Marco Rosignoli – Bridge Building Expert

Marco Rosignoli has more than 20 years of experience in bridge construction and design. (Source: San Francisco Public Press)

Marco Rosignoli is an expert in bridge design, construction, forensic engineering, consulting and education, with over 37 years of experience in 21 countries. Through a two-part series, Rosignoli gave readers an in-depth look into emerging megacities and their infrastructure needs. According to Rosignoli, efficient transportation is the key to an economically competitive city, and megacities will call for mega-sized bridges made of high-quality steel. Read on to find out more.

Part one: Ask an Expert: Building Bridges for Megacities

Part two: Ask an Expert: Building Bridges for Megacities – Part 2

Naim Josefi – Fashion Designer

Naim Josefi is an innovative designer who mixes fashion and technology. (Source: Naim Josefi)

Naim Josefi runs a fashion company based in Stockholm, Sweden, and is widely known for winning Project Runway Sweden back in 2012. Josefi is a fashion designer who is blurring the boundaries between science and fashion as his projects include steel dresses, 3D printed shoes and laser-printed jeans. Find out why the designer chooses to work with steel and incorporate new technologies into his art.

Read on: Ask an Expert: Fashion Forward with Steel

Professor Bill Arnold – Oil Industry Expert

Bill Arnold is a professor in the practice of energy management at Rice University’s Jones Graduate School of Business. Previously, Professor Arnold was Royal Dutch Shell’s Washington director of international government relations and senior counsel for the Middle East, Latin America and North Africa for 16 years.

Bill Arnold is an Energy Management Professor at Rice University. (Source: Society of Petroleum Engineers)

Professor Arnold gave readers an insider’s analysis of the rapidly-changing oil industry marked by unpredictable oil prices. He says, in the midst of change, there are newly-developing business opportunities and alternative sources of fuel such as natural gas that will subsequently create more demand for high-quality steel.   

Find out more: Ask an Expert: The Role of Steel in a Changing Oil Industry

Park Jong-jae – Automotive Columnist

Park Jong-jae is a motorsports columnist and the former editor-in-chief at F1 Racing Korea. Back in May, Park contributed a two-part series on POSCO GIGA STEEL. In the first part, Park reinforced the need for lightweight materials in the auto industry and highlighted some of the most successful cases of POSCO GIGA STEEL application from POSCO’s partners including GM Korea and Ssangyong Motors.

2016 Chevy Cruze Body Structure with POSCO GIGA STEEL. (Source: World Auto Steel)

Read more: Ask an Expert: POSCO GIGA STEEL Opens Door to the Future of the Auto Industry

In part two, he took readers through the 6 different types of POSCO GIGA STEEL and how they can benefit different parts of a vehicle.

There are 6 types of POSCO GIGA STEEL. (Source: Astro Awani)

Find more information: Ask an Expert: POSCO GIGA STEEL Goes Beyond the Limits of Traditional Lightweight Materials

Gil Bruvel – Steel Artist

Gil Bruvel is a veteran artist who creates sculptures using stainless steel. (Source: Gil Bruvel)

Gil Bruvel is an artist who works with stainless steel to create beautifully crafted sculptures of the human form. For the past 40 years, Bruvel has dedicated himself to painting, drawing and sculpting. He worked on a series of stainless steel sculpture for his Flow Series that depict aspects of nature mixed with the human body. Check out his creations and learn more about why Bruvel chooses to work artistically with steel.

Take a look: Ask an Expert: Capturing the Fluidity of Life in Ribbons of Steel – An Interview with Gil Bruvel

POSCO’s Masters of Korea

Every year, POSCO names its Masters of Korea. These masters are employees who have become experts in their respective fields through years of hard work and dedication. All 3 Masters of 2017 contributed to POSCO by developing new technologies, coming up with groundbreaking ideas and finding solutions to make POSCO safer, more efficient and highly competitive in the global steel industry. Find out who they are and their journey to becoming the POSCO Masters of Korea.

Master Nam Tae-Gyu has 40 years of experience working for POSCO.

Master Nam Tae-Gyu: POSCO Masters: 40 Years in the Making

Suh Gwang-Il examines machinery at a POSCO steel mill with colleagues.

Master Suh Gwang-Il: POSCO Masters: A Cold Rolling Expert

Master Kim Yong-Hoon played a key role in automating POSCO’s production systems.

Master Kim Yong-Hoon: POSCO Masters: Leading the Way Towards Automation

Thank you to the experts that helped make the Steel Wire shine like steel in 2017. In 2018, we look forward to even more opportunities to collaborate with even more experts to help provide you, our readers, a deeper understanding of steel and its applicability across industries.

Biggest Challenges in Bridge Construction

The major challenges for building urban bridges are the availability of skilled labor, access to urban areas and environmental compatibility.

