CRHIC Develops and Launches Pile-beam Integrated Bridge Building Machine, First in the World
On April 26, Gonggong, the world’s first intelligent pile-beam integrated bridge building machine which was developed by CRHIC, was put into use. It successfully completed the 10-span operation of Meilong Bridge in the reconstruction and expansion project for the west section of Shenzhen-Shanwei Expressway, piloting a new bridge construction model that integrates factory prefabrication, lean management, modular assembly and intelligent erection and heralding the 3.0 era of bridge construction technologies.
Gonggong is 92 meters long and 13 meters wide, with a weight of 575 tons and effective span of 48 meters. By piling with the BeiDou positioning system, it has realized a complete set of “aerial” operations such as hole drilling, piling, beam erection and pier assembly. It is especially suitable for shallow lakes, marshes, environmental protection areas, prosperous urban areas and other areas where traditional construction methods are difficult to apply, which marks a revolution in bridge construction technology. So far, it has applied for eight national patents for inventions.
As described in its profile, the bridge-building machine does not occupy the off-line land, need a construction road, or require on-site pouring. Compared with traditional single-span bridge construction, it can not only improve the efficiency by more than three times and reduce the construction costs incurred by erection and demolition, but can also remarkably reduce construction dust and noise and diminish the damage to the vegetation and environment in nature reserves.