Sava River Bridge

Sava River Bridge

The Sava River Bridge is a double-track railway steel cable-stayed bridge spanning the Sava River in Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. The bridge was completed in late 1980, with a total length of approximately 2,000 meters; the main bridge section has six spans, measuring 557.94 meters in length; the main span consists of three spans with lengths of 50.15+253.7+50.15 meters, forming a cable-stayed bridge; on either side of the main span, there are three additional spans — two spans on one side with lengths of 53.74 meters and 85.0 meters respectively, and one span on the other side with a length of 65.2 meters.

The stiffening girder is composed of twin box girders placed separately, with each box girder having an external dimension of 3.2×4.45 meters. The two box girders are connected by an 8.1-meter-wide orthotropic plate, which supports the ballast deck. The orthotropic plate consists of the deck plate, longitudinal ribs, and transverse beams, with the transverse beams spaced 2.5 meters apart and main transverse beams installed every 15 meters. The two separate box girders, along with the orthotropic plate and the primary and secondary transverse beams, form an integrated structure with high rigidity in both the longitudinal and transverse directions. Each segment of the stiffening girder in the main span, approximately 50 meters long, is suspended by four stay cables; each segment of the stiffening girder in the side spans, also about 50 meters long, is anchored by two cables that are centrally fixed to the stiffening girder on the side pier that bears negative reactions. Each cable consists of four parallel strands, with each strand containing 240–290 steel wires of 7 mm diameter, sheathed within a polyethylene tube. The anchorages are made of cold-cast steel end anchors capable of withstanding high stress ranges, with the anchor heads filled with steel balls, zinc powder, and epoxy resin.