Applied Mechanics and Materials Vol 574 (2014) pp 36-40 Submitted: 2014-05-14

© (2014) Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland Accepted: 2014-05-15

doi:10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.574.36 Online: 2014-07-18

Earthquake-Response Analysis of Long-span Cable-Stayed Bridge

under Uniform and Non-uniform Excitations
Kai Yan Xu1, a
Guangdong Communication Polytechnic, Guangzhou 510650, China
a
xkywh@sohu.com

Keywords: Uniform excitation, Traveling wave excitation, Earthquake-response

Abstract. Earthquake is a kind of natural disaster which is difficult to predict and the damage degree
is very great, occurrence of the strong motion often leads to the tremendous life and property loss.
Bridge is very important lifeline engineering and it is very necessary to conduct the comprehensive
and systemic investigation on the bridge aseismic. In this paper, the FEM model of a long-span
cable-bridge was established; the dynamic characteristic and nonlinear seismic responses under
uniform and non-uniform excitations of it were systematic studied. The results show that: 1) the basic
cycle of it is about 8.881s. Its first mode of vibration is longitudinal floating mode, which is favorable
to the earthquake- response of structures. 2) Its former 40 rank frequency are located between
0.1~2Hz which is avail to the condition of traffic condition.3) the geometric nonlinearity has much
influence on the response of this kind of bridge.4) the seismic responses are sensitive to the frequency
spectra of the input earthquake wave. 5) The traveling wave excitations are unfavorable to the design
of tower and the main girder when considering the three orthogonal seismic wave input. In order to
get correct results, artificial seismic wave of the bridge address is necessary to the time-history
analysis.

Introduction
Earthquake is a kind of natural disaster which is difficult to predict and the damage degree is very
great, occurrence of the strong motion often leads to the tremendous life and property loss. Bridge is
very important lifeline engineering and it is very necessary to conduct the comprehensive and
systemic investigation on the bridge aseismic. In this paper, the FEM model [1~3] of some
long-span cable-stayed bridge was established and the dynamic characteristic and nonlinear seismic
responses of under uniform and non-uniform excitations of it are systematic studied [4~7]. The
results of it can have some reference meaning in the aseismic design and construction of this kind of
bridges structure.

Project Survey
The Bridge studied is a five-span continuous half-floating system steel box girder cable-stayed
bridge, the span of which is 48+204+460+204+48m. It has 72 pairs of cables and the standard cable
space is 12m. 6 pairs vertical supports located in main 3, main 4, main 5, main 6, main 7 and main 8
pier of this bridge. 2 pairs transverse supports located in main 5 and main 6 piers. Separately
inverted Y-shaped frame tower of 163.5m in height is adopted in this bridge.

Dynamic Characteristics Analysis

Double main girder model is used in this paper. The main girder, cross beam and tower are
simulated by 3D girder element, and cables are simulated by cable element. The influence of cable
sag effect is considered, and the dynamic model of cable-stayed bridges is established. The bridge is
divided into 446 nodes and 747 elements (including 603 girder elements and 144 cable elements).
The boundary conditions of the model are listed in Table 1. The dynamic model of it is shown in
Fig.1. The former two mode shape is shown in Fig.2.

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 Applied Mechanics and Materials Vol. 574 37

Table 1. The boundary conditions of the model

node number(location) boundary condition
main 3,4,6,7 pier 011110
main 5,6 pier 111111
tower and bearing master and slave
bearing and girder 001110

