A Bridge in China Externally Prestressed by Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer Tendons

The Hewei Bridge in Huai'an, Jiangsu Province, is the first example of a traffic bridge in China using the carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) tendons instead of steel tendons. The bridge is an overpass crossing the Nanjing-Xuzhou Expressway, Jiangsu, China. The four middle spans of this bridge are made of a continuous concrete box girder and prestressed by internal steel strands, while both side spans are designed to be simply supported monolithic concrete girders of 20 m length and prestressed by the external tendons. One side span is prestressed by external CFRP cables, and the other by external ordinary steel tendons for the purpose of comparison. The Hewei Bridge was completed in April 2007, and on monitoring the bridge for almost four years it has been observed that its performance is stable.