A worker paints the Anzhaite Long-span Suspension Bridge in Jishou, Hunan, China (Source: The Daily Mail)

Building bridges in megacities with the current scarcity of skilled labor will require a massive recourse to prefabrication. In a few circumstances, prefabricated bridge units will be transported on water with tugs and barges, which will allow the use of heavy, large units. In most cases, prefabricated bridge units will be transported on the ground through congested urban roads, which will lead to the use of light, modular units.

A floating crane lifts prefabricated deck sections onto the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge (Source: San Francisco Public Press)

The availability of deck assembly areas and the interference of construction operations with adjacent infrastructure are additional challenges that will govern the bridge design process. As such, incremental launching construction from aerial platforms will see new applications, especially when combined with on-site welding of field splices among modular bridge units. The welding of field splices will also allow for optimized segmentation of bridge units, diminish the cost of field splices, and will relax the fabrication tolerances of the units.

Size Determines Cost, Cost Determines Everything Else

When constructing a bridge for an urban area, the size of a bridge governs the construction process. in turn, the construction cost of a bridge determines the materials and technology. Technology includes labor and investment in special construction equipment. The quantities of structural materials for a bridge depend on the design loads of the bridge, the flexural and shear span of the bridge units, and the mechanical strength of the material.

The Jiaozhou Bay Bridge in China is the longest sea-crossing bridge in the world (Source: The New York Times)

Small and large-scale bridge projects are both necessary in megacities and demand will only increase in light of the newly emerging megacities all over the world. When looking at both the construction of new bridges and the maintenance of existing bridges, the number of small-scale projects will definitely be larger than the number of large-scale projects. The impact these construction projects will have on the mobility of people and goods within a megacity is massive.

Although one may assume large-scale bridge projects with a larger budget will allow for design optimization and the efficient use of high-grade steels, scale economies in competition with other megacities will govern the availability of construction materials and workforce. Eventually, the scarcity of structural materials will lead to the efficient, eco-friendly use of steel and concrete in large and small-scale bridge projects alike.

Prefabrication and Incremental Launching for Bridge Construction

It is true that small-scale bridge projects have smaller budgets for technology, which limit design optimization and construction mechanization and increase the labor demand. Therefore, small-scale bridges will most likely be procured as packages of multiple bridges to acquire scale economies and a more efficient use of materials with the optimized design of modular units.

On the other hand, large-scale bridge projects allow for massive investment in special construction equipment, which will facilitate the prefabrication of modular bridge units in smart, eco-friendly factories. It will also diminish the labor demand of site assembly and the need for complementary infrastructure in an urban environment, as well as enhance the quality and durability of the final product.

Thus, large-scale bridge projects will be designed for modularity and have prefabricated standardized units with asynchronous production lines. Parts of the bridge will likely have different cycle times, just-in-time delivery, and require minimal site operations. Overall, construction technology and risk management of the trans-disciplinary relationships of mechanized construction will dictate the design of large-scale bridge projects in megacities.

Workers assemble a prefabricated bridge in Pennsylvania, U.S. (Source: Roads and Bridges)

Small-scale bridge projects will take advantage of incremental launching technologies. Launched bridges minimize the interference between deck construction and the obstruction to overpass, and this is a major advantage for urban bridges designed to overpass congested infrastructure. Launched bridges do not require extra clearance to support the deck during construction, which simplifies connecting the bridge with existing roads and railways. Launched bridges do not require additional right-of-way as the deck is built behind the abutment and incrementally pushed into position. Additionally, the construction area is far from the infrastructure to overpass, which minimizes the risk for workers and the traveling public.

Incremental launching applied to a bridge deck construction process (Source: CARLOS FERNANDEZ CASADO S.L)

Materials For the Future Generation of Urban Bridges

Steel and concrete are the most common materials for bridges. In the field of steel bridges, high-grade steel will reduce the self-weight of bridge superstructures and the cost of piers and foundations. New composite systems and mechanized plate corrugation will increase the buckling capacity of unstiffened web panels and compression flanges to avoid the use of welded stiffeners.

In the field of prestressed concrete, new steels for rebar will offer higher strength and corrosion resistance to increase the durability and service life of the next generation of urban bridges. Post-tensioning materials are already extremely efficient, and the challenge will revolve around finding new duct systems and passivating materials to able to avoid the quality concerns raised by cement grouts.

Full-span precasting has been employed in thousands of spans of high-speed railway projects and in hundreds of spans of light-rail transit projects. Both steel and prestressed concrete bridges will be present in the mass transit systems of megacities, and both types of bridges are perfectly compatible with steel decks should high-grade steel turn out financially competitive over prestressed concrete in the megacity-oriented life cycle cost analysis.

