Eighteenth Postgraduate Student Conference on MSc Dissertations 2011-12

Department of Civil & Structural Engineering, University of Sheffield, 2012

FINITE ELEMENT MODELLING OF BOSPORUS BRIDGE

Farhad Huseynov
Candidate MSc(Eng) Structural Engineering

ABSTRACT The Bosporus Bridge is one of the two permanent transportation connections between
Europe and Asia in Istanbul. It carries the main arterial transportation link of the city, namely O-1
motorway. Any broken link due to the bridge failure would totally ruin the whole transportation system
in the city. Due to importance and complexity of the Bosporus Bridge, in this particular study, special
care was given to understand the real behavior of the structure by developing a sophisticated FE model
of the structure. Details of the structural components, geometric nonlinearities with cable sagging and
stress stiffening are the main factors affecting the vibration characteristics of the bridge. Sometimes, to
define these properties accurately from the first attempt is impossible during the modelling process.
Producing a sophisticated 3-D FE model of the Bosporus Suspension Bridge requires too much time
and a lot of effort. To facilitate the modelling process, initially two 2-D FE models were produced to
adopt the correct properties. Then the results obtained from the 2-D FE models were confirmed to be
accurate by comparing them with the experimental data available from the past studies. Afterwards, the
same properties were defined to develop a sophisticated 3-D FE model of the Bosporus Bridge. Since
the computer processing capacity is limited, modelling the bridge in three dimensions with all the
structural components is an impossible job. To overcome this issue, degrees of freedom were reduced
by introducing the equivalent super elements for the towers and the suspended deck structure.

1 INTRODUCTION
Istanbul, being the largest and commercial city
of Turkey, is situated on the NW shore of Sea of
Marmara and is divided, between two continents
Europe and Asia, by 22km long and minimum of
1km wide stretch of water, namely Bosporus
strait, which links the Black Sea with the Sea of
Marmara. One of the two permanent
transportation links between two parts of the city
is provided by the Bosporus Bridge, which
carries the main transportation link of the city,
namely O-1 motorway. Any broken link due to
the bridge failure would totally ruin the whole
transportation system in the city. Due to its
importance
and
complexity,
remarkable
theoretical works were carried out by Brownjohn
et al. (1989), Erdik & Uckan (1989), Dumanoglu
(1985), Kosar (2003) and Apaydin (2010) and
full scale dynamic tests were performed by
Tezcan et al. (1975) and Brownjohn et al. (1989)
to estimate the dynamic characteristics of the
Bosporus Bridge.
In this particular study, special care was given to
understand the real behavior of the Bosporus
Bridge by developing a sophisticated FE model

of the structure that contains the detailed

structural
components
and
geometric
nonlinearity with cable sagging and stress
stiffening which are the main factors affecting
the bridge vibration characteristics.
In Bosporus Bridge side spans are not connected
to cables and are carried by piers. Apart from the
small mass contribution to towers, they do not
have any significant influence on the bridge
behavior. Thus the side spans were excluded in
the FE model.
To understand the factors affecting the bridge
behavior, a sophisticated 3-D FE model was
analyzed both for static and modal analysis
under different cases where the cable strains,
mass of the structure and boundary conditions
were changed.
Finally, to validate the accuracy of the FE
models natural frequencies and mode shapes
obtained from the current study were compared
with the experimental data available form the
past studies

2 DESCRIPTION OF THE BOSPORUS

BRIDGE
Bosporus Bridge, which is located between
Ortakoy and Beylerbeyi villages in Istanbul, was
designed as a gravity anchored suspension
bridge, made of steel with hollow towers, and
inclined hangers, carrying the shallow box deck
structure. It consists of one main span and two
side spans. Only the main span was designed as a
suspended structure which is spanning 1074 m
over the Bosporus strait and is carried by cables
and hangers that transfer the load to the massive
towers, having 165m height on each end. Side
spans, each 231m and 255m long on Ortakoy
and Beylerbeyi sides, respectively was designed
independent of the cable and are carried by piers.
When the bridge was opened to traffic (in 1973)
it was accounted the first bridge connection
between Europe and Asia and had the 4th longest
suspension bridge span. However at the present
it is the 19th longest suspension bridge span in
the world ranking

