• International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.46-57
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• 2013

Flutter stability and buffeting response have been the topics of most concern in the design state of long-span suspension bridges. Among approaches towards the aerodynamic stability, the aerodynamic-based control method which uses control surfaces to generate forces counteracting the unstable excitations has shown to be promising. This study focused on the mechanically controlled system using flaps; two flaps were attached on both sides of a bridge deck and were driven by the motions of the bridge deck. When the flaps moved, the overall cross section of the bridge deck containing these flaps was continuously changing. As a consequence, the aerodynamic forces also changed. The efficiency of the control was studied through the numerical simulation and experimental investigations. The values of quasi-steady forces, together with the experimental aerodynamic force coefficients, were proposed in the simulation. The results showed that the passive flap control can, with appropriate motion of the flaps, solve the aerodynamic instability. The efficiency of the flap control on the full span of a simple suspension bridge was also carried out. The mode-by-mode technique was applied for the investigation. The results revealed that the efficiency of the flap control relates to the mode number, the installed location of the flap, and the flap length.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.7 no.6
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• pp.421-447
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• 2004

This paper presents a time domain approach for predicting buffeting response of long suspension bridges under skew winds. The buffeting forces on an oblique strip of the bridge deck in the mean wind direction are derived in terms of aerodynamic coefficients measured under skew winds and equivalent fluctuating wind velocities with aerodynamic impulse functions included. The time histories of equivalent fluctuating wind velocities and then buffeting forces along the bridge deck are simulated using the spectral representation method based on the Gaussian distribution assumption. The self-excited forces on an oblique strip of the bridge deck are represented by the convolution integrals involving aerodynamic impulse functions and structural motions. The aerodynamic impulse functions of self-excited forces are derived from experimentally measured flutter derivatives under skew winds using rational function approximations. The governing equation of motion of a long suspension bridge under skew winds is established using the finite element method and solved using the Newmark numerical method. The proposed time domain approach is finally applied to the Tsing Ma suspension bridge in Hong Kong. The computed buffeting responses of the bridge under skew winds during Typhoon Sam are compared with those obtained from the frequency domain approach and the field measurement. The comparisons are found satisfactory for the bridge response in the main span.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.215-229
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• 2014

Due to the lack of effective longitudinal constraint for center tower, structural stiffness of three-tower suspension bridge becomes less than that of two-tower suspension bridge, and therefore it becomes more susceptible to the seismic action. By taking a three-tower suspension bridge-the Taizhou Highway Bridge over the Yangtze River with two main spans of 1080 m as example, structural dynamic characteristics and seismic performance of the bridge is investigated, and the effects of cable's sag to span ratio, structural stiffness of the center tower, and longitudinal constraint of the girder on seismic response of the bridge are also investigated, and the favorable structural system is discussed with respect to seismic performance. The results show that structural response under lateral seismic action is more remarkable, especially for the side towers, and therefore more attentions should be paid to the lateral seismic performance and also the side towers. Large cable's sag, flexible center tower and the longitudinal elastic cable between the center tower and the girder are favorable to improve structural seismic performance of long-span three-tower suspension bridges.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.74 no.5
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• pp.635-655
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• 2020

The sag effect of long stay cables is one of the key factors restricting further increase in the span of cable-stayed bridges. Based on the formerly proposed concept of long stay cables lifted by an auxiliary suspension cable in cross-strait cable-stayed bridges, corresponding static approximate calculations and analytical theory based on catenary and parabolic cable configurations are established. Taking a main span 1400 m cable-stayed bridge as the research object, three typical lifting conditions and the whole process of auxiliary cable lifting are analyzed and discussed. The results show that the sag effect is effectively reduced. The support efficiency is only improved when the cables are lifted above the original cable chord. Reduction of the horizontal component force of the cable is limited. The equivalent elastic modulus and the vertical support stiffness of the lifted cables are significantly increased with increased horizontal projection length and not sensitive to the change of the lifting point position. The scheme of lifting the cable to the chord midpoint is more economical because of the less steel required for the auxiliary suspension cable, but its effect on improving the vertical support efficiency is limited. The support efficiency is better when the cable is lifted to the cable end tangential to the original cable chord, but the lifting force and the cross-sectional area of the auxiliary suspension cable are doubled. The approximate calculation results of the lifted cables are very close to the numerical analysis results, which verifies the applicability of the approximation method proposed in this study. The results of parabolic approximation calculations are approximately equal to that of catenary cable geometry. As the parabolic approximation analysis theory of lifted cables is more convenient in mathematical processing, it is feasible to use parabolic approximation analysis theory as the analytical method for the conceptual design of lifted cables of super-long span cable-stayed bridges.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.35 no.5_2
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• pp.831-840
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• 2019