Modern large-scale bridge projects are designed for 75 or 100-year service life in the USA. The use of renewable protective materials can easily meet this target in steel bridges, but the evolution of design loads and service conditions of urban bridges is hard to predict. Steel bridges offer a major advantage over prestressed-concrete bridges from this point of view, as they are more adaptable and can be modified, strengthened and adapted to new use conditions.

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Here is what bridge expert Marco Rosignoli had to say about emerging megacities, the greatest challenge of providing efficient transportation and what kind of bridges will need to be built to accommodate the changing urban environment.  

The Cities of the Future

Today, megacities are the gateways of globalization. They drive flows of people, goods, knowledge and money around the world, and they also make a large contribution to economic growth at a national level. Tokyo accounts for 28 percent of the Japanese population and generates 40 percent of the country’s GDP. Paris accounts for 16 percent of the French population and generates 30 percent of its GDP. Many metropolitan regions have higher GDP pro-capita than the national average, higher labor productivity, and faster growth rates.

Given their weight in the national economy, the ability of megacities to compete at a global level is paramount. To attract investment, these cities need modern, efficient infrastructures. As the competition shifts from competition among countries to competition among cities, many countries are developing policies to develop their cities into globally competitive megacities.

“Mega” Challenges for “Mega” Cities

Recent studies show that transportation is the biggest infrastructure challenge of megacities and has a big impact on city competitiveness. Transport problems affect megacities at all levels of development and range from obsolete systems and aging infrastructure of mature cities such as London and New York to an insufficient system capacity of transitional cities and even non-existing basic infrastructure of emerging cities such as Karachi.

The mass transport systems of megacities must be capable of transporting millions of people while putting as little strain as possible on the environment. A good quality of life requires a well-functioning infrastructure, and an effective infrastructure contributes to economic prosperity.

Traffic congestion during rush hour at Shanghai, China

Congestion costs are huge for megacities’ economy, employment and the environment. Air pollution and traffic problems are the top two environmental problems of megacities, and road transport alone is responsible for over 40 percent of discharge of suspended particles into the atmosphere. Although water, electricity, health care, safety and security also need investment, recent studies suggest that these sectors are less likely to see a strong link between spending and improved competitiveness of megacities, despite their important impact on the attractiveness of the city for investment. Instead, stakeholders will prioritize spending on improving transportation infrastructure to boost city competitiveness.

Investing in Transportation for Megacities

Stakeholders are split on whether to invest in new transport capacity or reorganize, revitalize and increase the efficiency of existing infrastructure. When new investment is made available, it will likely be used to deliver incremental improvements to existing transportation systems rather than on new infrastructure projects.

The Goethals Bridge in New York under reconstruction (Source: New York Post)

Thus, megacities can expect to see public investment go toward the maintenance of existing bridges, restoring and partially rebuilding instead of constructing from scratch. Maintenance efforts will include the demolition of existing bridges, combined with the conversion of old-generation steels into new families of high-grade steels. This will reduce the environmental impact and achieve a net earning in structural capacity that will pay off part of the energy cost of the reconversion process.

Overall, public investment in traditional roads and roadway bridges will diminish, and will increase for eco-friendly sectors such as mass transit systems, electrified ground transportation for food and public services, light-rail transit bridges serving local districts from mass transit hubs, and high-speed railway networks connecting megacities to airports, ports and other megacities. The environmental impact of private transportation will also lead to new, greener mass transit solutions, which will become a top priority for investment.

Bridges of the Future

Many urban bridges in the U.S. were designed to be as light as possible in light of the scarcity of steel following the 2nd World War. This led to the use of long-span trusses incorporating built-up sections with trusses and lightening holes. Such bridges require constant maintenance and hand painting of large surfaces, which makes their maintenance financially prohibitive. Bridges that are still in acceptable service conditions may suggest replacement just to avoid maintenance costs.

New-generation urban bridges designed for long service life and minimized lifecycle costs will use plate girders and multiple protective layers of replaceable materials. Modern high-grade steels allow for the use of a smaller number of structural members, which diminishes the number of field splices, diaphragms, lateral braces, and steel surfaces to protect.

The Stonecutters Bridge and container port in Hong Kong

Compared with reinforced concrete, steel offers a higher strength-to-weight ratio that increases the design efficiency of modular bridges. These days, steel bridges are becoming increasingly stronger and lighter. As a core material, steel facilitates the delivery of prefabricated units, simplifies the design of bridge piers and foundations, and is easier and faster to recycle or use in smaller quantities.

In the future, these lighter and smaller bridge units will require more field splices, and new types of bolted, welded or hybrid connections will be introduced to increase the structural efficiency of connections, impose less structural constraints on their distribution, and avoid the weakening of the cross-section with drilled holes.

Moreover, the availability of deck assembly areas and interference of construction operations with adjacent infrastructure will govern bridge design. Incremental launching construction from aerial platforms will see new applications, especially when combined with on-site welding of the field splices among modular bridge units. The welding of field splices will allow for optimized segmentation of bridge units, will diminish the cost of field splices, and will relax the fabrication tolerances of the units.

