March Dinner Meeting

Join us for the March meeting on Thursday, March 13th, 2025. Dr. Dan Yang from COWI will be presenting on “Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering Analyses for the Foundations of Chacao Bridge, Chile”.

$60 – ASCE Member/Non-member
FREE – Current College Student/Faculty
$100 – Student Sponsorship

Please consider supporting our local college students to attend dinner meetings and network with our local practitioners through STUDENT SPONSORSHIPS. Your support to our group and students is greatly appreciated.

Online registration will close the day of the meeting, so we recommend registering early.

Title:
Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering Analyses for the Foundations of Chacao Bridge, Chile

Presenter:
Dr. Dan Yang

Register HERE

Abstract:
The Chacao Suspension Bridge will be the first fixed link between Chile’s mainland and the Island of Chiloé. Replacing the current car ferry service with the dual carriageway will reduce travel time from 45 minutes to under three minutes. The bridge will have a total length of 2,754m between anchor blocks and 2,674m between the north and south abutments. It will have three reinforced concrete pylons, two main spans (1,155m and 1,055m), a suspended north span of 324m, and a south approach viaduct of 140m. The bridge deck will be 23.8m wide and carry four lanes of traffic. It is being built in an area where a 9.5 magnitude earthquake struck in 1960 and where, in 2010, an earthquake of 8.8 magnitude struck offshore. The Gulf of Ancud Fault (FGA) also runs along the Chacao channel, directly under the bridge site. Combining the seismic hazards with high wind speeds of over 200km/h and strong tidal currents of 18km/h, this location becomes one of the most challenging bridge sites in the world.
COWI is responsible for the design review and supervision of the bridge for the Owner, the Chilean Government MOP (Ministerio de Obras Públicas). As the Design Review Engineer, COWI has conducted detailed seismic geotechnical analyses for all bridge foundations a) on the north bank including the 199m-high North Pylon, North Abutment and North Anchorage, b) on Roca Remolinos where the 175m-high central pylon is situated, and c) on the south bank including the 157m-high South Pylon, South Viaduct Piers, South Abutment and South Anchorage using the nonlinear dynamic time history finite element analyses with the Plaxis 2D and 3D models. This presentation will discuss the seismic geotechnical analyses conducted during the design review phase of the project. COWI worked closely with the Contractor CPC and the Geotechnical Designer Systra in the successful completion of the bridge design for this major design-build construction project. This bridge is currently under construction.

Biography:
Dr. Dan Yang is COWI’s seismic geotechnical lead for Chacao Suspension Bridge in Chile since 2016, for Khor Al Zubair Immersed Tunnel Design-Build Project in Iraq since 2020, for George Massey Tunnel Seismic Retrofit Design in Vancouver, Canada between 2000-2009, and new Fraser River Tunnel Options Study and Reference Concept Design to replace George Massey Tunnel since 2019. She was the foundation designer for several renowned cable-stayed bridges and cable-supported extradosed bridges internationally and in Canada designed by COWI (formerly Buckland & Taylor Ltd.): Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge in New York, Abraham Lincoln Bridge between Kentucky and Indiana in the USA, Rama 8 (VIII) Bridge in Thailand, Golden Ears Bridge and Sky Train Canada Line North Arm Bridge in Canada. She was the geotechnical seismic specialist for Jacques Cartier Bridge Seismic Retrofit Study in Montreal, Quebec in 2021-2022, and CalTrans Phase II Seismic Retrofit Design Program of eight California historic long-span concrete and steel arch bridges along the Pacific Coast Highway, including Bixby Creek Arch Bridge, Big Creek (multiple arch) Bridge, Rocky Creek Arch Bridge and Cold Spring Canyon Arch Bridge, etc., between 1996 and 2000.
She is the recipient of the Canadian Society of Civil Engineering’s 2004 Casimir Gzowski Medal for her co-authored paper on the “Numerical model verification and calibration of George Massey Tunnel using centrifuge models” in the Canadian Geotechnical Journal. She has written numerous papers on the design and construction of the cable-stayed bridges including Rio-Antirion Bridge in Greece, Abraham Lincoln Bridge in the USA and Golden Ears Bridge in Canada,