Organized by   BRIDGE Magazine (China)
                           Capital Branch of the Sacramento Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
              
Introduction
It is our great pleasure to invite you to China for the Fourth Orthotropic Bridge Conference, which will be held in Tianjin, China, in September 21-25, 2015.
 
The research and application of orthotropic steel decks in China has been developed since the Beijiang Bridge in Zhaoqing of Guangdong Province in 1984. Since 1997, the application of orthortropic decks has been increasingly developed and the application spans over many long-span bridge types, including suspension bridges such as the Xihoumen Bridge in Zhejiang Province, cable-stayed bridges such as the Sutong Yangtze River Bridge in Jiangsu Province and arch bridges such as the Lupu Bridge. In addition, they have been widely used in a large number of urban bridges with small spans and adopted to many high-speed railway bridges in recent years. China also has helped other countries with the construction of orthotropic steel deck bridges, for instance, to help build the New San Francisco-Oakland Bay Eastern Bridge and to replace the upper deck of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge in New York. Orthotropic steel deck manufactured in China has also been exported to other countries. As a result, China is a country with state-of-art technology regarding orthotropic steel deck bridges.
 
In recent 15 years, cracks have appeared in the decks of some bridges utilizing orthotropic steel decks in China. Much research has been conducted to investigate the cracking problems, including evaluation of structural design, factory manufacturing standards, and site joint standards. In addition, the anti-fatigue performance of orthotropic steel decks composed of closed ribs with variable thickness is very critical, and research into the expected fatigue performance is already underway.
 
In the Fourth Orthotropic Bridge Conference, experts and engineers in China will share their experiences and opinions on the design, construction, maintenance, and repairs of orthotropic bridges with experts from all over the world.
 
Topics
The topics include, but are not limited to, the following aspects of new and existing orthotropic bridges during research, design, construction, and maintenance, as well as rehabilitation.
 
Deadlines for Submission of Papers
‐   Submission of Abstract:                                 April 30^th, 2015            Extended to May 31^st , 2015
‐   Notification of Acceptance of Abstract:        May 31^st, 2015              Extended to June 30^th, 2015
‐   Submission of Full Paper:                            July 31^st, 2015
‐   Notification of Acceptance of Full Paper:   August 31^st, 2015


Guidelines for Abstracts, Full Papers, and Presentation
1) Abstract
Abstracts should be submitted according to the following requirements:
-      Maximum one page
-      Submitted in English
‐    In MS-Word or unsecured Portable Document Format (PDF)
2) Full paper
Full papers should be prepared and submitted by the authors according to the following requirements:
‐  Full papers must be written in English
‐  Full papers containing illustrations in black and white are preferable.
‐  Full papers should be submitted in MS-Word and unsecured Portable Document Format (PDF). 
3) Presentation
Conference presentations should be prepared by authors according to the following requirements:
‐   Presentation material should be prepared in Power Point Presentation file.
‐   Presentation material must be written in English.

Abstracts and full papers should be submitted to the following email address: international@bridgecn.org. Details of requirements are in the templates attached in the end.

Preliminary Agenda
 

Conference
2015.9.21	Whole Day: Workshop “International Orthotropic Deck Bridges”
	Evening: Cruise Visiting Bridges Across the Haihe River
2015.9.22	Morning: Workshop “International Orthotropic Deck Bridges”
2015.9.22	Afternoon: Special Sessions ”Specification” and “Manufacture & Construction”
2015.9.23	Morning:  Special Sessions ”Design” and “Disease & Maintenance”
	Afternoon: Technical Visit to Tianjin Anyang Bridge
2015.9.24	Technical Visit to China Railway Shanhaiguan Bridge Group and City Tour
Tour(Separate Registration)
2015.9.25	Technical Visit to Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries co., Ltd.

Details will be announced when you register.

Introduction of China and Tianjin City
China is situated in eastern Asia, bounded by the Pacific in the east. The third largest country in the world, next to Canada and Russia, it has an area of 9.6 million square kilometers, or one‐fifteenth of the world’s landmass. China  has  one  of  the  world’s  oldest  civilizations  and  has  the  oldest  continuous civilization. It also has one of the world’s oldest written language systems, and is viewed as the source of many major inventions.
 
Tianjin lies in the northeast of the North China Plain, west of the Pacific Ocean, with Bohai Sea on its east and Yanshan Mountain on its north. It is only 137 kilometers southeast of Beijing, the capital of China. It is located along the downstream reach of the Haihe River, with many types of bridges crossing the river since ancient times. Bridges in Tianjin have been amended and transformed since 2002 after overall development of Haihe River. Besides, foreign bridge construction and designing companies in British, America and Japan are invited to design and build landscape bridges so that there is one bridge in less than 0.8 kilometers on the upstream of Haihe River, which improves traffic congestion and promote landscape of Haihe River.
Transportation of Tianjin:www.travelchinaguide.com/cityguides/tianjin/getting-there.htm
 
Contact
Nessy LIU    
BRIDGE Magazine
17, Nanlishi Rd., Xicheng District, (100045) Beijing, China
Tel: +86 10-64285951-506    Mobile: +86 10 18611641512
Fax: +86 10-64285582       E-mail: international@bridgecn.org
 
Shirley HOU
BRIDGE Magazine
Tel: +86 10-64285951-501    Mobile: +86 15890192670
Fax: +86 10-64285582       E-mail: houhl@bridgecn.org

Daisy DONG  
BRIDGE Magazine
Tel: +86 10-64285951-807    Mobile: +86 10 18609009921
Fax: +86 10-64285582       E-mail: dongsy@bridgecn.org
 
Emma LIAO 
BRIDGE Magazine
Tel: +86 10-64285503        Mobile: +86 10 13601204543
Fax: +86 10-64285582       E-mail:lingliao06@hotmail.com

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