Working for the Padma Bridge, building the dream of the Belt and Road

In the early winter of the Bay of Bengal, two engineers, Jie Zhiju and Zhang Ben, from the National Quality Supervision and Inspection Center of our Institute, were commissioned by the Fifth Engineering Company of China Railway Bridge Bureau to conduct pipeline friction tests on prefabricated I beams of the project Department of Padma Bridge in Bangladesh.

The Padma Bridge in Bangladesh, located about 40 km southwest of the capital Dhaka, spans the Padma River (Ganges) and is about 150 km straight from the Indian Ocean estuary. It is a transportation hub connecting southwest, north and east of Bangladesh and one of the important passageways connecting China and Southeast Asia. It is the largest and most important infrastructure project in Bangladesh. The main bridge, highway and part of railway approach projects of the bridge are undertaken by China Railway Bridge Bureau Co., Ltd. The main bridge is 6.15 kilometers long. It is a highway-railway dual-purpose bridge with two-way four-lane highway and single-track railway. Its superstructure consists of 41 steel truss beams with a span of 150 meters. Its single-hole weight is about 3,200 tons, and the total weight of the bridge is about 130,000 tons. It is the largest single bridge project undertaken by Chinese enterprises overseas.

This Padma Bridge Pipeline Friction Test is the largest Friction Test ever done by Quality Inspection Center. The number of anchorage holes reaches 29 holes and the length of prefabricated beam body is 36m. The design of this inspection scheme is entirely based on the Qualification Authorization of the Quality Inspection Center and fully combined with the relevant design parameters of the Padma Bridge Project. It is confirmed by the CSC site engineer of the supervision unit.

During the test, QC inspectors exchanged in-depth and fully answered the questions and key points raised by the supervisors. At the same time, they actively overcome the obstacles of unskilled and unsound language communication among Bangladeshi workers and ensured the smooth running of the test.

With the cooperation of more than 20 managers and operators in the project department, after nearly ten days'efforts, the data obtained in the final two tests are true and reliable, and meet the design error requirements, which has been unanimously approved by the supervision and construction units. Because of the backward infrastructure, the difficult living conditions of the project department and the poor public security situation in Bangladesh, it is not easy for the two staff of the Quality Inspection Center to overcome the difficulties and successfully accomplish their tasks. It fully demonstrates "the struggle of the harsh environment, the adherence far from the motherland, the exploration of original technology, the control of international standards, The Padma Spirit of "Never Give up the Pursuit"

Quality Inspection Center is the first Chinese testing unit to enter the field of Bangladesh's engineering construction. In order to ensure the smooth construction of the bridge, the leadership of the Quality Inspection Center attaches great importance to it. In the early stage of construction, it arranges special personnel to take charge of the project. Whether it is raw material testing or field testing, it can ensure that satisfactory technical services are provided in the first time.

In the future work, Quality Inspection Center will continue to spare no effort to provide Bangladesh's infrastructure projects with "technology leading, service professional" high-quality inspection services, to ensure the quality of the whole project to contribute their own strength.（Jie Zhiju,Zhang Ben）