Fig. 4. Auxiliary structure for the crossing of stays at the main piers
In the main piers (the ones starting from the arch
foundation), the 8 first families of stays had to be
anchored. For this purpose, these piers had to be
solid along most of its height. On the other hand
these piers must enable the crossing of these stays
through themselves.
the cantilever, blend themselves in a single leg with
octagonal geometry. The depth and width
of the section are variable along the cantilever what
complicates enormously the formwork installation,
rebar placing and concrete pouring. That is the reason
why the travelling formwork selection has been key in
the project success.
For this end, an auxiliary structure was designed in
such a way that the pipes crossing the piers had
the accurate angle, azimuth and position. A 3D model
had to be done to check all the interferences between
these pipes and the reinforcement of the pier.
3.4.
Such formwork travellers had to be able to withstand
the weight of the fresh concrete of a segment
working as a cantilever anchored to the prior segment
and pressures up to 90 kN/m2 (as self-compacting
concrete) and of course they had to be self-sustaining
and automotive.
ARCH
3.4.1. Formwork travellers
The travellers’ supplier was a Spanish company
(Rúbrica) and the detailed design was carried out
by themselves in collaboration with the Technical
Services of FCC. Two formwork travellers were
designed for the construction of each one of the two
cantilevers, in such a way they could join into one
The success in the execution of the bridge is based
mainly on how to solve both 192m long cantilevered
arches with a most peculiar geometry with two
hexagonal arms that start from a common base with
octagonal geometry and that, halfway through
Fig. 5. 3D Model of the formwork travellers used in the construction of the arch
4/2016