• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.645-663
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• 2015

Recently, an indirect displacement estimation method using data fusion of acceleration and strain (i.e., acceleration-strain-based method) has been developed. Though the method showed good performance on beam-like structures, it has inherent limitation in applying to more general types of bridges that may have complex shapes, because it uses assumed analytical (sinusoidal) mode shapes to map the measured strain into displacement. This paper proposes an improved displacement estimation method that can be applied to more general types of bridges by building the mapping using the finite element model of the structure rather than using the assumed sinusoidal mode shapes. The performance of the proposed method is evaluated by numerical simulations on a deck arch bridge model and a three-span truss bridge model whose mode shapes are difficult to express as analytical functions. The displacements are estimated by acceleration-based method, strain-based method, acceleration-strain-based method, and the improved method. Then the results are compared with the exact displacement. An experimental validation is also carried out on a prestressed concrete girder bridge. The proposed method is found to provide the best estimate for dynamic displacements in the comparison, showing good agreement with the measurements as well.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.78 no.4
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• pp.413-423
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• 2021

Piers are the main lateral force-resisting members of high-speed railway (HSR) bridges used in China and are characterized by low axial load ratios, low longitudinal reinforcement ratios, low stirrup ratios, and high shear span ratios. It is well known that flexural, flexural-shear, and shear failures of piers may occur during an earthquake. In this study, a new shear strength model was developed to simulate the seismic failure of HSR solid piers accurately. First, low cyclic-loading test data of solid piers obtained in recent years were collected to set up a database for model verification. Second, based on the test database, the applicability of existing shear strength models was evaluated. Finally, a new shear strength model for HSR solid piers with round-ended cross-sections was derived based on the truss model and ultimate equilibrium theory. In comparison with existing models, it was demonstrated that the proposed model could be used to predict the shear strength of HSR piers more accurately.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.9 no.4 s.33
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• pp.489-500
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• 1997

The number of railway bridges in Korea reaches to about 3,000. Among them, the ratio of steel bridges is about 47%. Most of the long span railway bridges take the truss type, its number is 15 in Korea. These bridges have more than 30 years service life, it is expected that the damages of cracks and corrosion is going. Therefore, the estimation of fatigue life with random stress is considered as significant subject in maintenance. In this paper, the random stress was measured in bridges and counted the stress cycles using the rainflow counting method So, the stress range frequencies and their equivalent stress are obtained and the amplification factor for the span length, bridge types and traveling speed is assessed by the dynamic testing. From the results, the stress range of the stringer and the lower chord is higher than the other members and the characteristics of the stress histogram is varied to the loading system and the amount of the passing through trains. And the impact effects are depended on the traveling speed as well as the span length.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.219-229
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• 2003

The extended tangent stiffness matrices and force-deformation relations of the elastic catenary element were initially derived through the addition of the unstrained length of cables to unknown nodal 'displacements. A beam-column element was then introduced to model the deck and pylon of cable-stayed bridges. The conventional geometric nonlinear analysis, initial force method, and TCUD method were summarized, with an effective method combining two methods presented to determine the initial shapes of cable-stayed bridges with dead loads. In this combined method, TCUD method was applied to eliminate vertical and horizontal displacements at cable-supported points of decks and on top of pylons, respectively. The initial force method was also adopted to eliminate horizontal and vertical displacements of decks and pylons. Finally, the accuracy and validity of the proposed combined method were demonstrated through numerical examples.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.719-738
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• 2010

The aim of this paper concerns with the nonlinear analysis of cable-stayed bridges including the vibration effect of cable stays. Two models for the cable stay system are built up in the study. One is the OECS (one element cable system) model in which one single element per cable stay is used and the other is MECS (multi-elements cable system) model, where multi-elements per cable stay are used. A finite element computation procedure has been set up for the nonlinear analysis of such kind of structures. For shape finding of the cable-stayed bridge with MECS model, an efficient computation procedure is presented by using the two-loop iteration method (equilibrium iteration and shape iteration) with help of the catenary function method to discretize each single cable stay. After the convergent initial shape of the bridge is found, further analysis can then be performed. The structural behaviors of cable-stayed bridges influenced by the cable lateral motion will be examined here detailedly, such as the static deflection, the natural frequencies and modes, and the dynamic responses induced by seismic loading. The results show that the MECS model offers the real shape of cable stays in the initial shape, and all the natural frequencies and modes of the bridge including global modes and local modes. The global mode of the bridge consists of coupled girder, tower and cable stays motion and is a coupled mode, while the local mode exhibits only the motion of cable stays and is uncoupled with girder and tower. The OECS model can only offers global mode of tower and girder without any motion of cable stays, because each cable stay is represented by a single straight cable (or truss) element. In the nonlinear seismic analysis, only the MECS model can offer the lateral displacement response of cable stays and the axial force variation in cable stays. The responses of towers and girders of the bridge determined by both OECS- and MECS-models have no great difference.

