Tamina Bridge, Pfäfers Engineering office Leonhardt, Andrä und Partner, Switzerland.

With an arched span of 870 feet, a superstructure length of 1,368 feet and a height of 722 feet above the valley floor, the Tamina Bridge is the largest arched bridge in Switzerland.

The challenge:

In 2007, an official competition was advertised for this project and won by the engineering office Leonhardt, Andrä und Partner (LAP). The area where the bridge was being built, in addition to the unique design features, posed a tremendous challenge. Numerous stresses had to be tested for wind, earthquakes, failure of tension cables, etc. Therefore, pre-tensioned cables, reinforcements, fixtures and their corresponding measurements were necessary elements to include in the model during the design phase.

The solution:

Working out of Allplan Engineering allowed comprehensive, detailed virtual models to be created. Markus Förster, department head for bridge building at LAP, explains; “In coordination with the contractors, and taking into account the formwork system used, each of the 55 straight concreting sections of the arc were integrated into the 3D model precisely.” This allowed many potential problems to be solved in the planning phase, especially in critical areas such as intersections with very high reinforcement ratios.

Railway bridge Grubental, traffic project German unity 8.1, Germany.

Situated just over 3 miles southwest of Goldisthal in the Thuringian Forest, this 705-foot-long structure spans the Grubental Valley at a maximum height of 115 feet, connecting the Goldberg Tunnel with the Dunkeltal Bridge. The Grubental Bridge owes its slim design to a semi-integral construction method, almost without bearings and joints between the superstructure and the substructure. It is the first of its kind in Germany.

The challenge:

The goal of the project was to plan and build a bridge in the valley which would obstruct as little of the landscape as possible. Additionally, it had to be built with stiffness, vibration behavior, and load-bearing geometry in mind so that the tracks could be guided over the joints without rail expansion joints. Keeping these important factors in mind while navigating the narrow valley bordered by steep slopes proved difficult, indeed.

The solution:

Allplan Engineering made it possible to record the terrain in a digital terrain model with precise measurement data. The 3D model also allowed for collision tests with the horizontal element foundations. As a result, the geometrically-challenging excavation planning and mass determination were easy to deduce and integrate into the design.

Three bridge project in Nijmegen, Netherlands.

Just across the border from Germany in the Lower Rhine, Europe's largest flood protection project is under construction. It is called "Ruimte voor de Waal" – literally "more room for the Waal" – and is intended to create more space for the biggest river in the Netherlands, the Waal. For the town planners, its primarily about better flood protection: changing the course of the river by building a side arm to reduce future high-water peaks by about a foot. Extensive reworking of the city infrastructure is needed to make the project a reality.

The challenge:

The current Waal bridge will be extended by several hundred feet to span the 656-foot-wide arm of the river. Two new bridges will also be built; the Citadel bridge, which will connect the mainland to the western part of the island, and the Promenade Bridge, which will connect the mainland with the center of the island. For the engineers in charge at Witteveen + Bos, bridge building on this scale is an enormous challenge, especially as the timetable has been tight from the start. Planning such a major project without errors in such an incredibly short time is only possible – and the Dutch engineers were in full agreement – with hard work and the latest software and equipment.

The solution:

With Allplan Engineering software, the BIM system for 3D formwork and reinforcement planning enabled integrated working between the team of 10 designers and 10 engineers on the virtual support structure model. The project team was able to work simultaneously on a building model and accurately coordinate the various planning steps. “We have to create hundreds of plans for every structure in the shortest possible time,” explains Marcel Linderman, project manager at Witteveen + Bos. “We can only achieve this because we can work effectively with Allplan from the start. Thanks to integrated planning, we are able to deliver on time, and what’s more, without any errors.”