0.205

3.34E-03 3.34E-03

Backstay
Cable

193

0.3

7.8

0.219

3.82E-03 3.82E-03

Hanger

162

0.3

7.8

0.0021

3.51E-07 3.51E-07

Deck

205

0.3

12.76

0.851

1.238

63.61

Tower

205

0.3

10.7

1.36

271

Moment of

Area (m )

Moment of

7.8

Inertia- Izz (m )

0.3

Inertia- Iyy (m )

193

Mass per unit

Main
Cable

volume (ton/m )

Bridge
Major
Parts

Poisson's ratio

an
To
and
the

Modulus of
Elasticity (GPa)

Geometric and material properties play

important role in the modeling process.
achieve an accurate FE model, geometric
material properties were calculated from
design drawings as tabulated in table 1.

Table 1: Geometric and material properties of

the Bosporus Bridge
3 FINITE ELEMENT MODELLING OF
BOSPORUS BRIDGE
Suspension bridges are the complex structures
with large dimensions. Details of the structural
components, geometric nonlinearities with cable
sagging and stress stiffening are the main factors
affecting the vibration characteristics of the
bridge. Sometimes, to define these properties
accurately from the first attempt is impossible
during the modelling process. Producing a
sophisticated 3-D FE model of the Bosporus
Suspension Bridge requires too much time and a
lot of effort. To facilitate the modelling process,

in the first stage, two 2-D FE models were

produced to adopt the correct properties. The
first 2-D FE model was restrained in the vertical
plane and the second one in the horizontal plane
which provide vertical and lateral modes,
respectively. Then the results obtained from the
2-D FE models were confirmed to be accurate by
comparing them with the experimental data
available from the past studies. Afterwards, the
same properties were defined to develop a
sophisticated 3-D FE model of the Bosporus
Suspension Bridge.
3.1 2-D FE Modelling
Two 2-D FE models of the bridge were produced
using ANSYS commercial software. The first
model restricts the vibration in the vertical plane,
so that allowed degrees of freedom are
translations in longitudinal (UX) and vertical
(UY) directions, and rotation about Z-axis
(ROTZ), whereas the second 2-D FE model
allows vibration to take place only in the
horizontal plane, so that allowed degrees of
freedom are translations in longitudinal (UX)
and lateral (UZ) directions, and rotation about Yaxis (ROTY). Otherwise, modelling of the
elements is completely similar for both 2-D FE
models.
2-D suspended deck structure model was
produced in ANSYS using BEAM 4, 3-D elastic
beam element. Keypoint coordinates were
extracted from the design drawings and the
material and geometric properties were defined
similar to the values tabulated in table 1. Then,
elements were meshed with the size of 500 mm
and the two ends of the suspended deck structure
were restrained to move only in the longitudinal
direction (UX).
Cables were divided into different segments
based on the hanger connection points and taking
the advantage of long geometry, were modeled
as straight lines using LINK 10 element. Key
option 3 were activated as zero using KEYOPT
command to define the cables as tension only
elements. Sectional and material properties were
defined in accordance with the design drawings
as tabulated in table 1.
To calculate the initial strains for each cable
element, horizontal component of tension force
was calculated using the

WxL2
H
8d

(1)

formula where H, W, L and d is the horizontal

component of tension force, total weight of the
suspended structure, length of the main span and
sag of the cable, respectively. Based on the
calculated horizontal component of tension force
and the angle of inclination of each cable

