Response of cable-stayed and suspension bridges to moving vehicles : Analysis methods and practical modeling techniques

Abstract

This thesis presents a state-of-the-art-review and twodifferent approaches for solving the moving load problem ofcable-stayed and suspension bridges. The first approach uses a simplified analysis method tostudy the dynamic response of simple cable-stayed bridgemodels. The bridge is idealized as a Bernoulli-Euler beam onelastic supports with varying support stiffness. To solve theequation of motion of the bridge, the finite difference methodand the mode superposition technique are used. The second approach is based on the nonlinear finite elementmethod and is used to study the response of more realisticcable-stayed and suspension bridge models considering exactcable behavior and nonlinear geometric effects. The cables aremodeled using a two-node catenary cable element derived using"exact" analytical expressions for the elastic catenary. Twomethods for evaluating the dynamic response are presented. Thefirst for evaluating the linear traffic load response using themode superposition technique and the deformed dead load tangentstiffness matrix, and the second for the nonlinear traffic loadresponse using the Newton-Newmark algorithm. The implemented programs have been verified by comparinganalysis results with those found in the literature and withresults obtained using a commercial finite element code.Several numerical examples are presented including one for theGreat Belt suspension bridge in Denmark. Parametric studieshave been conducted to investigate the effect of, among others,bridge damping, bridge-vehicle interaction, cables vibration,road surface roughness, vehicle speed, and tuned mass dampers.From the numerical study, it was concluded that road surfaceroughness has great influence on the dynamic response andshould always be considered. It was also found that utilizingthe dead load tangent stiffness matrix, linear dynamic trafficload analysis give sufficiently accurate results from theengineering point of view.