Maintenance of bridge cable systems

Laigaard, Jakob; Sørensen, Ove; Bitsch, Niels

doi:10.1201/b12352-314

“…Uddevalla Bridge (Sweden, 2000) had a problem with water in the lower anchorages of the cable stays right from the start [10]. The cable stays are a parallel strand system with an HDPE tube which are tensioned with wedges at the lower anchorage.…”

Section: Uddevalla Cable-stayed Bridge -Water Ingressmentioning

confidence: 99%

Challenges of water ingress into bridge cable systems

Jensen

¹

,

Lambertsen

²

,

Zinck

³

et al. 2017

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Experiences over the last 20 years with operation and maintenance of cable borne bridges of various ages shows that water ingress in steel cable systems often occurs and causes a large risk of serious corrosion with may lead to restriction in traffic, extra ordinary inspection and maintenance costs and in worst case bridge closure. Examples of such experiences cover suspension bridges as well as cable stay bridges in USA, UK, Germany, France, Argentina, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and many other countries. The problem with water ingress is particularly critical as inspections for corrosion in cable systems are difficult to carry out and early warnings difficult to obtain. Water ingress into a cable system means that there is a significant risk of steel corrosion even with precautions by use of galvanization and HDPE coating of cable wires. Although, cable system designs generally comprise multiple barriers against corrosion, there is often a weak link in the design. This combined with an unintended outcome in the construction phase or inadequate maintenance, may allow water to start accumulating and lead to corrosion. This paper will explain and discuss cases from main cable and cable stay systems and point out the water ingress modes and their causes for main cable systems and different cable stays systems. Based hereupon, the paper discusses the weaknesses of the different steel cable concepts and different mitigations. The discussion also includes the mitigation of the water ingress problem by use of dehumidification. For main cables of suspension bridges, the concept has been in operation for more than 15 years with success. Considering the number of known problems with water in cable stays, the paper also contemplates on the possibility of using dehumidification for cable stay bridges as a way of handling the large amount of existing cable stay bridges.

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“…Due to the poor ability in protecting the inner steel wires, cement mortar is not to be used in recent decades. Currently, the main anticorrosive material used for sheathing stay cables around the world is high-density polyethylene (HDPE), which is the key to ensuring the durability of this type of stay cable bridge [1,2]. Although this material has the advantages of anti-corrosiveness, toughness, hardness, resistance to scratching, and being economical, HDPE experiences fractures during use due to factors related to its production, construction technology, erosion, and the dynamic stress environment.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Study on the Mechanical Properties of Stay Cable HDPE Sheathing Fatigue in Dynamic Bridge Environments

Dan

¹

,

Sun

²

,

Guo

³

et al. 2015

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As the main force-bearing component of a cable-stayed bridge, a durable stay cable is paramount to the safety and durability of the entire bridge. High-density polyethylene (HDPE) sheathing is the main protective component of a stay cable and is the key to insuring cable durability. To address the issue of HDPE sheathing fracture on service, strain level data for in-service, HDPE bridge cable sheathing was used in this study as the basis for HDPE material aging and fatigue testing. A fatigue yield phenomenon with a yield platform on the hysteresis curve of the fatigue cycles is observed by the fatigue test. The parameters to describe this phenomenon are proposed and defined in this paper. A preliminary examination of the relationship between these parameters and the factors, such as the number of cycles, the strain amplitude, and strain rate, are presented. Based on the results obtained, it is suggested that the condition of fatigue yield of HDPE sheathing be defined as the fatigue durability limit state for the purposes of durability design, assessment, and protection of cable-stayed bridges.

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16.10: Challenges with water ingress in bridge cable systems

Jensen

¹

,

Lambertsen

²

,

Zinck

³

et al. 2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Experiences over the last 20 years with operation and maintenance of cable borne bridges of various ages shows that water ingress in steel cable systems often occurs and causes a large risk of serious corrosion with may lead to restriction in traffic, extra ordinary inspection and maintenance costs and in worst case bridge closure. Examples of such experiences cover suspension bridges as well as cable stay bridges in USA, UK, Germany, France, Argentina, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and many other countries. The problem with water ingress is particularly critical as inspections for corrosion in cable systems are difficult to carry out and early warnings difficult to obtain. Water ingress into a cable system means that there is a significant risk of steel corrosion even with precautions by use of galvanization and HDPE coating of cable wires. Although, cable system designs generally comprise multiple barriers against corrosion, there is often a weak link in the design. This combined with an unintended outcome in the construction phase or inadequate maintenance, may allow water to start accumulating and lead to corrosion. This paper will explain and discuss cases from main cable and cable stay systems and point out the water ingress modes and their causes for main cable systems and different cable stays systems. Based hereupon, the paper discusses the weaknesses of the different steel cable concepts and different mitigations. The discussion also includes the mitigation of the water ingress problem by use of dehumidification. For main cables of suspension bridges, the concept has been in operation for more than 15 years with success. Considering the number of known problems with water in cable stays, the paper also contemplates on the possibility of using dehumidification for cable stay bridges as a way of handling the large amount of existing cable stay bridges.

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Maintenance of bridge cable systems

Cited by 6 publications

References 3 publications

Challenges of water ingress into bridge cable systems

Challenges of water ingress into bridge cable systems

Study on the Mechanical Properties of Stay Cable HDPE Sheathing Fatigue in Dynamic Bridge Environments

16.10: Challenges with water ingress in bridge cable systems

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