• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• v.8 no.4
• /
• pp.859-887
• /
• 2015

Structural health monitoring (SHM) has gained in popularity in recent years since it can assess the performance and condition of instrumented structures in real time and provide valuable information to the asset's manager and owner. Operational modal analysis plays an important role in SHM and it involves the determination of natural frequencies, damping ratios and mode shapes of a constructed structure based on measured dynamic data. This paper presents the operational modal analysis and seismic response characterization of the Tsing Ma Suspension Bridge of 2,160 m long subjected to different earthquake events. Three kinds of events, i.e., short-distance, middle-distance and long-distance earthquakes are taken into account. A fast Bayesian modal identification method is used to carry out the operational modal analysis. The modal properties of the bridge are identified and compared by use of the field monitoring data acquired before and after the earthquake for each type of the events. Research emphasis is given on identifying the predominant modes of the seismic responses in the deck during short-distance, middle-distance and long-distance earthquakes, respectively, and characterizing the response pattern of various structural portions (deck, towers, main cables, etc.) under different types of earthquakes. Since the bridge is over 2,000 m long, the seismic wave would arrive at the tower/anchorage basements of the two side spans at different time instants. The behaviors of structural dynamic responses on the Tsing Yi side span and on the Ma Wan side span under each type of the earthquake events are compared. The results obtained from this study would be beneficial to the seismic design of future long-span bridges to be built around Hong Kong (e.g., the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge).

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
• /
• v.17 no.3 s.76
• /
• pp.317-324
• /
• 2005

The specially orthotropic plate theory is used to analyse three-span continuous composite slab bridges with elastic intermediate supports. A method of calculating the natural frequency corresponding to the first mode of vibration of beams and tower structures, with irregular cross sections and with arbitrary boundary conditions, was developed and the result of application of this method to the three-span continuous composite slab bridges with elastic intermediate supports is presented. This type of bridge represents either concrete or sandwich type three-span bridge on polymeric supports for passive control or on actuators for active control. Any method may be used to obtain the deflection influence surfaces needed for this vibration analysis. The finite difference method is used for this purpose in this paper. The influence of flexural stiffnesses and the modulus of the foundation are studied.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.24 no.5
• /
• pp.549-559
• /
• 2017

As few multi-tower single-box multi-cell cable-stayed bridges with corrugated steel webs have been built, analysis is mostly achieved by combining single-girder model, beam grillage model and solid model in support of the design. However, such analysis methods usually suffer from major limitations in terms of the engineering applications: single-girder model fails to account for spatial effect such as shear lag effect of the box girder and the relevant effective girder width and eccentric load coefficient; owing to the approximation in the principle equivalence, the plane grillage model cannot accurately capture shear stress distribution and local stress state in both top and bottom flange of composite box girder; and solid model is difficult to be practically combined with the overall calculation. The usual effective width method fails to provide a uniform and accurate "effective length" (and the codes fail to provide a unified design approach at those circumstance) considering different shear lag effects resulting from dead load, prestress and cable tension in the construction. Therefore, a novel spatial grid model has been developed to account for shear lag effect. The theoretical principle of the proposed spatial grid model has been elaborated along with the relevant illustrations of modeling parameters of composite box girder with corrugated steel webs. Then typical transverse and longitudinal shear lag coefficient distribution pattern at the side-span and mid-span key cross sections have been analyzed and summarized to provide reference for similar bridges. The effectiveness and accuracy of spatial grid analysis methods has been finally validated through a practical cable-stayed bridge.

• Wind and Structures
• /
• v.13 no.6
• /
• pp.529-556
• /
• 2010

This paper investigates the correlation of wind characteristics monitored on a cable-stayed bridge. Total five anemoscopes are implemented into the bridge. Two out of 5 anemoscopes in inflow and two out of 5 anemoscopes in wake-flow along the longitudinal direction of the bridge are installed. Four anemoscopes are respectively distributed at two cross-sections. Another anemoscope is installed at the top of the tower. The correlation of mean wind speed and direction, power spectral density, the turbulent intensity and integral length of wind in flow at two cross-sections are investigated. In addition, considering the non-stationary characteristics of wind, the spatial correlation in time-frequency is analyzed using wavelet transform and different phenomenon from those obtained through FFT is observed. The time-frequency analysis further indicates that intermittence, coherence structures and self-similar structures are distinctly observed from fluctuant wind. The flow characteristics around the bridge deck at two positions are also investigated using the field measurement. The results indicate that the mean wind speed decrease when the flow passing through the deck, but the turbulence intensity become much larger and the turbulence integral lengths become much smaller compared with those of inflow. The relationship of RMS (root mean square) of wake-flow and the mean wind speed of inflow is approximately linear. The special structures of wake-flow in time-frequency domain are also analyzed using wavelet transform, which aids to reveal the forming process of wake-flow.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Hazard Mitigation
• /
• v.11 no.2
• /
• pp.59-66
• /
• 2011

In this study, the vibration serviceability of pedestrian by travelling vehicles on the cable-stayed bridge with concrete tower was studied. Experiment variables were considered travelling speed of vehicles, pavement state of asphalt on the deck and weight of vehicles, preferentially. Especially, pavement grade states were considered by A and C grades by BMS (Bridge Management System) standard. The incremental ratio extent of vibration acceleration responses, asphalt pavement grade C over A, was construed to 1.23~1.43. Only, these results are valid within extent of the Scaled-Weight 228.0~1161.9 km/h kN. The vibration equations for acceleration responses prediction of bridge deck were proposed into three types, reliability 50%, 90%, 95% respectively. These equations can consider asphalt pavement grade, and the vehicle's weight and travelling velocity, which are the source of vibration, are combined into the term called, 'Scaled Weight'.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
• /
• v.23 no.5
• /
• pp.48-59
• /
• 2019

