Building the Ravenel Bridge


After all the photos I took, I've tried to arrange them in some order based on various topics I found interesting.

And a reminder from T.S. Eliot (East Coker from the Four Quartets)

Old men ought to be explorers
Here and there does not matter
We must be still and still moving
Into another intensity
For a further union, a deeper communion

April 23, 2005

Its not all over until its over. Here is some finish work, that of building forms for the final anchors that anchor the anchor to the deck. As you can see, the steel fin that transfers stress from the cable anchor assembly to the edge girder is only a couple of inches thick. To add mass to the anchor assembly in order to further strengthen the cable anchor with respect to lateral stresses, a reinforced concrete box is added to the assembly. For cables close to the main pylons, there is less lateral stress than the stress associates with cable movement of the longer cables. Hence the further away from the pylon, the larger the stabilizing concrete support.

Initial rebar for a big anchor (left) and a small completed anchor (right)

Here is a completed form for one of the longer cables, ready for filling with concrete

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

C. Frank Starmer

_