A UAV photo of the Shanghai-Suzhou-Nantong Yangtze River Bridge taken on June 29. (Photo/Ji Chunpeng, Xinhua)

The Shanghai-Suzhou-Nantong Yangtze River Bridge, the world's first bridge with a span of more than 1,000 meters that can serve both cars and trains, begins operations on July 1, 2020. It stretches 11,072 meters between Zhangjiagang in Suzhou and Tongzhou District in Nantong, with a single span of 1,092 meters.

Steel-UHPC light-weighted composite bridge deck technology, developed by Prof. Shao Xudong from HNU College of Civil Engineering, was widely used on the steel deck of the railway bridge.

The Shanghai-Suzhou-Nantong Yangtze River Bridge (Photo provided by College of Civil Engineering)

Fatigue cracking and asphalt pavement damage are two major challenges in steel deck maintenance all over the world. Prof. Shao and his team have probed into the problems, and developed the ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) light-weighted composite bridge deck system. The UHPC layer with a thickness of only 45 to 60 mm, together with short studs and steel deck, formed the light-weighted bridge deck, and can increase the flexural rigidity of designated parts to more than 30 times.

A UAV photo of the Shanghai-Suzhou-Nantong Yangtze River Bridge taken on June 29. (Photo/Ji Chunpeng, Xinhua)

On September 29, 2018, the initial UHPC workpiece of the railway bridge steel deck completed pouring. The technology and quality was highly spoken by the experts. The UHPC pavement covers 53,000 sqm, the largest application in railway bridge steel deck.

The photo, taken on October 2018, shows the technicians visiting the bridge.

The steel-UHPC light-weighted composite bridge deck system has been used on more than 100 bridges in 25 provinces and municipalities, such as the Shanghai-Suzhou-Nantong Yangtze River Bridge, Hangzhou-Ruili Expressway Dongting Lake Bridge, and cross-sea Haiwen Bridge.