BELT SPLICING CARTRIDGE FRAME DESIGN

Chesapeake Bridge Bay Tunnel (CBBT)

SUMMARY

A model under Autodesk ROBOT Structural Analysis Professional 2024 software has been built.

The Parallel Thimble Shoal Tunnel will form part of the parallel Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel Crossing, which connects Virginia Beach with Northampton County, VA. The new tunnel will carry two lanes of traffic southbound, while the existing parallel tunnel will be converted from bidirectional flow to one directional two lanes northbound flow.

The tunnel will have a length of approximatively 1.2 miles (1.9 km), a finished internal diameter of 39 feet (11.88 m) and will be excavated by using an EPB machine with an excavation diameter of 43.5 feet (13.2 m) designed to cope with an external water pressure of up to 5.5 bar.

As part of the Parallel Thimble Shoal Project, Chesapeake Tunnel Joint Venture (CTJV) have asked AZIERTA for a structural calculation of the design of the belt cage. The base scope of the Project consists of the calculations of the belt cage. Well-known formulations and codes have been applied and engineering judgement based on international experience.