The Development of Submerged Floating Tunnels as an innovative solution for waterway crossings
Creators: name: Martire, Giulio
Publisher: name: Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II
Year: 2010

description: The present Thesis is organized in 10 chapters. In particular Chapter 1 
gives a general overview of the modern solutions and technologies available 
in the field of waterway crossings, introducing briefly the revolutionary 
concept of Submerged Floating Tunnel. 
Chapter 2 provides a deeper insight into the main characteristics of this 
innovative structural solution for waterway crossings: first its structural 
features are described and the relevant loading conditions discussed, 
subsequently the main advantages of the SFT with respect to the traditional 
crossing solutions, such as the Cable Supported Bridges and the Underground 
and Immersed Tunnel are described. 
Chapter 3 traces the history of the SFT, starting from its first proposal 
made in 1969 for the Messina Strait crossing, describing all the feasibility 
studies and preliminary designs developed all over the world in the following 
years. This Chapter is concluded by a description of the Sino-Italian 
cooperation programmes, involving among the other partners the University 
of Naples “Federico II”, which led to a feasibility study relative to the 
crossing of the Jintang Strait (P.R. of China) with a SFT and to the complete 
design of the first SFT full-scale prototype, planned to be realized in the 
forthcoming years in the Qiandao Lake (P.R. of China). A potential SFT 
crossing in the Pulau Seribu Archipelago (Indonesia), preliminary studied in 
the last years by the research team headed by Prof. Mazzolani, is also briefly 
illustrated. 
Chapter 4 explains in the detail of the various aspects faced in the design of 
the Archimedes Bridge prototype. The features of the selected location and the 
structural scheme are illustrated. The structural analyses aimed at 
investigating the prototype behaviour under the environmental loads are 
discussed. The conception and the design of the constructional details are 
presented. Finally, the fabrication and erection procedures are briefly 
described. 
Chapter 5 provides a description of the structural models which can be used 
to analyse the SFT structural behaviour: the beam on elastic foundation, which 
2 Outline of the Thesis 
can be used in the preliminary phase of the design, and a SFT Finite Element 
Model. 
Chapters 6 and 7 are devoted to the study of the response of the SFT to the 
main environmental loads to which is subjected: the hydrodynamic actions 
due to the presence of waves and currents and the earthquakes. Numerical 
analyses are carried out with the Finite Element analyses aimed at the 
understanding of the SFT structural behaviour and at the definition of the 
optimal structural configurations. 
In Chapter 8 potential SFT solutions developed for the Messina Strait and 
Gibraltar Strait crossings are illustrated and a technical-economical 
comparison with the Suspension Bridges designed for the same locations is 
made. 
Chapter 8 describes a simple procedure for a quick comparison of the SFT 
and CSIB solutions with the Cable Supported Bridges one, providing useful 
curves highlighting the conditions under which the former ones are more 
competitive than the latter ones. 
Finally, in Chapter 9 the future steps and challenges to be faced in the 
development of Submerged Floating Tunnel are presented. An alternative 
typology of floating tunnel is introduced too: the Cable Supported Immersed 
Inversed Bridge (CSIB), which is conceived as a combination of the 
submerged floating bridge concept with the cable system configurations and 
features several advantages also with respect to the “traditional” SFT solution.