Fig. 1. The dynamic model

The 1st mode shape f = 0.1126 Hz The 2nd mode shape f = 0.2963Hz
Fig. 2. The mode shapes of the former two
Result shows that: (a) It is a long-span half-floating system cable-stayed bridge; its basic cycle is
8.881s, which is very long. Its first mode of vibration is longitudinal floating mode, which is
favorable to the earthquake- response of structures. (2) The mode is very dense and the natural
frequency is very low. Its former 40 rank frequency are located between 0.1~2Hz which is avail to
the condition of traffic condition.
The Earthquake-Response of Research Object
The Earthquake-Response under Uniform Excitations
Three typical earthquake wave records(EL-Centro wave, San Fernando wave and Taft wave)are
adopted in this analysis. The acceleration peak values are adjusted to 0.1g. The just completed
bridge as the initial state, the dynamic displacement responses of some key nodes under nonlinear
static + linear dynamic and nonlinear static + nonlinear dynamic are calculated, the results are
shown in Table 2.
Table 2. The dynamic displacement response of some key nodes under uniform excitations [cm]
EL-Centro wave San Fernando wave Taft wave
N-L 11.63 5.97 7.21
L
mid-span N-N 10.62 6.01 15.29
of main N-L 10.66 2.17 4.42
T
span N-N 12.08 1.83 5.05
N-L 2.03 1.18 2.80
V
N-N 4.05 1.67 4.15
N-L 13.36 6.46 10.02
L
N-N 13.09 6.47 18.90
Left top
N-L 5.75 0.89 2.31
tower
T
N-N 6.15 1.48 1.86
N-L 13.38 6.61 9.94
L
Right top N-N 12.59 6.88 17.29
tower N-L 5.74 0.88 2.31
T
N-N 6.13 1.48 1.86
38 Recent Research on Mechanical Engineering, Mechatronics and Automation

It can be seen from Table 1 that: the responses are distinguished widely from each other under the
same load case of different earthquake wave excitation. The response under the El-Centro wave is
the greatest in all. The longitudinal displacement of right top tower reach 13.38cm and the mid-span
of the main girder is 11.63cm, the transversal displacement is 10.66cm, and otherwise the vertical
displacement of it is 2.03cm. It shows that the analysis results are sensitive to the frequency spectra
of the input earthquake wave. In order to get the statistic result, more earthquake wave should be
adopted in the analysis because different seismic wave will result in different results.
Contrast the result of N-N and N-L, it can be seen that the nonlinearity of cable-stayed bridge
have a great impact on the earthquake responses. Under the excitation of El-Centro wave, to the
middle nodes of main span, considering the nonlinear factors will reduce the longitudinal
displacement but increase the transversal displacement and vertical displacement greatly, increased
by 99.5%. Under the excitation of San Fernando wave, to the middle nodes of main span, the
longitudinal displacement is almost same, but the transversal displacement is reduced almost 15.5%,
the vertical displacement increased 81.7%. Under the excitation of Taft wave, to the middle nodes
of main span, considering the nonlinear factors will increase the longitudinal displacement,
transversal displacement and vertical displacement greatly, the vertical displacement increased most
greatly, increased by 112%.
The bending moment of the tower base are listed in Table 3. It also can be seen that the nonlinear
factors of cable-stayed bridge have a great impact on the bending moment of the tower base of
long-span cable-stayed bridges. Under the excitation of El-Centro wave, the maximal value of
N-N/N-L is 1.27; the minimal value of N-N/N-L is 0.73. Under the excitation of San Fernando
wave, the maximal value of N-N/N-L is -2.65; the minimal value of N-N/N-L is 0.81.

Table 3. The maximal value of bending moment of the tower base under uniform excitation [ kN ⋅ m ]
EL-Centro wave San Fernando wave Taft wave
N-L(M-Y) 31481 -11178 -37124
main 5
N-N(M-Y) 40137 29660 -56913
south
N-L(M-Z) 264667 34016 -37124
tower
N-N(M-Z) 192003 27518 115730
N-L(M-Y) 32826 -11136 -36806
main 6
N-N(M-Y) 38850 29542 -56753
south
N-L(M-Z) 281492 51728 102382
tower
N-N(M-Z) 210907 54179 124428

Envelope diagrams of the vertical displacement of main girder under uniform excitations (No.1)
of three representative waves are shown in Fig.3.

14

12

10

8
N-L N-N
6

0
0 10000 20000 30000 40000 50000 60000 70000 80000 90000 10000
0

(a) EL-Centro wave

 Applied Mechanics and Materials Vol. 574 39

3.5

2.5

2 N-L N-N

1.5

0.5

0
0 10000 20000 30000 40000 50000 60000 70000 80000 90000 10000
0

(b) San Fernando wave

10
9
8
7
6
5 N-L N-N
4
3
2
1
0
0 10000 20000 30000 40000 50000 60000 70000 80000 90000 10000
0

(c) Taft wave

Fig. 3. Envelope diagram of vertical displacement of main girder under uniform excitation[cm]

The Earthquake-Response under Traveling Wave Excitations

The dynamic displacements of the Junshan Yangtze River Bridge under the EL-Centro wave，San
Fernando wave and Taft wave excitations with different speed of 46 m / s , 92 m / s , 138 m / s ,
184 m / s ,230 m / s ,345 m / s ,460 m / s ,690 m / s ,920 m / s ,1150 m / s are computed. And the
displacement of some the crucial nodes under EL-Centro traveling wave are listed in Table 4.