In recent years, the type of bridge where cables such as suspension bridge and cable-stayed bridge are the main factors in the construction of long-range bridges has been soaring. The effects of cables on these structures are very large, and for structural analysis, it is necessary to study the cable and the structural changes according to the mode characteristics of the cables. In particular, cables are directly connected to camber adjustment, which conveys load effects on girders to tower, and are important components in the overall structure, and since the initial tension on the construction is compared with the tension over time, this study was conducted to help identify the condition of the bridge's aging and abnormalities. Therefore, in this study, the characteristics of the mode from the mode analysis through the impact hammer to the mass of the cable and the change in the length of the cable are analyzed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
• /
• 2008.10a
• /
• pp.700-707
• /
• 2008

As plan connecting island to island or island to land is needed, a lot of long-span bridge is being designed lately in Southern part of Korea. With development of pile equipment, overhanging large-scaled concrete pile are adopted to foundation type of main tower or pylon. About the number of 15~30 group piles per tower foundation is designed to resist long-spaning super-structure load, but by restricted condition of site investigation cost, a few boring-hole tests are performed to identify sub-ground layers. Up to now, direct-curved method connecting two or three known boring logs and representative interval method are usually used to evaluate unknown depth and rock properties at locations where piles are constructed. Because this approach is not logical and so rough, much difference occurs between designed length of piles and real length of it. In this paper, using a lot of various prediction method(reciprocal distance method, inverse square distance method and kriging method etc.), we suggest optimum length of group piles.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
• /
• v.18 no.1
• /
• pp.33-45
• /
• 2006

Cable-stayed bridges are more inherently vulnerable to wind during the erection stages than when they are already being used. Even if a bridge that is already being used is aerodynamically stable, it is prone to having aerodynamic instabilities within the design wind speed during construction. Therefore, when the bridge's designers deliberate on the method they will use in constructing the bridge, they must likewise come up with a suitable plan to ensure the stability of the bridge during its erection (e.g., conducting a wind-tunnel investigation). This paper describes the aeroelastic full-bridge model tests that were conducted to investigate the aerodynamic behavior of the bridge during erection, with emphasis on aerodynamic stability and the mitigation of the buffeting response through temporary stabilization. The aerodynamic performance of a cable -stayed bridge with a main span of 50 m was studied in its completed stage and in two erection stages, corresponding 50% and 90% completion, respectively. In the 50% erection stage tests, a balanced cantilever configuration, with wind cable and temporary support at the tower, was conducted. The system that was determined to be most effective in reducing wind action on the bridge during construction was proposed in the paper, based on the results of the comparative study that was conducted.

• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• v.10 no.5
• /
• pp.1233-1251
• /
• 2016

In this paper, it is aimed to determine the stochastic response of a suspension bridge subjected to spatially varying ground motions considering the geometric nonlinearity. Bosphorus Suspension Bridge built in Turkey and connects Europe to Asia in Istanbul is selected as a numerical example. The spatial variability of the ground motion is considered with the incoherence, wave-passage and site-response effects. The importance of site-response effect which arises from the difference in the local soil conditions at different support points of the structure is also investigated. At the end of the study, mean of the maximum and variance response values obtained from the spatially varying ground motions are compared with those of the specialised cases of the ground motion model. It is seen that each component of the spatially varying ground motion model has important effects on the dynamic behaviour of the bridge. The response values obtained from the general excitation case, which also includes the site-response effect causes larger response values than those of the homogeneous soil condition cases. The variance values calculated for the general excitation case are dominated by dynamic component at the deck and Asian side tower. The response values obtained for the site-response effect alone are larger than the response values obtained for the incoherence and wave-passage effects, separately. It can be concluded that suspension bridges are sensitive to the spatial variability of ground motion. Therefore, the incoherence, the wave-passage and especially the site-response effects should be considered in the stochastic analysis of this type of engineering structures.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
• /
• v.20 no.7_spc
• /
• pp.435-441
• /
• 2016

The Korean peninsula has known as a minor-to-moderate seismic region. However, some recent studies had shown that the maximum possible earthquake magnitude in the region is approximately 6.3-6.5. Therefore, a seismic vulnerability assessment of the existing infrastructures considering ground motions in Korea is necessary. In this study, we developed seismic fragility curves for a continuous steel box girder bridge and two typical transmission towers, in which a set of seven artificial and natural ground motions recorded in South Korea is used. A finite element simulation framework, OpenSees, is utilized to perform nonlinear time history analyses of the bridge and a commercial software, SAP2000, is used to perform time history analyses of the transmission towers. The fragility curves based on Korean ground motions were then compared with the fragility curves generated using worldwide ground motions to evaluate the effect of the two ground motion groups on the seismic fragility curves of the structures. The results show that both non-isolated and base-isolated bridges are less vulnerable to the Korean ground motions than to worldwide earthquakes. Similarly to the bridge case, the transmission towers are safer during Korean motions than that under worldwide earthquakes in terms of fragility functions.