Overview and Prospect of Engineering Practice of Permanent Floating Bridge Structures

As the bridge construction goes forward to the deep-water environments, the permanent floating bridge structures have attracted more and more attention from international scholars. The project cases of worldwide representative permanent floating bridges were presented. The structural systems of the built permanent floating bridges were summarized. The research and application advances regarding the mechanical features, the construction process, and the special configurations of the permanent floating bridges were introduced. Finally, from the perspectives of the engineering economy and environment applicability, the development prospect of permanent floating bridges was analyzed. The research shows that the permanent floating bridge structure has been applied in engineering around the world and has two types of structural systems, which are the continuous pontoon system and the discrete pontoon system. The permanent floating bridges adopted in deep-water environments have shown superior engineering economy. Based on further research and verifications, the permanent floating bridge structures can be applied in deep-water crossing projects.