Energy Saving in Bridge Engineering

Abstract

As energy conservation becomes a significant concern of national socioeconomic development, energy-saving for bridge structure is attracting more and more attentions. For the purpose of revealing energy problems and exploring energy-saving potential in bridge engineering, technical condition factors of bridge are analyzed based on the basic concept of energy, which have an influence on vehicle fuel consumption and energy problems rooted in materials consumption in bridge construction; furthermore, energy-saving measures are put forward in various aspects in bridge engineering, such as planning, design, construction and maintenance. The study shows that most energy problems in bridge engineering belong to indirect consumptions. Appropriate energy-saving measures should be taken to reduce vehicle fuel consumption and save non-renewable materials or high energy consumption materials. Moreover， energy-saving concept exists in the entire life cycle of a bridge, energy-efficient bridge engineering has a strategic significance of promoting sustainable development in highway transportation sector. DEVELOPMENT STATUS OF BRIDGE ENGINEERINGPER Large-scale bridge construction started from 1980s in China. Till the end of 2009, China had 621,900 bridges in total, surpassed USA in number, and became the world’s largest bridge country. The construction of long-span and super long-span bridges had been the most significant mark of bridge construction progress in the past 30 years. Half of the world’s top 10 long-span beam bridges, arch bridges and suspension bridges are located in China, and eight of the top ten long-span cablestayed bridges lie in China. Furthermore, Donghai Bridge was opened to traffic in 2005, marked the start of constructing large cross-sea bridges or cross-river bridges; after that, Hangzhou Bay Bridge (36 kilometers) and Zhoushan Peninsula Project (48.46 kilometers) successively opened to traffic in 2008 and 2009. In addition,