Little Belt Bridge, Denmark

Superstructure
The shape of the closed steel box
girder was determined by wind tunnel
tests. The girder is 3.0 m deep and
33 m wide and is suspended every
12 m in vertical hanger cables.
The girder was manufactured in a
shipyard in 12 m sections, which
were hauled to the bridge site, where
they were welded into 24 m sections.
After erection these sections were
welded together to form the completed box girder.
Each of the two 1,500 m main cables was built up of 61 Nos. prefabricated strands, 55 Nos. of which had
a diameter of 69 mm.

As part of the Danish motorway system the Little Belt Bridge links the
second largest Danish island Funen
with the Danish peninsula Jutland and
thus with the European mainland.
The bridge is a 6-lane suspension
bridge with a main span of 600 m and
two side spans, each 240 m. The total length of the structure including
approach spans is 1,700 m, and the
navigational clearance of the main
span is 42 m.
The bridge was opened to traffic in
1970.

Services:
Conceptual design
Site investigations
0233-1702-005e-00a

Tender documents
Detailed design

Substructure
Each pylon is founded on 210 Nos.
prefabricated reinforced concrete
piles, 38 x 48 cm, which were driven
30 m into a very hard tertiary clay.
The piers for the pylons were shaped
by caissons with bottom dimensions
of 56 x 22 m, constructed in a dry
dock and subsequently towed to the
bridge site. Here they were connected to the piles by concreting the
bottom chambers around the pile
tops in compressed air. The pylon
legs, which reach a height of 121 m
above sea level, were cast in climbing
shutters.
The two buried anchor blocks with
their wing-shaped bottom slab resist
17,000 tonnes force from the main
cables and weigh about 70,000 tonnes
each.

Administration

Project period: 1962-1970

Supervision

Client: Ministry of Public Works

Viaducts
The approach viaducts on land span
31 m. The deck slab was cast in-situ
on top of prefabricated, pre-stressed
concrete girder, which were braced
by prefabricated, pre-stressed cross
girders.
The 12 m wide viaduct piers are
wave-shaped reinforced concrete
walls, topped by a 27 m long prestressed concrete cross girder.