Determination and Implementation of Reasonable Completion State for the Self-Anchored Suspension Bridge with Extra-Wide Concrete Girder

Abstract

The present work is aimed at studying the determination method and implementation process of reasonable completion state for the Hunan Road Bridge, which is currently the widest concrete self-anchored suspension bridge in China. The global finite element model and the cable analytic program BNLAS were integrated. The synthesis algorithm of completion state determination was proposed. The contact relationships between the cable and saddles were captured using the refined FE discretization method. The concrete shrinkage and creep effects during the construction and operation periods were predicted using the CEB-FIP 90 model and the age-adjusted effective modulus method. The cable alignments under the free cable state, system transformation condition, and completion state were obtained. Moreover, the multiple-control method for the whole process of system transformation was proposed. The multiple parameters included the hanger tensioning force, exposed amount of hanger anchor cup, and tag line position. A detailed system transformation procedure was formulated and well preformed in the construction site. In addition, the further optimization analysis of final hanger force was conducted based on the actual completion state. The influence on the stress and geometry evolution of girder brought by the final girder alignment was investigated. The measured results of structural alignment and stress show that the target completion state was well implemented. The accuracy and efficiency of the proposed multiple-control method were verified by checking the tag line position of each step. In addition, the optimized final hanger force and girder lifting amount were obtained, which can provide feedback and reference for the construction control and service safety of the similar concrete self-anchored suspension bridges.

Test and numerical investigations on the spatial mechanics characteristics of extra-wide concrete self-anchored suspension bridge during construction

“…The Hunan Road Bridge [18][19][20][21][22] is located in Shandong Province in China. The bridge layouts are shown in Figures 1 and 2.…”

“…The remaining hangers belong to the flexible hangers of type A. 22 The structural health monitoring (SHM) system for Hunan Road Bridge was established during construction and after completion, [23][24][25] as shown in Figure 4. The sensing variables contained the ambient temperature, structural temperature field, and structural responses.…”

“…The bearings between the girder and the crossbeams at west and east towers are transverse unidirectional sliding bearing and bi-directional sliding bearing, respectively. 22 The refined simulation method for cable saddles were proposed. 22,27 Determination of reasonable completion state…”

“…22 The refined simulation method for cable saddles were proposed. 22,27 Determination of reasonable completion state…”

Parametric analysis of the dynamic characteristics of a long-span three-tower self-anchored suspension bridge with a composite girder

“…SSBs differ from ground-anchored suspension bridges (GSBs) in terms of the structural system, construction process, and mechanical characteristics. Accordingly, the relevant studies have been focused on these three aspects, for example, the determination of the main cable configuration and a reasonable geometric shape for the bridge upon completion (e.g., Kim et al 2002;Yong-Gang et al 2009;Zhou et al 2019), the analysis of new construction techniques and construction processes (e.g., Lu et al 2017;Wang et al 2019Wang et al , 2020aWang et al , 2020b, and the determination of the responses to various dynamic loads, including wind loads (e.g., Li 2019a, 2019b), earthquake loads (e.g., Cheng et al 2019), and vehicle loads (e.g., Zhou et al 2017).…”