Incremental launching construction in London, UK (Source: Knight Architects)

Overall, emerging megacities will translate into an increased demand for bridges, whether it is from building a new bridge or a reconstructing an existing bridge. The challenge will shift from structural considerations to rapid, cost-effective construction processes within a complex urban environment.

Future bridges that will accommodate stricter environmental and sustainability regulations will feature shorter, lighter spans that can be prefabricated in smart factories and transported and erected rapidly in a congested urban environment.

Steel bridges offer many advantages over prestressed-concrete bridges under these new demands. A transition to greener megacities will provide a wealth of business opportunities, eco-friendly technologies and construction materials, and diversification for the coming future.

Continue on to Part Two of Marco Rosignoli’s post on technical and materials solutions for the construction of large-scale bridges in megacities.

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POSCO has held its annual community service tradition, the POSCO Global Volunteer Week, since 2010.  This year, from May 24 to 30, over 79,000 POSCO Group employees from 52 different countries, including Korea, Turkey, Vietnam and the U.S., rolled up their sleeves and got to work. Here’s a look at some of the highlights.

POSCO Group in Korea

In Korea, POSCO Group employees made home improvements for underprivileged neighborhoods, mentored local youth and had a blast painting wall murals.

In the nation’s capital of Seoul, POSCO employees cleaned up marine waste with the Clean Ocean Volunteer Group, and another group delivered freshly baked bread to the community’s elderly.

On May 30, POSCO CEO Kwon Ohjoon and over 30 employees visited Myeongryundang of Sungkyunkwan Munmyo (a Confucian shrine), to repair and replace Korean traditional paper called Changhoji on windows and doors.

POSCO CEO Kwon Ohjoon visited Munmyo, the main temple for Korean Confucianism located in Seoul, to help replace traditional Korean paper known as Changhoji

In the city of Pohang, POSCO’s volunteer groups visited Sangdo Middle School to conduct first aid and CPR training. Other volunteer groups in Gwangyang, another city in Korea where POSCO conducts business, launched a lunchbox delivery business to create jobs for the elderly and held classes for women for minority communities.

POSCO Group Across the Globe

POSCO subsidiaries in Turkey, Vietnam and the U.S., also took part in Global Volunteer Week.

In Turkey, POSCO ASSAN TST employees opened a Korean culture school for local elementary school students in March. During Global Volunteer Week, Students got to try on traditional Korean clothing called hanbok and volunteers built a playground made out of recycled tires for the kindergarten students.   

POSCO-Vietnam carried out activities to improve the environment of the POSCO steel village and installed safety bars in the POSCO steel bridge. POSCO-VST employees visited local orphanages to deliver healthy meals and deftly handled some exterior painting.

In the U.S., employees at POSCO-America gathered to clean up Centennial Olympic Park. The Detroit office went to the local food bank to distribute food to underprivileged neighborhoods and the Houston office cleaned up the memorial parks in the neighborhood to contribute to their respective local communities.

As one of the world’s leading steelmakers, POSCO will continue its efforts to contribute to global sustainable development by not only developing eco-friendly technologies but also giving back to local communities.

Since the early 20th century, car manufacturers have realized the importance of using specific steel for specific purposes. Henry Souther of the New York Times reported in 1909, “The secret of the use of steel is to put the right steel in the right place.” Until fairly recently, automotive steel mostly consisted of weaker mild steels that were affordable and easy to form into parts, but innovations in advanced high-strength steels (AHSS) have given automakers more options when designing vehicles.

Today’s automakers and parts manufacturers must consider several properties of the steel they are using: formability, crashworthiness, and durability. Each plays an important role in how the car is made and how the car performs over time and during impact. Below we take a look at these criteria and why each is important for manufacturers when designing a car and its parts.

Formability in Manufacturing

Formability is a key aspect to any automotive material. If a part cannot be made, it cannot be used. Typically, to make steel stronger, automakers had to make sacrifices in weight and formability, and if manufacturers needed a material with more ductility they were forced to give up strength.

The first generation of advanced high-strength steels (AHSS) increased strength while decreasing weight, giving automakers the opportunity to use thinner steel sheets. However, as the steel became stronger it lost formability, making it difficult to mold into parts.

POSCO GIGA STEEL is formable so that it can be shaped into complex parts.

Development of the second generation of AHSS focused on improving formability and elongation; however, its commercial use was limited due to its high cost and tendency to produce delayed cracking at room temperature.

With the new third-generation AHSS, like POSCO GIGA STEEL, steel producers have been able to bridge those gaps by producing steel that is formable, strong, and durable.  

While the average car built in 1975 utilized just 3.6% medium and high strength steels, by 2007 that percentage had increased by more than 230% in large part because the practical uses of AHSS have expanded.

