Extra-long steel piles production and transport of Bridge Mainland – Pelješac, Croatia

Steel pipe pile as one of the foundation forms has the advantage of high bearing capacity, environment protection and installation, which were widely adopted to sea-crossing bridge, offshore wind power and marine oil rig at present. With the development of project scale, the length and diameter of the piles were increasing gradually. Meanwhile, civil engineers had to face the outstanding challenges in the production and transportation of extra-long and extra-large steel pipe piles. The design parameters of steel piles were controlled under the highest and strictest execution class EXC4 B+ in accordance with the European standard EN 1090-2. Additionally, the pile length of 130,6 m set a record for entire pre-fabricated longest steel pile in the field of civil engineering worldwide at that time. All the manufactured piles were delivered by cargo vessel after long voyage to Croatia. The accumulated experience of Pelješac Bridge could be as a reference for similar projects in future.