• Proceedings of the KSR Conference
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• 2003.10b
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• pp.557-562
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• 2003

The responses of the floor system of a railway bridge are investigated for fatigue life prediction of damaged members using fracture mechanics approach. Numerical analysis of the structure is performed in order to see the influence of track-structure interaction and continuity of the truss connection on the response of the bridge members. Fatigue crack growth analysis is carried through equivalent stress obtained from time-history analysis. The results of time-history analysis agree with measured responses. The fatigue propagation life increases as the curvature in the coped stringer increases.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.7 no.6
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• pp.551-559
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• 1999

This paper presents some simple thinking on an age-old question that given a bridge of a certain span and loading, from the point of view of the structural efficiency, where should the bridge deck be positioned? Generally, this decision is made for other reasons than structural efficiency such as aesthetics and the analyst is often presented with a fait accompli. Using the recently invented Evolutional Structural Optimisation (ESO) method, it is possible to demonstrate that having the deck at different vertical locations can lead to a very different mass and shape for each structural form resembling cable-stayed and cable-truss bridges. By monitoring a performance index which is the function of stresses and volume of discretised finite elements, the best optimised structure can be easily determined and the bridge deck positioning problem can be efficiently solved without resorting to any complex analysis procedures.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.32 no.6A
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• pp.327-336
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• 2012

This study presents the effects of various geometric properties on the ultimate behavior of steel cable-stayed bridges. In general, cable-stayed bridges are well known as a very efficient structural system, because of those geometric characteristics, but at the same time, the structure also shows complex structural behavior including various nonlinearities which significantly affect to the ultimate behavior of the structure. In this study, the effects of various geometric properties of main members on the ultimate behavior under specific live load cases, which had been studied in previous studies, were investigated using a rational analytical method. In this parametric study, sectional dimensions of main members were considered as main geometric parameters. For the rational ultimate analysis under specific live load cases, the 2-step analysis method, which contains initial shape analysis and live load analysis, was used. As the analysis model, 920.0 m long steel cable-stayed bridges were used and two different types of cable arrangement were considered to study the effect of the cable arrangement types. Through this study, the effects of various geometric properties on the characteristics of the ultimate behavior of steel cable-stayed bridges were intensively investigated.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.231-239
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• 2003

Many box girder bridges have been constructed during the past several decades due to their large bending and torsional rigidities as well as aesthetic considerations. However, box girders have shortcoming in that the cross section distorts under an eccentric loading and warps out of the section plane. Therefore, in order to reduce distortional stresses such as distortional warping and transverse bending normal stresses, diaphragms were generally installed in the box girders. Shapes of the diaphragms in steel-box-girder bridges constructed up to date were solid-plate, frame, and truss types. The objectives of this study using parametric study were to evaluate the appropriate stiffness ratio of intermediate diaphragms and then to propose the effective spacing and numbers of intermediate diaphragms based on the evaluated stiffness ratio. Target bridges for this study were straight continuous span bridges with a single-cell steel box section. The parameters for the parametric study were the shape of box section, the span numbers, the equivalent span length, the stiffness of intermediate diaphragms, and the spacing of intermediate diaphragms. From the results of the parametric study, the effective spacing and numbers as well as the stiffness ratio of the intermediate diaphragms will be presented.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.199-210
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• 2011

The cables in cable-stayed bridges are under high stress and are very sensitive to vibration due to their small section areas compared with other members. Therefore, it is reasonable to evaluate the cable impact factor by taking into account the dynamic effect due to moving-vehicle motion. In this study, the cable impact factors were evaluated via moving-vehicle-load analysis, considering the design parameters, i.e., vehicle weight, cable model, road surface roughness, vehicle speed, longitudinal distance between vehicles. For this purpose, two steel composite cable-stayed bridges with 230- and 540-m main spans were selected. The results of the analysis were then compared with those of the influence line method that is currently being used in design practice. The road surface roughness was randomly generated based on ISO 8608, and the convergence of impact factors according to the number of generated road surfaces was evaluated to improve the reliability of the results. A9-d.o.f. tractor-trailer vehicle was used, and the vehicle motion was derived from Lagrange's equation. 3D finite element models for the selected cable-stayed bridges were constructed with truss elements having equivalent moduli for the cables, and with beam elements for the girders and the pylons. The direct integration method was used for the analysis of the bridge-vehicle interaction, and the analysis was conducted iteratively until the displacement error rate of the bridge was within the specified tolerance. It was acknowledged that the influence line method, which cannot consider the dynamic effect due to moving-vehicle motion, could underestimate the impact factors of the end-cables at the side spans, unlike moving-vehicle-load analysis.