China to have world’s longest immersed tunnel, COWI
Release Date: 2009-03-19
COWI has just signed a contract to provide the preliminary design for a combined bridge-and-tunnel link in China. The immersed tunnel will be based on the same tunnel concept which was chosen for the Øresund fixed link between Denmark and Sweden and the Busan-Geoje link in Korea.
A contract has been signed between the Chinese government and a joint venture including COWI, concerning a nine-month preliminary design project for the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao link, where COWI's responsibility is focused on the immersed tunnel section of a combined bridge-and-tunnel link between Hong Kong, Zhuhai in China and Macao.
The project will be carried out in a joint venture with the Chinese Highway Plan and Design Institute ltd (HPDI), Shanghai Tunnel and Design Instititute (STEDI), the 1st Harbour Design Institute, and ARUP, based in Hong Kong.
Completed in six years
The road link, which is expected to be completed in six years, will be about 30 kilometres in length and will pass two man-made islands. The immersed tunnel alone will be 5.6 kilometres long, making it the longest of its kind in the world at fully two kilometres longer than the current record-holding immersed tunnel section of the Danish-Swedish Øresund fixed link.
The tunnel will also be big in terms of width and depth. Whereas most road tunnels have two lanes in each direction and an internal width of approximately ten metres, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao link road tunnel will have three lanes in each direction and have an internal width of 14 metres.
The tunnel, whose overall width will be approximately 40 metres, will be founded at a depth of 38 metres which is not far short of COWI’s other record-holding tunnel, the Busan-Geoje immersed tunnel in South Korea.
COWI consolidates its position
"This contract reinforces COWI’s position as the world’s leading designer of immersed tunnels: we are now confirmed as the world’s number one in the field," says Anton Petersen, COWI’s Vice President for Bridge, Tunnel and Marine Structures.
The first step in tackling this commission is to set up project offices in Zhuhai. Preparatory tasks will then be assessing soil conditions and setting up complex structural models for calculating joint openings and crackwidths in the tunnel structure under various load conditions, including seismic events, to assure its watertightness. This work will be carried out in conjunction with COWI China which has offices in Beijing.
European exemplar
"COWI is joining this project at a very early stage, with a central role on the tunnel part. This means that we - based on our unique core competencies in the field of this type of tunnel - can drive the design towards the optimum implementation for this specific project," explains Tommy Olsen, project manager for COWI.
COWI’s proposal is to build an immersed tunnel according to the European model as encapsulated in the Danish-Swedish Øresund fixed link and the Korean Busan-Geoje link. COWI will also draw on its fund of expertise from its recent design work on immersed tunnels in Maracaibo in Venezuela, Limerick in Ireland and Söderströmmen in Stockholm, Sweden.
| Type: | NORMAL |
| Company: | COWI |
| Country: | Denmark |
| Url: | http://www.cowi.com/menu/news/newsarchive/transport/Pages/Chinatohaveworldslongestimmersedtunnel.aspx |