The Autopista al Mar 1 project will connect Medellin with important trade hubs in the Caribbean and Pacific coasts, and along the Magdalena River. Pedelta was commissioned to design a new bridge over the Cauca River and provide technical supervision. The bridge is in a seismic zone and the length of its central span is dictated by the width of the river, resulting in imbalanced cantilever sections. To overcome these challenges and meet regulatory requirements, Pedelta needed advanced bridge modeling to generate a digital twin.

They selected OpenBridge Designer to model and analyze the bridge structure and define the construction process. They resolved the structural cantilever imbalance and reduced the seismic demand to achieve optimal material use. Using the digital twin, they analyzed and verified optimal structural loads in accordance with current national bridge design codes and simulated the construction process, which helped them anticipate any setbacks and correct them before they occurred on site.