The exceptional bearings of the Tran Thi Ly Bridge, Da Nang, Vietnam

The design of the recently constructed Tran Thi Ly Bridge in Da Nang city, Vietnam called for extraordinarily large bearings to support the bridge’s pylon. Of the four bearings which fulfil this role, two must each resist a vertical force of 250,000 kN, or 3.5 times the weight of the Eiffel Tower’s metal structure, while allowing longitudinal sliding movements and resisting transverse forces. In order to address this great challenge, spherical bearings featuring a special high-grade

sliding material (as an alternative to the typically used PTFE) were proposed. This solution enabled the size of the bearings to be minimised; although they still have a diameter of almost 3 metres, they are considerably smaller than they would have been had another type of bearing, or PTFE sliding material, been used. This paper describes the challenge, the features and advantages of the selected solution, and the bridge construction benefits offered by these truly exceptional bearings.