Crashworthiness is Key for Safety

Crashworthiness is one of the most important elements to consider when designing automobiles because it is directly linked to the safety of passengers. The crashworthiness of a car is affected by many things including its structural build, safety devices, and materials.

While crash tests of full vehicles are often performed when developing a new car, crash tests of automotive parts are not carried out as often. To bridge this gap, POSCO developed its own crash test simulation for auto parts using high-speed compression and bending.

Crashworthiness criteria such as energy absorption & fracture, collapse mode, reaction force, and mean load is evaluated to provide reference data for car design. With these tests, POSCO is able to provide dynamic material data to its customers in order to propose the most appropriate steel solutions that maximize safety for passengers.

SsangYong Motor designed the new G4 Rexton SUV with a body frame that contains 63% POSCO GIGA STEEL. This is the highest ratio ever achieved in a body frame design and helps ensure significant levels of strength and safety for consumers. In the video below, watch as the SUV goes through various safety tests showing its crashworthiness and durability.

Durability to Prevent Fatigue Failure

The durability of parts is a critical factor to consider in vehicle design as their complicated components are subject to a wide array of complex stresses. In cars, material fatigue due to repeated mechanical loading can lead to the damage of critical components. Also, as vehicles are mobile machines, they are subject to even more unpredictable degrees of loading that can amplify the effects of fatigue on their parts. Moreover, because fatigue failure is often abrupt and difficult to detect, material providers must work to improve durability and ensure longer fatigue life.

“90% of the failures which occur in engineering components can be attributed to fatigue.”
– TR Gurney, Fatigue of Welded Structures

POSCO works with customers to provide accurate durability analysis for each of its products. Through extensive testing with various steel types, specimen shapes, and welding conditions, POSCO is able to provide in-depth testing results requested by customers.

POSCO also works with customers through its Solution Marketing 2.0 program that helps optimize the design and production process of each part – helping ensure that durability performance meets the customer’s needs.

POSCO GIGA STEEL provides automakers with durability to protect against fatigue failure.

Parts that require higher durability such as the CTBA (Coupled Torsion Beam Axle), wheel, engine cradle, lower control arm and stabilizer bar are interlinked with the fatigue data of POSCO steel. This provides the results of the durability analysis in order to suggest the most appropriate steel type for the manufacturer. Furthermore, POSCO supports joint research with customers for the design, manufacturing, and durability evaluations of its parts. POSCO also analyzes the causes of fatigue failure through SEM imaging of fatigue fracture surfaces, measurements of surface roughness, and measurements of strain rate and residual stress.

Today’s automakers must consider these properties during the design and manufacturing stages in order to find the right steel for each component. POSCO is committed to working with its automotive customers to ensure that the right steel solution is used for the right part – helping to find the right balance between formability, crashworthiness, and fatigue life.

Below we take a look at five of the most exciting advancements in car safety. From new technologies that help drivers steer the car to stronger frames that protect passengers, see how the auto industry is working to keep passengers safe.

Lane Departure Warning

Blind spot warning systems use sensors to alert drivers when another car is in their blind spot. Typically a dashboard or in-mirror icon will alert the driver with increasing brightness or sound alarms depending on the proximity.

Blind spot warnings are a fairly new offering, first showing up in luxury cars, but finding their way into more affordable cars. Because these systems also alert drivers when bicyclists or pedestrians are out of their field of vision, they offer huge step forward for those inside and outside of the car.

Electronic Stability Control (ESC)

Electronic Stability Control, or ESC, systems have automatic sensors that detect whether or not a vehicle is traveling in the right direction based on the steering wheel input. If the car suddenly slides out of control, ESC will automatically activate to apply brakes and engine torque to self-correct.

While ESC first appeared on luxury cars in the 1990s, as of 2012, they were required on all new vehicles in the US.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has said that ESC lowers the risk of a fatal single-vehicle crash by about half, and the risk of a fatal rollover by as much as 80 percent. Most safety experts view ESC as a must have feature when buying a new or used car.

Blind Spot Warning

Blind spot warning systems use sensors to alert drivers when another car is in their blind spot. Typically a dashboard or in-mirror icon will alert the driver with increasing brightness or sound alarms depending on the proximity.

Blind spot warnings are a fairly new offering, first showing up in luxury cars, but finding their way into more affordable cars. Because these systems also alert drivers when bicyclists or pedestrians are out of their field of vision, they offer huge step forward for those inside and outside of the car.

Front Crash Prevention

Front crash prevention systems alert drivers when their car is moving toward oncoming traffic too quickly. Using cameras or lasers to gauge distances between cars, drivers are given a visual, audio, or vibration alert to get their attention so they can brake in time to avoid a collision. Also, some automakers are going even further by integrating auto braking features that will give a warning while also automatically slowing the car without the driver’s input.  

