobsen AS worked in the name of Norconsult
International under a general co-operation agreement.

My Thuan Bridge, contd

Geometry

Main span:
Back span: 2x150 =
Width overall:
Ship Channel: HxB =
Tower height:
Total length:

350 m
300 m
23.66 m
30x300 m
116.5 m
1535.2 m

Seismic ground acceleration: 0.05 g

Temperature: 29oC mean, 45oC max, 10oC
min. 15oC temp. difference between stays
and deck
Water current: 3.2m/s downstream, 0.6m/s
upstream, HWL + 2.10
Scour depth: To RL - 48 for ship impact,
RL - 56 for wind

Design Criteria

Materials

Traffic Loading: T44, L44 and HPL200

according to Austroads Bridge Design Code
Ship impact: 3610 tons DW at 4.5 m/s
Wind: Gust wind speedy Vg,10= 52 m/s in
ULS (RP2000 years), 41 m/s in ULS during
constr.) (PR 50 years)

ND-concrete: C40 in piles and foundations

C50 in towers and bridge beams
Stays: 15.2 mm low relaxation, high grade
monostrands, min. breaking load 261 kN, in
HDPE pipe.

Design considerations

Construction

The main bridge is fully continuous between

expansion joints located 5.0 m outside the
tiedown piers. (Ref. figure 2. The main
bridge foundations are designed with 2.5 m
diameter bored piles extending approximately to RL - 85 in the 3. sand layer. A
cluster of 8 piles is provided under each
tower leg, total No. 16 per foundation.
Compaction grouting of the pile base was
specified to mobilise end bearing together
with skin friction. The pilecap has
dimensions 15 x 61 x 4 m overall, with
voids in the central portion and skirts
extending down to RL - 1.5.

The bridge is now (Oct. 1999) being built by

the Australian contractor Baulderstone
Hornibrook. Self-climbing forms were used
for the towers. Special purpose designed
form travellers were used for the bridge
deck. A sequence period of 6 days was
normal for the two 10.4 m deck segments
built in free cantilever. Temporary tie down
ropes were provided in the back span 57 m
from the tower to stabilise the structure
before it reached continuity with the tiedown pier. The construction will be
completed three months ahead of schedule.

The towers have a splayed H-frame

configuration to provide for vertical stay
planes
thereby
simplifying
the
stay
geometry. Each leg is a hollow box with
constant depth 2.5 m, wall thickness 0.5 m
and varying width from 4.0 m in the
anchorage zone to 6.0 m at the base.
Crossbeams are provided under the bridge
deck and under the stay anchor zone. This
design provides for a slender and elegant
structure, which is easy to construct.
The tie-down piers are designed with two
bored piles, pilecap and a solid column.
Vertical pre-stressing tendons are provided
to mobilise the full weight of the
substructure to stabilise the main span.
The main bridge deck, figure 3, is designed
to be built using the free cantilever method.
A
cast-in-situ
grillage
of
external
longitudinal girders with pre-stressed crossbeams at 5.2 m centres supporting a 0.25
m reinforced concrete deck slab is used.
Prefabricated stay anchor blocks are
designed to be connected to the form
traveller allowing the permanent stays to be
installed and tensioned early in the
production
sequence
to
support
the
concreting of the new segment. Struts are
also specified to carry the horizontal stay
force com-ponent at first stressing back to
the already completed part of the beam.