The world's largest horizontal arm self-elevating tower crane started operation at the construction of the Changtai Yangtze River Bridge, the world's longest-span railway-highway cable-stayed bridge, on Feb 28.
A view of the construction site of the Changtai Yangtze River Bridge [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]
Specially developed by China Railway Group Limited for the Changtai Yangtze River Bridge project, the tower crane will support construction of the upper column of the No. 6 main tower, playing a key role in difficult engineering related to hoisting of heavy components and high-altitude engineering.
At present, the tower crane has been raised to a height of 250 meters and will finally reach 379 meters when the main tower is capped, which is expected to set a new record for tower construction height in the bridge construction field.
The world's largest horizontal arm self-elevating tower crane operates at the construction site of the Changtai Yangtze River Bridge. [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]
The tower crane is capable of hoisting steel components as heavy as 300 metric tons or more to the height of 370 meters. As a mini building hoist is installed inside the machine, it's easy for workers to move up and down during construction.
It's worth noting that the tower crane is connected to a 10-kilovolt high-voltage power supply system, which is the first such application in the field.
(Executive editor: Xie Yunxiao)