Research from the  Highway Loss Data Institute (HDLI) showed that front crash warnings could reduce rear-end crashes by 23 percent, while front crash warnings with auto braking could reduce collisions 39 percent.

Advanced High Strength Steels

Because of the many technological advancements made in collision prevention systems for drivers, many people forget that steel has made huge strides in the last 15 years. While the average car build in 1975 utilized just 3.6% medium and high strength steels, by 2007 that percentage had increased by more than 230%.

Until recently, most high strength steels were brittle and difficult to work with – not to mention heavy – while lightweight steels were too weak. Today’s advanced high-strength steels (AHSS) have been able to bridge that gap by providing materials that are strong, lightweight, and formable.

POSCO GIGA STEEL has a tensile strength over 1,000MPa and is over 3x stronger than aluminum. In addition to providing the strength needed to meet safety regulations, it is also ideal because of its formability and affordability. Because POSCO manufactures several types of steel with tensile strengths over 1,000MPa, POSCO GIGA STEEL can be utilized in specific ways to meet the unique needs of car makers.

Hong Kong is one of the world’s leading financial centers and houses the world’s 6th busiest port. Macau is home to world’s most well-known casinos, shops, and restaurants. Despite a population of a little more than 500,000, Macau welcomes more than 30 million visitors annually. On the mainland side sit Zhuhai and Shenzhen, two of the fastest growing cities in the world that represent one of the world’s largest and most important manufacturing bases.

A portion of the HZMB that will connect Macau, Zhuhai, and Hong Kong

Despite the region’s economic power and influence, many parts of it are still left to the whims of the weather. Travel between Macau, Hong Kong, and the mainland is limited as there are no roads connecting them. The most common route is by ferry, although those with means can choose to go by helicopter.

The HZMB spans 50 km connecting multiple sections with bridges and a tunnel (Image courtesy of Google Earth)

Being limited to ferries means that traffic is stopped in the event of typhoons, floods, or other bad weather. While ferries typically run every 15 minutes, service is severely limited from midnight to 7 am. This means that any late night plans to stay in these Cinderella cities should be cut short.

The construction of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge (HZMB) is set to alleviate some of these problems while bringing the region closer together economically.

Bridge + Tunnel

First proposed in 1988, construction finally began in 2009 and is expected to be completed in December 2017. The HZMB spans a total of 50 km with the main bridge portion stretching out to almost 23 km. When completed, that piece alone will be one of the longest bridges in the world.

The tunnel section of the HZMB is 4 stories high and can accommodate six lanes of traffic. (Photo courtesy of hzmb.hk)

Because large container ships still need access to the seas, HZMB combines an undersea tunnel as part of the infrastructure. The tunnel is in addition to three large cable supported bridges that will allow ships to pass underneath.

This artificial island is the submergence point for traffic as they begin their descent to the tunnel portion. (Image courtesy of Google Earth)

Building the tunnels has not been easy and they have been the source of many of the delays in opening the bridge. The tunnel runs for 6 km more than 40 m beneath the seabed. Because the tunnel sits in the middle of the main bridge section, two artificial islands were built for cars to transition from above water to underwater to underground. Following the lines of a bridge, the road suddenly disappears in the middle of the sea like a scene out of a sci-fi movie.

Breaking Barriers, Connecting the Region

The HZMB is built to last 120 years and engineers had to adhere to the strict construction standards of Hong Kong, Macau, and China.

It also had to be built to withstand typhoons, tidal waves (check out these photos if you doubt the severity of typhoons in the region) and increased traffic to and from the islands.

The front page of the Sunday Herald shows a common headline the day after a typhoon hit Hong Kong in 1962. (Image courtesy of the South China Morning Post)

With the added connectivity that the bridge brings, there are anticipated economic benefits on all sides. Those in Zhuhai traveling to the Hong Kong airport will have their commute reduced from 4 hours to 40 minutes. Visitors going from Hong Kong to Macau will have their commute shortened from almost one hour to 35 minutes. And those traveling from Hong Kong to the Western areas of the Pearl River Delta will have just a 3-hour drive.

Despite the complicated engineering, regulations from three different governing districts, and high costs, the HZMB will soon be a reality. The bridge will provide an important link between Hong Kong, Macau, and Zhuhai, bringing together one of the most powerful financial districts in the world with the heart of industrial China.

In order to bridge this gap, POSCO Group University and POSTECH (Pohang University of Science and Technology) will set out to build an AI ecosystem by nurturing AI specialists and conducting joint research. On February 28, POSCO Group University and POSTECH Information Research Laboratories (PIRL) signed an agreement to work on building a training program for in-house AI specialists in POSCO Group and to promote overall collaboration. Young-joo Seo, the head of PIRL, said, “We will invite the best in AI to train researchers at corporations and produce AI specialists within a short period of time. This will hopefully strengthen the competitiveness of companies and of this country.”