1
DISPLACEMENT
STEP=1
SUB =1
FREQ=.069158
DMX =.011647

segment, the initial strains were calculated for

each cable element. Finally, cables were meshed
in a way that each cable segment formed one
element and boundary conditions were defined
as fixed at the tower saddles and pinned in the
anchorages.
Hangers were modeled as inclined lines using
LINK 8 element. The keypoint coordinates were
already defined by the cable and the deck
elements. Geometric and material properties
were defined in accordance with the design
drawings as provided in table 1.
The vertical component of tension force in each
hanger element was calculated by assuming that
the single hanger element carries it is own selfweight and the half weight of the deck structure
between two adjacent hangers. Then the resultant
tension force was calculated based on the hanger
inclination as a result initial strain values of each
hanger elements were obtained
Towers were modeled with the same principals
used in deck modelling. 3-D elastic beam
element (BEAM 4) was used to model the tower
elements. Geometric and material properties
were defined in accordance with the design
drawings. Finally, elements were meshed with
500 mm size and bottom of the towers were
defined as a fixed support.
3.1.1 2-D FE Model Analysis
To verify the accuracy of the properties defined
in 2-D FE models, the results obtained from the
1
modal analysis were compared with the
experimental data carried out at the Bosporus
Bridge by Brownjohn et al. (1989)
DISPLACEMENT

STEP=1
SUB =1
FREQ=.123842
DMX =.011059

AUG 23 2012
23:40:07

2-D FE model restrained in the vertical

plane

DISPLACEMENT

STEP=1
SUB =2
FREQ=.161966
DMX =.016092

Y
Z

AUG 23 2012
23:40:41

V Mode 1: Theoretical frequency: 0.124 Hz

Experimental frequency: 0.129 Hz
DISPLACEMENT

STEP=1
SUB =2
FREQ=.201773
DMX =.0134

Y
Z

AUG 23 2012
23:56:09

V Mode 2: Theoretical frequency: 0.162 Hz

3-D BOSBORUS SUSPENSION BRIDGE FE MODEL
Experimental frequency: 0.160 Hz
1
DISPLACEMENT
STEP=1
SUB =3
FREQ=.228401
DMX =.012858

Y
Z

AUG 23 2012
23:40:59

V
Mode 3: Theoretical frequency: 0.202 Hz
3-D BOSBORUS SUSPENSION BRIDGE FE MODEL
Experimental frequency: 0.182 Hz

DISPLACEMENT

STEP=1
SUB =4
FREQ=.281435
DMX =.011627

Y
Z

AUG 23 2012
23:41:14

V Mode 4: Theoretical frequency: 0.228 Hz

Experimental frequency: 0.217 Hz

3-D BOSBORUS SUSPENSION BRIDGE FE MODEL

Y
Z

3-D Mode
BOSBORUS SUSPENSION
BRIDGE FE MODELfrequency: 0.281 Hz
V
5: Theoretical
Experimental frequency: 0.277 Hz

3-D BOSBORUS SUSPENSION BRIDGE FE MODEL

AUG 24 2012
00:06:51

2-D FE model restrained in the horizontal

plane

DISPLACEMENT

STEP=1
SUB =2
FREQ=.19726
DMX =.012216

AUG 24 2012
00:07:11

L Mode 1: Theoretical frequency: 0.069 Hz

Experimental frequency: 0.070 Hz

DISPLACEMENT

STEP=1
SUB =3
FREQ=.316247
DMX =.023133

AUG 24 2012
00:07:22

L
2: Theoretical
3-D Mode
BOSBORUS SUSPENSION
BRIDGE FE MODELfrequency: 0.197 Hz
Experimental frequency: 0.209 Hz

DISPLACEMENT
STEP=1
SUB =4
FREQ=.319302
DMX =.023697

AUG 24 2012
00:07:34

L Mode 3: Theoretical frequency: 0.316 Hz

3-D BOSBORUS SUSPENSION BRIDGE FE MODEL
Experimental frequency: 0.284 Hz
1
DISPLACEMENT
STEP=1
SUB =5
FREQ=.407279
DMX =.015198

X
AUG 24 2012
00:07:46

L3-DMode
4: Theoretical frequency: 0.319 Hz
BOSBORUS SUSPENSION BRIDGE FE MODEL
Experimental frequency: 0.294 Hz
Y

