Structural Analysis of the Celtic Gateway Footbridge Design

A cable stayed, stainless steel footbridge connecting the port in the Welsh island of Anglesey to the town center of Holyhead

Abstract

The "Celtic Gateway" is a cable stayed, stainless steel footbridge connecting the port in the Welsh island of Anglesey to the town center of Holyhead. The footbridge is supported by two cable-stayed, stainless steel arches lying on inclined planes, supporting a steel deck with concrete infill.

The bridge was built by Cimolai Spa of Italy who needed a complete third party structural assessment on the final footbridge design before the construction of the bridge was started.

<h5>A close-up photo of the footbridge deck and walkway. The bridge was constructed by the Italian company Cimolai S.p.A., a European leader in metal bridges.</h5>
A close-up photo of the footbridge deck and walkway. The bridge was constructed by the Italian company Cimolai S.p.A., a European leader in metal bridges.

The role of EnginSoft

Enginsoft offered consultancy services in creating and managing all global and detail numerical models to assess the selected design for temporary, service and accidental conditions.
The complete set of structural analyses included:

  • structural analysis for all ultimate and service design loads conditions
  • comfort conditions were investigated with reference to the footbridge response frequence content and to the maximum acceleration levels produced by a number of harmonic crowd configurations
  • the complete erection sequence is studied for arch erection on temporary towers and cable tensioning to allow a consistent, on site, monitoring of displacements and reactions
  • temporary structures are assessed including tensioning sequences for the stainless steel stay cables

The 15-tonne, duplex grade 2304 stainless steel footbridge. Compared to mild steel, duplex steels offer considerable weight savings thanks to their superior strength and excellent corrosion and fatigue resistance.

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