Sun-hee Yoo, director of POSCO Group University Global Leadership Center (left), and Young-joo Seo, head of PIRL, signed an agreement on February 28 to create training programs for AI specialists in POSCO Group.

PIRL was founded in 1991 to conduct research on cutting-edge information and communications technology (ICT). It opened an office in Pangyo last October to conduct research and begin the commercialization of AI and big data; it has also successfully supported startups in related fields.

POSTECH has been a leader in research by showcasing its strengths in AI and big data. It is expected to lead innovation in Korea’s industrial circles by developing AI-based technologies, conducting research, nurturing AI specialists, and making full use of and applying other related technologies in the field. Aside from POSCO Group, POSTECH has also worked with other companies to train specialists and conduct joint research. It plans to create and provide customized training programs for each corporation.

With this agreement, POSCO Group University will be in charge of launching related training programs and beginner courses for POSCO Group and its affiliates, while PIRL will be in charge of developing content for basic and advanced courses to increase people’s understanding of AI, big data, programming, pattern recognition, machine learning, natural language processing, and computer vision. It is the first time that a university in Korea is providing a program to train AI specialists, especially for corporations, and will serve as a significant milestone in expanding cooperation between companies and academic institutions, a fitting move in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Currently, 59 people have completed the beginner course with the POSCO AI program. For the basic and advanced course, 15 employees from POSCO and 10 employees from POSCO affiliates will be selected to participate. If participants successfully pass the four-month group training, task performance course, and six-month advanced course, they will be selected as AI specialists and experience a chance to work in the field.

In order to better equip POSCO Group employees to respond to changes at the group level and increase their awareness on AI, POSCO Group University will add a three-session beginner course. In addition, an AI training course will be available for POSCO executives during the first half of this year.

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Almost everyone can picture a sports stadium, an airport, or a bridge – we have all either been in, at or on one of them at one point in our lives. A huge football stadium that can close its roof, an airport by the sea that is impervious to corrosion, and a glass-bottomed bridge that allows only the most steel-hearted of pedestrians to look deep into one of the most famous canyons on earth – all made possible through innovations in steel.

Rolling Back the Roof at NRG Stadium

This year’s pro-football championship game between Atlanta and New England will be held at Houston’s NRG Stadium where hardcore Falcons and Patriots fans are rushing to get their hands on some of the few tickets left. Tickets are reselling for an average of $5,101, but if you want a view from the 50 yard-line it is going to set you back USD $11,000 to $12,000.

NRG Stadium, completed in 2002, is famous for being the first-ever NFL stadium with a retractable roof – allowing events to be held in open air or air-conditioned comfort.

The Houston Texans play at NRG Stadium (formerly Reliant), November 18, 2007. (Photo courtesy of Ed Schipul)

Designed to utilize the principles of kinetic architecture, the roof is able to open and close without reducing the overall structural integrity. The roof’s panels are 117m x 152m and supported by two sections of five trusses each that meet at the 50-yard line. These two sections are supported by two supertrusses that run for almost 300m each along the field’s sidelines. Along each supertruss is a wheel rail to guide the roof as it opens and closes, in as little as 10 minutes.

With so many moving parts, the retractable roof represents an amazing feat of engineering. The steel beams, trusses, and motors weigh thousands of pounds, but it is still able to zip open in a few minutes. Come rain or come shine, ticketholders will be able to stay dry until the winner raises the Lombardi Trophy at the big game on Monday.

Stainless Steel at Incheon International Airport
With over 49 million passengers each year, Incheon International Airport is one of the busiest airports in the world, and consistently ranked as one of the best. Internationally praised for its remarkable facilities and services, which include a spa, golf course, movie theater, museum, and ice skating rink; the airport also prides itself on its efficient design.

A bird’s-eye view of the second passenger terminal at Incheon International Airport. Because of its non-corrosive properties and stylish appearance, POSCO’s 446M steel will be used as an exterior material.

When the first passenger terminal was built in 2001, they decided to use POSCO’s 446M stainless steel. The 446M steel contains high amounts of chromium (26%) and molybdenum (2%), which gives it superior corrosion resistance – excellent for use in exterior construction near coastal areas, like Incheon.

Seventeen years after the construction of the first terminal, there have been little signs of corrosion. So, as preparations began for a new second terminal, the airport decided to use the same type of stainless steel. Also, a bead blast process will be applied to the steel that will give it a rough texture to lower the reflectivity rate for aircraft pilots during take-offs and landings.

Despite being located on a small island in the Yellow Sea, the stainless steel used at Incheon Airport has been almost completely unaffected by corrosion. Already in its 17^th year of operation, the stainless steel exterior will ensure that it lasts much longer.