L3-DMode
5: Theoretical frequency: 0.407 Hz
BOSBORUS SUSPENSION BRIDGE FE MODEL
Experimental frequency: 0.365 Hz
Comparison of the results obtained from the 2-D
FE models and the experimental data assured
that
the SUSPENSION
input data
used
3-D BOSBORUS
BRIDGE FE
MODEL to produce the 2-D FE
models represents the real behavior of the
bridge. Therefore, similar properties were used
to develop a sophisticated 3-D FE model for the
Bosporus Bridge
3.2 3-D FE Modelling
Representation of cables and hangers by finite
elements in 3-D FE model is same as 2-D FE
model that is by LINK 10 and LINK 8 elements,
respectively, except that the full six degrees of
freedom are allowed at each node. However, the
major difference in 3-D FE modelling is that the
suspended box deck structure and the towers are
now modeled by SHELL 63 elements, having six
degrees of freedom at each node instead of the
BEAM 4 elements used in 2-D FE models. Since
the computer processing capacity is limited,
modelling the towers and the suspended deck
structure with all the details is an impossible job.
Therefore, equivalent super elements were
introduced for the suspended box deck and the
tower structures.
To develop a sophisticated 3-D FE model with
the less degree of freedom the equivalent deck
section was designed. To achieve more realistic
3-D FE model of the bridge, the equivalent deck
element had to be designed in a way that it
represents the actual properties of the original
deck section. To do so, the real behavior of the
original deck structure was needed. Therefore, a
box deck section of 17.9m long was modeled in
ANSYS to obtain the original deck structure

properties. Based on this, a rectangular

equivalent box deck section was designed as 2m
deep with 15mm thick top and bottom plates and
12 mm thick side plates. Then using the
equivalent box deck section elements the whole
suspended deck structure was modeled in
ANSYS.

Case 1: All the rockers free to move in

longitudinal direction

The suspend deck structure connects to the

towers by the rocker bearings which have a great
impact on bridge mode shapes and frequencies.
Therefore, two A-frame rocker bearings were
modeled at each end of the suspended deck
structure using BEAM 4 element. Geometric
quantities of a single frame element were
calculated in accordance with the design
drawings and COMBIN 7 revolution joint
element was assigned at the end of each BEAM
4 element to work as pin connection in the
longitudinal direction.

Case 4: All the rockers are restricted to move in

the longitudinal direction

The towers were modeled as hollow sections.

Keypoint coordinates were extracted from the
design drawings and the same cross sectional
dimensions that were used in the design
drawings were adopted for the tower model. The
areas were defined with four or six keypoints and
SHELL 63 element was assigned with the six
degrees of freedom at each node. To reduce the
degrees of freedom, towers were modeled
without any stiffeners. Instead, equivalent
thickness for main plates was calculated as 30
mm.
3.2.1 3-D FE Model Analysis
To understand the factors affecting the bridge
behavior, a sophisticated 3-D FE model was
analyzed under different cases both for static and
modal. The cases that were analyzed are as
follows;
Bridge model with;
Case1: Different boundary conditions,
Case 2: Additional mass.

Case1: Bridge model

boundary conditions

with

different

A-frame rocker bearings were designed to allow

the movement only in the longitudinal direction
but resist the lateral and the vertical translations.
However, throughout the bridge service life there
was a significant increase in traffic load in
Istanbul, for which the bridge was not designed.
This issue raises a concern that the rocker
bearings at the end of the suspended deck
structure might be jammed in due to overloading.
To understand the impact of the different
boundary conditions in terms of the bridge
behavior, different cases were analyzed which
are as follows;

Case 2: Both rockers are restricted to move in

the longitudinal direction at ORTAKOY side
Case 3: One of the rockers is restricted to move
in the longitudinal direction at ORTAKOY side

The results showed that depending on the

boundary conditions, the first vertical mode
shape might be symmetric or antisymmetric. In
case one where the rockers were allowed to
move freely in the longitudinal direction, the first
vertical mode shape was obtained as symmetric
with 0.125 Hz frequency, however, analyses
results for cases 2,3 or 4, where the rockers
either on one side or on both sides restricted to
move in the longitudinal direction, provided the
first vertical mode antisymmetric. This shows
that throughout the bridge service life, the first
vertical mode shape might change from
symmetric to antisymmetric shape depending on
the boundary conditions.

