The first aluminium alloy road bridge in Russia

Introduction. Nowadays, structures made of modern aluminium alloys are increasingly used in almost all areas of industrial and construction production, which is a consequence of the unique physical and mechanical properties of aluminium alloys, which make it possible to create structures of various purposes that are effective in weight, strength and aesthetic parameters, while having increased corrosion resistance compared with steel structures. Combinations of such unique properties of aluminium alloys have proved to be extremely in demand in many areas of construction and, in particular, in bridge construction, initially in the construction of a wide variety of pedestrian bridges, and more recently, more often in the construction of road bridges. The presence of numerous examples of already built and operated bridges in the world and domestic construction practice proved their obvious advantages in terms of manufacturability and speed of construction and the practical absence of problems during operation, which served as an incentive for the increasingly expanding use of aluminium alloys for the construction of road bridges.

Materials and methods. This trend did not bypass Russia, and by December 2023, on the initiative of the Aluminum Association and UC RUSAL, the state order of the Government of the Nizhny Novgorod Region, the first road bridge in the Russian Federation across the river was designed, built and put into operation. Linda. The bridge is two-lane, 4-span, 72 m long, on reinforced concrete supports, the superstructure is entirely made of aluminium alloys.

Results. This construction was preceded by a long (since 2016) stage of research and development (R&D), the results of which served as the basis for the optimal choice of aluminium alloy grades, production technologies and design methods for this bridge. NRU MGSU is a leading organisation, which, with the participation of a number of other organisations, successfully carried out this stage.

Conclusions. The aluminium alloy road bridge over the Linda River in the Nizhny Novgorod Region was commissioned in December 2023. An automated monitoring system will be installed on the bridge, allowing remote monitoring of the technical condition of the bridge in continuous mode.

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