SKF plain bearings used in world’s longest suspension bridge

SKF performed extensive testing and qualification to show that its plain bearings were suitable for use on the 4 km-wide bridge in Turkey

Gothenburg, Sweden, March 21 2022: Bearings from SKF are playing a key role in a record-breaking engineering project – the world’s longest suspension bridge, which recently opened in Turkey.

The 1915 Çanakkale Bridge spans a distance of more than 4 km across the Dardanelles strait in the north-west of the country. It forms part of a larger road construction project worth more than €3 billion.

“We’re excited to be part of this extraordinary endeavour,” says Andreas Borek of SKF. “We co-operated with DLSY JV, to analyse the requirements of bearings needed to overcome important obstacles in the project.”

In total, SKF supplied more than 340 plain bearings for the bridge.

The plain bearings that were produced in Schweinfurt, Germany are located at the top and bottom of the bridge’s vertical suspender cables. They help to transfer extensive loads from the bridge’s two main cables and its deck. At the same time, they accommodate radial, axial and diagonal micro-movements that occur between the bridge and its supporting cables.

As well as being able to carry high loads, the bearings must be corrosion-resistant due to the bridge’s coastal location. After carrying out salt-spray tests in its laboratory in Schweinfurt, SKF supplied bearings that were protected with a special surface coating technology.

The 1915 Çanakkale Bridge uses 226.000 m³ of concrete, and 162.000 kilometres of steel wires, enough to flip the world four times.

For further information, please contact:

Press Relations: Nia Moustou, +46 31-337 2897; +46 706 67 28 97; nia.moustou@skf.com

SKF’s mission is to be the undisputed leader in the bearing business. We do this by offering solutions that reduce friction and CO2 emissions, whilst at the same time increasing machine uptime and performance. Our products and services around the rotating shaft, include bearings, seals, lubrication management, artificial intelligence and wireless condition monitoring. SKF is represented in more than 130 countries and has around 17,000 distributor locations worldwide. Annual sales in 2021 were SEK 81 732 million and the number of employees was 42,602. www.skf.com

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