Aesthetic Design for Structures of Highway Viaducts

Abstract

A highway viaduct is a structure composed of multi-span bridges mostly through city areas, and is a very important element of the city aesthetical space due to its shape, color, mechanics and dimensions. However, conventional design of viaducts does not consider all aspects of the selected plan and therefore can only meet short-term demands in a given limited context. Engineers typically focus on satisfying traffic functions, not other functions like aesthetics. So a viaduct often becomes a simple traffic connecting system between two parts of a city. According to static and dynamic viewpoints, viaducts can be aesthetically divided into Close-viewed Structures (CS) or Far-viewed Structures. Based on the Cong-Guan Highway Viaduct Project in Guangdong Province in China, this paper offers general aesthetic design principles and ideas briefly, and then discusses CS structural details aesthetically, including superstructure cross-section, span length for multi-span bridges, pier height, pier shape, column numbers of pier bodies, and abutment decoration. Finally all conclusions have been applied successfully in the aesthetical design of the Changping viaduct of the Cong-guan Highway Project.