Case 2: Bridge Model with additional mass

Suspension bridges are the important structures

with long term service life. To maintain the
integrity of the bridge, careful inspection and
proper maintenance is compulsory. Sometimes,
during the maintenance works such as a road
restoration, an extra weight might be added to
the dead weight of the structure. To understand
the importance of the change in bridge mass, in
terms of the bridge dynamic behavior, the model
was analyzed in two cases. In the first case,
bridge mass was defined in accordance with the
design stage whereas in the second case, 1tons/m
extra distributed mass was added to the dead
weight of the structure. Each case was analyzed
both for static and modal analysis
The analyses results showed that the single
noded asymmetric torsional mode shape
appeared at two slightly different mode
frequencies (0.467 Hz and 0.472 Hz) in case 2
(model with the different mass) whereas only one
single noded asymmetric torsional mode shape
was observed in case 1. Besides, the model with
the extra mass experienced the 3rd lateral mode
(frequency: 0.309 Hz) with both lateral and
torsional deformation however, in the first case
no such behavior was observed in the analysis.
Overall, comparison of the modal analyses for
different cases showed that the bridge behavior
is sensitive to changes in the bridge mass and the
boundary conditions.

and

Analysis results obtained both from 2-D and 3-D

FE models have shown that the predicted vertical
modes are quite close to the experimental results.
Table 2 tabulates results obtained both from the
current analytical and the past experimental
studies.
Vertical Mode

Brownjohn
et al.

Tezcan et
al.

0.124

0.125

0.129

0.162

0.163

0.16

0.202

0.182

0.18

11

0.228

0.227

0.217 0.233

0.281

0.281

0.277 0.282

0.371

0.366

0.362 0.357

0.453

0.444

0.446

0.44

0.561

0.543

0.544

0.665

0.636

0.637

0.775

0.728

0.739

0.9

0.833

10

0.83

0.9

0.833

10

0.852

1.032

0.938

10

11

0.959

2-D FE 3-D FE
Model Model

Antinodes

Nodes

Experimental Percent
results
difference

Symmetry

Theoretical
frequency (Hz)

2-D 3-D

Table 2 Comparison of experimental and

analytical results for vertical modes

Theoretical
frequency (Hz)

Experimental
frequencyBrownjohn et al.

4.1 Comparison of Experimental

Analytical Results for Vertical Modes

Lateral Mode
Antinodes

Due to the importance of the Bosporus Bridge,

remarkable theoretical works and full scale
dynamic tests were carried out by Brownjohn et
al. (1989) and Tezcan et al. (1975) to estimate
the dynamic characteristics of the Bosporus
Bridge. The first dynamic test was carried out by
Tezcan et al. (1975) using the ambient vibration
measurements in 1973. Due to the limitations on
the equipment used, only four vertical and one
torsional modes were identified between 0.2-05
Hz. However, later in 1987 Brownjohn et al.
(1989) carried an ambient vibration survey in the
Bosporus Bridge where the vertical, lateral and
torsional modes between 0-1.1 Hz were
identified. Using these experimental data,
comparison were carried out for each vertical
lateral and torsional modes obtained from the
foregoing FE models.

and

Comparison between experimental and analytical

results is not simple for lateral modes. Among
the 9 modes identified during the experimental
test, only 4 modes (1st, 2nd, 5th and 7th modes)
have appreciable movement of deck structure.
However, in other modes, the towers moved in
lateral direction together with main cables
thereby the deck moved comparatively little
(Brownjohn, et al., 1989). Similar behavior was
observed during the analysis for both 2-D and
3-D FE models. Table 3 shows theoretical
frequencies, obtained from 2-D and 3-D FE
models, and the experimental frequencies.
Looking at the last two columns, percent
differences show that the theoretical frequencies
are still close to the experimental frequencies.

