Open Access

ARTICLE

Selection and Parameter Optimization of Constraint Systems for Girder-End Longitudinal Displacement Control in Three-Tower Suspension Bridges

Zihang Wang¹, Ying Peng¹, Xiong Lan², Xiaoyu Bai³, Chao Deng¹, Yuan Ren^1,*

1 School of Transportation, Southeast University, Nanjing, 210096, China
2 Guangxi Rongwu Expressway Co., Ltd., Nanning, 530000, China
3 CCCC Highway Bridges National Engineering Research Centre Co., Ltd., Beijing, 100120, China

* Corresponding Author: Yuan Ren. Email:

Structural Durability & Health Monitoring 2025, 19(3), 643-664. https://doi.org/10.32604/sdhm.2025.060302

Received 29 October 2024; Accepted 09 January 2025; Issue published 03 April 2025

Abstract

To investigate the influence of different longitudinal constraint systems on the longitudinal displacement at the girder ends of a three-tower suspension bridge, this study takes the Cangrong Xunjiang Bridge as an engineering case for finite element analysis. This bridge employs an unprecedented tower-girder constraint method, with all vertical supports placed at the transition piers at both ends. This paper aims to study the characteristics of longitudinal displacement control at the girder ends under this novel structure, relying on finite element (FE) analysis. Initially, based on the Weigh In Motion (WIM) data, a random vehicle load model is generated and applied to the finite element model. Several longitudinal constraint systems are proposed, and their effects on the structural response of the bridge are compared. The most reasonable system, balancing girder-end displacement and transitional pier stress, is selected. Subsequently, the study examines the impact of different viscous damper parameters on key structural response indicators, including cumulative longitudinal displacement at the girder ends, maximum longitudinal displacement at the girder ends, cumulative longitudinal displacement at the pier tops, maximum longitudinal displacement at the pier tops, longitudinal acceleration at the pier tops, and maximum bending moment at the pier bottoms. Finally, the coefficient of variation (CV)-TOPSIS method is used to optimize the viscous damper parameters for multiple objectives. The results show that adding viscous dampers at the side towers, in addition to the existing longitudinal limit bearings at the central tower, can most effectively reduce the response of structural indicators. The changes in these indicators are not entirely consistent with variations in damping coefficient and velocity exponent. The damper parameters significantly influence cumulative longitudinal displacement at the girder ends, cumulative longitudinal displacement at the pier tops, and maximum bending moments at the pier bottoms. The optimal damper parameters are found to be a damping coefficient of 5000 kN/(m/s)^0.2 and a velocity exponent of 0.2.

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Keywords

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