Table 4. EL-Centro traveling wave response [cm]

phase left top tower right top tower Mid-span of main span
m/s
delay S longitudinal transverse longitudinal transverse longitudinal transverse vertical
46 10 33.81 4.71 29.37 5.42 28.67 11.61 8.52
92 5 25.12 4.62 21.60 5.49 21.62 14.26 5.81
138 3.33 22.00 5.74 21.11 4.41 18.83 16.74 4.89
184 2.5 21.14 4.31 21.66 4.15 18.82 12.95 4.35
230 2 20.60 4.66 20.38 4.87 18.07 10.58 3.64
345 1.33 20.01 5.42 16.93 4.21 16.12 12.74 3.21
460 1 19.17 5.73 15.19 3.71 14.60 15.69 4.41
690 0.67 17.62 6.04 15.01 3.96 13.27 18.64 4.59
920 0.5 17.58 6.07 15.12 4.04 12.74 19.44 4.05
1150 0.4 17.14 5.99 15.03 4.07 12.49 19.85 3.47
∞ 0 13.09 6.15 12.59 6.13 10.62 12.08 4.05
It shows that the traveling wave excitations can have significant effect on the response
displacement when compared with the uniform excitation. For this bridge, the displacements of left
and right top tower decreased markedly and take on a concussion change in the lower wave speed
region but less than those of uniform excitations. With the accretion of wave speed, the responses
reach the displacement of uniform excitations gradually. The displacement of mid-span of main
span increases seriously in the lower wave speed region in that the traveling wave induces the
symmetry mode shape of it. In all, the traveling wave excitations have disadvantage on the tower
and the main girder which should be paid much attention to.
40 Recent Research on Mechanical Engineering, Mechatronics and Automation

Different seismic wave excitations result in different results. But in all, the traveling wave
excitations are unfavorable to the design of tower and the main girder when considering the three
orthogonal seismic wave input. In order to get correct results, more earthquake wave should be
taken into account.

Conclusions
Based on the results of the analysis, the following conclusions are drawn:
1) The basic cycle of the research object is very long. Its first mode of vibration is longitudinal
floating mode, which is favorable to the earthquake- response of structures.
2) Its former 40 rank frequency are located between 0.1~2Hz which is avail to the condition of
traffic condition.
3) The geometric nonlinearity has much influence on the response of this kind of bridge which
should be considered carefully.
4) The analysis results are sensitive to the frequency spectra of the input earthquake wave. In
order to get the statistic result, more earthquake wave should be adopted in the analysis because
different seismic wave will result in different results. And more load cases should be considered in
order to decide the most disadvantage load case.
5) The traveling wave excitations are unfavorable to the design of tower and the main girder
when considering the three orthogonal seismic wave input. In order to get correct results, artificial
seismic wave of the bridge address is necessary to the time-history analysis.

References
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vehicular movement using space and time adaptivity. Finite Elements in Analysis and Design. Vol.
40 (2004), p.407.
[3] G. H. Li: Stabilization and Vibration of Bridge Structures (Chinese Railway Press, China 2003)
(In Chinese)
[4] K. Soyluka and A. A. Dumanoglu: Spatial variability effects of ground motions on cable-stayed
bridges. Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering. Vol. 24 (2004), p.241.
[5] J. H. Lin, Y. H. Zhang, Q. S. Li and F. W. Williams: Seismic spatial effects for long-span
bridges using the pseudo excitation method. Engineering Structures. Vol. 26 (2004), p.1207.
[6] A. Astaneh-Asl and R. G. Black: Seismic and structural engineering of a curved cable-stayed
bridge. Journal of Bridge Engineering. Vol. 6 (2001), No. 6, p.439.
[7] P. H. Wang, H. T. Lin and T. Y. Tang: Study on nonlinear analysis of a highly redundant
cable-stayed bridge. Computers and Structures. Vol. 80 (2002), p.165.
Recent Research on Mechanical Engineering, Mechatronics and Automation
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Earthquake-Response Analysis of Long-Span Cable-Stayed Bridge under Uniform and Non-Uniform

Excitations
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