The Great Belt Bridge: True Digital Twin technology extends lifespan

Building materials such as concrete and steel have a very large carbon footprint, and by extending the lifespan of bridges through timely ongoing maintenance, new construction is avoided. In other words, this is resource optimisation that promotes climate and economic sustainability.

This is exactly what is happening on the Great Belt Bridge today. In collaboration with Sund & Baelt, Ramboll has developed a living 3D model, a so-called digital twin, which uses drone flights with intelligent cameras and 15,000 sensors to send real-time data to the digital twin, showing a current image of the bridge's condition without engineers having to physically go out onto the site. The continuous data collection makes it possible to predict maintenance work and optimise

Ramboll was involved from the start

Ramboll has been a consultant on the Great Belt Bridge from the very beginning in 1976, when the Board of the Great Belt State Bridge approached Ramboll, Hannemann and three other consultants who together formed a joint venture, the so-called Great Belt Group, which completed the detailed design in 1978. However, the project ended up being postponed as part of the government platform for the then SV government.

In 1986, the government decided to resume the project, which was divided into the sub-projects we know today with a west bridge with combined road and rail, a railway tunnel and the east bridge as a suspension bridge. The updated requirements, especially for navigational safety and environmental requirements, meant that the project from the 70s could not be used and the design had to start all over again.

Ramboll was the consultant for soil investigations on both bridges and for the East Bridge in all phases from sketch design to execution of the entire bridge.

The bridge opened to traffic in 1998 and since then Ramboll has advised the client on the operation and maintenance of the concrete structures on both bridges.