Recently, the span length of long-span bridges is getting longer. As a result, it has been suggested that a new concept called 'super long-span bridge'. In case of super long span bridges, the structure is being complicated and the importance of structural stability is being emphasized. However, until recently, the most commonly used sensors (dual axis clinometer, anemometer, strain gauge, etc.) have got limit about the bridge monitoring. Consequently, we researched the application of a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) to improve the limit of the existing sensors. In this study, the dual axis clinometer, the anemometer and the strain gauge together with the GNSS were used to analyze the behavior of a super-long suspension bridge. Also, we propose the detailed method of bridge monitoring using the GNSS. This study consisted of three steps. First step calculated the absolute coordinates of the towers and the longitudinal axis direction of the study bridge using the GNSS. In second step, through the analysis of the long-term behavior in shortly after construction, we calculated the permanent displacement and evaluated the stability of main towers. Third step analyzed the behavior of bridge by the wind direction and was numerically indicated. Consequently, the bridge measurement using the GNSS appeared that the acquired data is able to easy processing according to the analysis purpose. If we will use together the existing measurement sensors with the GNSS on the maintenance of the super long-span bridge, we figure each error of measurement data and improve the monitoring system through calibration. As a result, we acquire the accurate displacement of bridge and figure the behavior of bridge. Consequently, we identified that it is able to construct the effective monitoring system.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.87 no.3
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• pp.255-272
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• 2023

Spatial cable systems can provide more transverse stiffness and torsional stiffness without sacrificing the vertical bearing capacity compared with conventional vertical cable systems, which is quite lucrative for long-span earth-anchored suspension bridges' development. Higher economy highlights the importance of refined form-finding analysis. Meanwhile, the internal connection between the lateral and vertical sags has not yet been specified. Given this, an analytic algorithm of form-finding for the earth-anchored suspension bridge with spatial cables is proposed in this paper. Through the geometric compatibility condition and mechanical equilibrium condition, the expressions for cable segment, the recurrence relationship between catenary parameters and control equations of spatial cable are established. Additionally, the nonlinear general reduced gradient method is introduced into fast and high-precision numerical analysis. Furthermore, the analytic expression of the lateral and vertical sags is deduced and discussed. This is very significant for the space design above the bridge deck and the optimization of the sag-to-span ratio in the preliminary design stage of the bridge. Finally, the proposed method is verified with the aid of two examples, one being an operational self-anchored suspension bridge (with spatial cables and a 260 m main span), and the other being an earth-anchored suspension bridge under design (with spatial cables and a 500 m main span). The necessity of an iterative calculation for hanger tensions on earth-anchored suspension bridges is confirmed. It is further concluded that the main cable and their connected hangers are in very close inclined planes.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.183-197
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• 2023

For long-span bridges with a structural health monitoring (SHM) system, environmental temperature-driven responses are proved to be a main component in measurements. However, anomalous structural behavior may be hidden incomplicated recorded data. In order to receive reliable assessment of structural performance, it is important to study therelationship between temperature and monitoring data. This paper presents an application of the cointegration based methodology to detect anomalies that may be masked by temperature effects and then forecast the temperature-induced deflection (TID) of long-span suspension bridges. Firstly, temperature effects on girder deflection are analyzed with fieldmeasured data of a suspension bridge. Subsequently, the cointegration testing procedure is conducted. A threshold-based anomaly detection framework that eliminates the influence of environmental temperature is also proposed. The cointegrated residual series is extracted as the index to monitor anomaly events in bridges. Then, wavelet separation method is used to obtain TIDs from recorded data. Combining cointegration theory with autoregressive moving average (ARMA) model, TIDs for longspan bridges are modeled and forecasted. Finally, in-situ measurements of Xihoumen Bridge are adopted as an example to demonstrate the effectiveness of the cointegration based approach. In conclusion, the proposed method is practical for actual structures which ensures the efficient management and maintenance based on monitoring data.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.565-587
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• 2013

Obvious vortex induced vibration (VIV) was observed during section model wind tunnel tests for a single main cable suspension bridge. An optimized section configuration was found for mitigating excessive amplitude of vibration which is much larger than the one prescribed by Chinese code. In order to verify the maximum amplitude of VIV for optimized girder, a full bridge aeroelastic model wind tunnel test was carried out. The differences between section and full aeroelastic model testing results were discussed. The maximum amplitude derived from section model tests was first interpreted into prototype with a linear VIV approach by considering partial or imperfect correlation of vortex-induced aerodynamic force along span based on Scanlan's semi-empirical linear model. A good consistency between section model and full bridge model was found only by considering the correlation of vortex-induced force along span.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.195-207
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• 2006

An efficient and accurate algorithm is proposed to estimate cable safety factor of suspension bridges satisfying prescribed reliability levels. Uncertainties in the structure and load parameters are incorporated. The proposed algorithm integrates the concepts of the inverse reliability method and deterministic method for assessing cable safety factors of suspension bridges. The unique feature of the proposed method is that it offers a tool for cable safety assessment of suspension bridges, when the reliability level is specified as a target to be satisfied by the designer. After the accuracy and efficiency of the method are demonstrated through two numerical examples, the method is used to estimate cable safety factors of suspension bridges with span length ranging from 2000 to 5000 m. The results show that the deterministic method overestimates cable safety factor of suspension bridges because of neglecting the parameter uncertainty effects. The actual cable safety factor of suspension bridges should be estimated based on the proposed method.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.59-64
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• 2009

Bridge types such as the suspension bridges and the cable stayed bridges maintained by cables present the dangerous possibility of a ship running through the bottom of the bridge. Due to hangers and main cables in the upper structural system, the bridge is also susceptible to disasters. However, these cable bridges are usually used for long span bridges over the sea. This structure is relatively more exposed to disasters, such as wind, hail, and earthquake, than other structures. This structure also has the potential to cause car accidents on account of the poor visibility due to foggy conditions. If a fire breaks out because of a car accident due to wind, a car explosion will likely occur.