How did the pile go down?

In the mid-1990s, the construction of elevated roads in Shanghai was in full swing. After the Inner Ring Road was completed and opened to traffic, Chengdu Road Elevated (North-South Elevated) and Yan 'an Road Elevated, which run through the urban area, were launched one after another, forming a "Shen" pattern running through Shanghai. Unexpectedly, the project reached the key intersection of the east, west, north and south viaduct, but the foundation pile as the main pillar could not be driven down. Later, I hired a Shanghai mage. After the mage finished the ceremony, the stake was divided. It is said that because of enlightenment, the mage returned to the temple and died in a few days. The pillar was then surrounded by Bai Gang and decorated with dragon-shaped ornaments as a prayer to the gods who helped pile driving successfully.

Q: Among the elevated columns in Shencheng, there is a famous "Kowloon Column", which refers to the column at the intersection of Yan 'an Road Elevated and North-South Elevated. Different from other columns, this column is particularly strong, and it is covered with dragon carvings made of stainless steel and copper, which are glittering and dazzling. Every time I drive by, someone always mentions its "mysterious legend" to me. The general idea is that when the viaduct was built, the piles here could not be knocked down, saying it was the "Long Mai" below; Later, only the monks were invited to "drive the dragon" successfully. The pillars are decorated with dragons to "bring up the rear". Finally, add a sentence, "I don't believe it all, and I don't believe it."

Experts' Interpretation of Yan 'an Road Elevated Dragon Column

I led the team to drive the pile down.

The story of this elevated column is very popular among Shanghainese. But as one of the parties, I want to tell you that the theory of "doing things" is pure nonsense.

1993 In the second half of the year, the Chengdu Road Elevated Project started construction. The intersection of Chengdu Road Elevated and Yan 'an Road Elevated was undertaken by the tunnel construction company, and Shanghai Zhengyi Company, where I work, was responsible for the construction of the northern Suzhou-crossing section.

This pillar at the intersection can be said to be a pillar, because it has to support two elevated roads, a * * * four-story road surface, and it is also the main pillar of the "Shen" center of the Shencheng elevated road, with very high technical requirements. According to the design, the diameter of this main column is 5 meters, and 36 steel pipe columns need to be drilled underground. Each steel pipe column is 5m in diameter and 64m in length. According to the construction requirements, these piles will be driven to a depth of more than 60 meters underground.

However, the piling construction team hired by the contractor at that time was only good at building piling and had no experience in driving such dense columns. There are some shortcomings in the construction scheme and technology. As a result, when this piling construction team hit six piles in the first batch, it encountered a hard geological layer, and no matter how hard it hit, it just couldn't go on. Some piles can only be driven above 10 m, and the deepest pile can only be driven to 4 1 m, and none of them meet the design standards.

The construction encountered great difficulties, and the contractor asked the Shanghai Municipal Design Institute to change the design, which was rejected by the design institute. At this time, we are also working in Shanghai Zhengyi Company, which crosses Suzhou River in the northern section, and have already driven 98 piles with the same thickness. The design institute turned to us for help, and under the coordination of the Chengdu Road Elevated Construction Headquarters, the piling work of the intersection column was handed over to us for construction.

I took the team and took three measures in the construction. First, pile with 8 tons heavy hammer; Secondly, water is poured continuously during piling to play a lubricating role; Three, continuous hammering 18 hours, to ensure the deepening of the pile. After changing the construction scheme, it took us only one month and five days to finish driving all 36 piles. Complete the construction of Chengdu Road viaduct node to ensure smooth traffic.

It can be seen that the final penetration of piles depends on scientific modern technology, not geomantic metaphysics. (National model worker and bridge builder Zhang Geng)

Zhang Geng, 1943, from Jurong, Jiangsu. 1959 Shanghai Qinye Middle School. He has served as the captain of the 11th and 12th construction teams of Shanghai No.1 Municipal Engineering Company, and participated in more than 70 large and small bridges such as nanpu bridge, Wusong Bridge, Zhenbei Road Interchange, Yan 'an East Road Elevated, Yan 'an Middle Road Elevated, etc. In the tough battle of Shanghai's municipal construction, he took the lead, gnawed hard bones and made outstanding contributions, and was known as "the star of bridge building" and "the king of bridge building".

The dragon carving is just for decoration.

The sculpture on the central column of the elevated five-story interchange on Yan 'an Road in Chengdu Road is my work. The reason why I chose the dragon as the theme was entirely my creativity, not for the sake of "Feng Shui".

At that time, the viaduct on Chengdu Road and Yan 'an Road was designed by Shanghai itself. Compared with the interchange scheme of * * * and Xinlu Zhongshan North Road designed by Tianjin, the directional interchange we designed occupies a small area, and a main column with four "T piers" on four sides supports so many grade interchanges: Chengdu Road is elevated on the fifth floor, Yan 'an Road is elevated on the second floor, and the left-turn ramp bridges connecting the two elevated roads are located on the third and fourth floors respectively, which better solves the land occupation problem of the central city. But the corresponding price is that this central column is particularly thick. Designed as a "Big Mac" with a diameter of 5 meters, a height of 32 meters and a pile foundation length of 62 meters.

It is precisely because this pillar is too thick, on the one hand, it is not very beautiful at an empty intersection, on the other hand, it may also bring visual obstacles to drivers and affect driving safety. Therefore, at the same time as the column construction, the decoration of the column has also been put on the agenda, becoming the only decorative column on the Shanghai viaduct.

At that time, the tunnel construction company and construction unit appreciated the large relief I designed for the Yan 'an Road tunnel exit, and found it spectacular and magnificent. So, the construction unit found me and gave me the task of decorating the elevated column of Chengdu Road.

No one set any rules for me when designing the later decorative sculpture. Whenever I have time every day, I will go to the construction site to feel it. Suddenly one day inspiration came: Isn't this elevated road a dragon in Shanghai, running day and night? Therefore, I named this creative work "Longteng Wan Li Sunmoon and Sunmoon".

Because the column is more than 30 meters high and the elevated roads are staggered in the middle, when designing and building the relief, I first designed the floor plan and then wrapped it on the column. Besides, I don't like the image of dragons in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. I read a lot of information about ancient bronzes and borrowed the image of dragons on bronzes in the Spring and Autumn Period, which is primitive. In fact, if you look closely, there are more than nine dragons on the pillars, and there are many large and small ones; In addition, there are other elements such as phoenix, sun and moon.

The design and construction took nearly 10 months, and after the sculpture was unveiled, various rumors came out. I chose the dragon only because this pillar is in the most important position on the Shanghai viaduct, holding such a heavy thing. The rumors of ordinary people are all related or out of curiosity. But in short, they are all "folk jokes" and have no factual basis. Zhao, sculptor and former vice president of Shanghai Oil Painting Sculpture Institute.