China is well on the way to getting the world’s newest, longest bridge over water – with the help of Shell Bitumen. Guy Woodford reports.
China has marked the completion of the main bridge deck section at the Chinese mainland’s side of the landmark Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge, using bitumen solutions and technical expertise from
As a global leader in bitumen technology, Shell Bitumen was selected as the exclusive supplier of specialised bitumen solutions for the main bridge deck. The bridge was designed to tackle extreme conditions such as high temperatures and humidity, high salt content in the air as well as heavy traffic loads on the bridge and extreme vibrations caused by strong winds along the Lingdingyang channel. Because of these factors, coupled with anti-deformation and anti-rutting requirements of the bridge design, Shell’s globally recognised bitumen solutions and expertise were key to successfully completing the section.
“The bridge deck project required solutions that would meet the stringent specifications we set to ensure high quality performance as well as consistent quality and supply reliability. We are very pleased with the quality of bitumen products and services provided by Shell,” said Zhang Yucai, chief engineer of the CB07 section of the project.
Shell Bitumen has been involved with the bridge deck project since 2013, providing technical support and also consulting on the materials selection and design.
“We in Shell are proud to provide our bitumen solutions to this iconic project. We are a global leader in bitumen solutions and have been working on other major infrastructure projects in China for many years. We look forward to being a long-term partner of choice for Chinese customers,” said Jason Wong, global vice president for Shell Bitumen.
The bridge is an iconic project consisting of a series of bridges and tunnels crossing the Lingdingyang channel that will connect Zhuhai, a special economic zone in Guangdong Province, to Hong Kong and Macau. The 55km link will help alleviate traffic congestion at the Hong Kong-Shenzhen cross-border checkpoints and also reduce road travel times from 3.5 hours to 30 minutes.
Shell recently established its global bitumen R&D Centre in Bangalore, India, as reported on in the July-August 2017 editions of Aggregates Business Europe and Aggregates Business International.
Shell Bitumen supplies a wide range of high quality bitumen products, from standard-grade bitumen to special polymer-modified bitumen (PMB), which are marketed under the brand name Shell Cariphalte. Shell Cariphalte has been used in a number of key projects for applications such as highways, urban roads and porous asphalts for urban drainage systems. It is ideal for use in heavily trafficked locations such as airfields, racetracks and bus lanes. It can be particularly beneficial in heavy duty applications such as rail, ports, bridge decks, crack relief systems or overlaying concrete pavements and expansion joints.
As the world’s largest international bitumen marketer, Shell Bitumen delivers enough bitumen to pave a one-lane kilometre road every four minutes.
Shell Bitumen’s solutions have also been used on a number of Formula One racetracks: Sakhir (Bahrain), Marina Bay Street Circuit (Singapore), Hockenheim (Germany) and Yas Marina (Abu Dhabi) and Sepang (Malaysia). Shell has also recently paved the Bugatti Circuit in LeMans, France.