Seeing Deep into the Canyons at Zhangjiajie, China

The majestic Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon, located in the western part of Hunan Province, is one of the most beautiful sites in China. Made famous in the Western world when James Cameron used it as inspiration for the landscapes in his film Avatar (2009), it is best seen atop the world’s highest and longest bridge.

Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon Glass Bridge view from west side of gorge. (Photo courtesy of HighestBridges)

Sitting 300m over the canyon, the Zhangjiajie glass bridge gives visitors a breathtaking, and terrifying, view of the park. The bridge is supported by 4 support towers and a steel frame with over 120 glass panels set into its walkway. The towers are installed directly into the canyon sandstone and each panel of glass is layered, so that even if one layer cracks, the others will hold.

Those with stomachs of steel can enjoy the bridge while experiencing one of the most beautiful parts of the world. The glass floor may seem fragile, but the steel frame holds it together to create one of the most amazing yet vertigo-inducing views.

If we look around, we will see that steel is everywhere. For something that seems so ordinary, it can also change the way we see buildings, and even change the way we see the world.

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For global companies it is often not easy to build successful CSR programs overseas due to differences in cultures, customs, and laws. However, the POSCO Group is working to form strong relationships with local communities near its offices and plants by being attentive to the local issues and actively working to find solutions together with the communities.

POSCO Vietnam helps improve homes with the POSCO Steel Village

Since 2009, POSCO Vietnam has been working to understand the needs of the local communities near its plant. By combining the needs of the community with the capabilities of POSCO and its group companies, POSCO was able to improve local housing through its POSCO Steel Village, POSCO Steel Bridge, and POSCO Steel Playground initiatives.

On November 30, 2016, POSCO Vietnam received the Excellent CSR Prize, the most prestigious prize from the Korean Minister of Trade, Industry, and Energy at the 6th Korea-Vietnam CSR Awards in 2016. The award ceremony was held at the KOTRA Hanoi Office on December 28.

In particular, because POSCO Vietnam handles various licenses and permits for steel bridge construction, they formed a volunteer group with members from various POSCO partners. POSCO A&C participated in the design, SS-VINA supplied section steel products, and POSCO E&C processed and built the bridge.

The POSCO Steel Bridge project is seen as a model CSR activity by the local communities and the Vietnamese government. As a result, POSCO Vietnam was awarded with the Excellence in CSR designation, the most prestigious award from the Korean Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy at the 6th Korea-Vietnam CSR Awards on December 28, 2016.

POSCO Steel Village (left) will contain 104 households and is slated for completion in April 2017. The POSCO Steel Bridge in Vietnam (right) was completed in January 2016.

POSCO partners with local schools in Myanmar

In Myanmar, POSCO has been working to provide resources to local schools. Since 2014, POSCO E&C formed sisterhood ties with nearby secondary schools and signed an agreement to work with the National University of Arts and Culture in Yangon. POSCO E&C has donated educational materials and equipment, repaired educational facilities, organized cultural exchange activities, and built rainwater storage & drinking water facilities. More recently, POSCO has been leading the way in making improvements to the safety of Yowa Village. By partnering with POSCO’s 1% Sharing Foundation, they were able to build a bridge in the village with POSCO steel.

For these efforts, Myanmar-POSCO E&C recognized for its contributions to Myanmar’s local communities in the 2016 Myanmar Excellent CSR Company Awards that were held in Yangon, Myanmar in December 13, 2016.

Hyun-ik Choi (right), head of POSCO E&C Myanmar, receives the Prize of the Minister of Strategy and Finance of Myanmar from U Aung Naing Oo, Director General of DICA and General Secretary of MIC. The 2016 Myanmar Excellent CSR Company Awards took place at the Sedona Hotel in Yangon, Myanmar, on December 13.

POSCO Krakatau gives back to Indonesia

In Indonesia, the Krakatau POSCO Social Enterprise (KPSE) has been working to support secondary education, create jobs at the steel mill, and return profits to the local communities in Cilegon, Indonesia, where the steel mill is located.

KPSE, co-founded by the POSCO 1% Sharing Foundation and KOICA, was awarded for its efforts at the ‘2016 Korea-Indonesia CSR Forum and Awards Ceremony’ that was hosted by the Korean Embassy in Indonesia and KOTRA on December 15, 2016.

KPSE manager and acting CEO Jang-gon Jeon (2nd from the left) and Andi Soko, officer of personnel management and general affairs at PT.KP (2nd from the right) stand with KPSE employees after receiving the Prize of the Director of the Indonesian Investment Coordinating Board. The awards ceremony took place at the ‘2016 Korea-Indonesia CSR Forum’ held at the Shangri-La Hotel in Indonesia.

POSCO Group’s overseas subsidiaries have been recognized for their broad contributions in CSR. POSCO Group will continue to promote win-win growth in partnership with local communities at home and abroad based on the Group’s unique values that recognize the overseas market as a partner and not as a business target.

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