Nodes

As a last step, to validate the accuracy of the

foregoing FE models, the analyses results
obtained from the current study were compared
with experimental data available from the past
studies.

4.2 Comparison of Experimental

Analytical Results for Lateral Modes

Symmetry

4 MODEL VALIDATION

0.070

0.07

2-D FE 3-D FE
Model Model
0.069

Percent
difference

2-D

3-D

0.197

0.203

0.209

0.3163

0.2999

0.284

10

0.3193

0.306

0.294

0.4073

0.398

0.365

10

0.456

0.382

16

0.524

0.495

0.44

16

11

0.533

0.552

0.525

0.746

0.737

0.762

Table 3 Comparison of experimental and

analytical results for lateral modes
4.3 Comparison of Experimental
Analytical Results for Torsional Modes

and

Table 4 (next page) shows the frequency

comparison for torsional modes. There is a good
agreement between experimental and theoretical
frequencies except that experimental results
show two single noded asymmetric torsional
modes however, only one single noded
asymmetric torsional mode was obtained from
3-D FE model.

Torsional Mode

3-D FE Model

Nodes

Antinodes

Brownjohn
et al.

Tezcan et
al.

Experimental
Percent
frequency (Hz) difference

Symmetry

Theoretical
frequency (Hz)

3-D

0.327

0.324

0.331

0.484

0.474

0.484

0.492

0.631

0.649

0.842

0.877

Table 4 Comparison of experimental and

analytical results for torsional modes
5 CONCLUSIONS
Comparison of analytical and experimental
results assures that the procedures followed
during the modelling process, particularly
replacing the box deck section with the
equivalent box element, are the reliable
approaches and provide the accurate results.
Thus it can be concluded that the models
discussed so far represent the real behavior of
the Bosporus Bridge. However, the calibration of
the model still might need some extra work to
achieve better results. As already discussed
previously, the bridge model is sensitive to
several factors. By tuning these factors, the
accuracy of the model could be slightly
improved.
Therefore,
the
following
recommendations are proposed for further
studies.
First of all, its worths to mention that the
boundary conditions for the FE models were
defined in accordance with the bridge initial
condition which possibly changed throughout the
bridge service life. Thus defining the related
properties after detailed inspection to represent
the current condition would enhance the
accuracy of the model
Besides, the mass of the structure is another
important factor that could be improved by
calculating the bridge mass in detail and defining
the model in accordance.

REFERENCES
Apaydin, N. M., 2010. Earthquake Performance
Assessment and Retrofit Investigation of Two
Suspenion Bridges in Istanbul. Soil Dynamics
and Earthquake Engineering, Volume 30, pp.
702-710.
Brownjohn, J., Blakeborough, A., Dumanoglu,
A. A. & Severn, R. T., 1989. Ambient Vibration
Survey of the Bosporus Suspension Bridge.

Earthquake
Engineering
and
Dynamics, Volume 18, pp. 263-83.

Structural

Dumanoglu, A. A., 1985. Asynchronous Seismic

Analysis of Modern Suspension Bridges- Part I:
Free Vibration, s.l.: University of Bristol.
Department of Civil Engineering.
Erdik, M. & Uckan, E., 1989. Ambient vibration
survey of the Bogazici Suspension Bridge,
Istanbul- Turker: Department of Earthquake
Engineering
Kandilli
Observatory
and
Earthquake Research Institute, Bogazici
University.
Kosar, U., 2003. System Identification of
Bogazici Suspension Bridge, MSc Thesis,
Istanbul, Turkey: Department of Earthquake
Engineering, Bogazici University.
Tezcan, S., Ipek, M. & Petrovski, J., 1975.
Forced Vibration Survey of Istanbul Bogazici
Suspension Bridge, Skopje, Yugoslavia: Institute
of Earthquake Engineering and Engineering
Seismology.