An agreement on setting up a Sino-Italian Joint Lab of Archimede Bridge was signed by Director of the CAS Institute of Mechanics Hong Youshi and General Manager of the Archimede Bridge Co. Elio Matacena on Dec. 6 in Beijing. Italian Minister of Foreign Trade Antonio Marzano and Director of CAS Bureau of Basic Science Zhang Jie were among the officials witnessing the event.
Archemede Bridge (or the submerged floating tunnel, SFT) is considered a very promising concept of permanent crossing of waterways. As an innovative concept, it is an attractive alternative competing with the conventional transport technology, such as bridges, immersed tunnels or subsea tunnels with its advantages in low cost and pollution, and less impact on the landscape. Howeve, due to scientific and technological difficulties in its design, constructure and installation, there is no such bridge in the world yet. It is considered a major challenge to world scientific and engineering communties.
The joint lab is set up on the basis of encouraging cooperative research between the CAS institute and the Italian firm since 2001. It has received support from the CAS President Lu Yongxiang and related departments from Chinese and Italian governments. The Sino-Italian researchers of the lab vow to make contributions to the early establishment of the world's first Archimede bridge.
