Abstract ID: 14

Authors
Yuga Ono1 Yoshito Takizawa1 Shinichi Aizawa1
1Central Nippon Expressway Company Limited, Japan

y.ono.ae@c-nexco.co.jp

Bridge Owner/Operator
Central Nippon Expressway Company Limited

Title
Maintenance and Management of the Meiko Cable Stayed Bridges

Abstract
The Meiko East, Central, and West bridges are cable stayed bridges forming part of the Ise-wangan expressway.
The Ise-wangan expressway is not only a major traffic artery connecting the Tokyo metropolitan area, Chukyo
metropolitan area and Kansai metropolitan area, but plays an important role in supporting logistics in the Nagoya
Port area.
The Ise-wangan expressway has three steel cable-stayed bridges: Meiko East, Central, and West Bridges (Meiko
West Bridge consists two separate cable stayed bridges, east bound and west bound bridges). The Meiko West
Bridge (east bound) was opened in 1985, followed by the Meiko East, Central, and West bridges (west bound)
which were opened in 1998.
It has past more than 20 years since the opening of the bridges, and various concerns have been raised on
maintenance of the bridges. The concerns are mainly observed in steel decks, stay cables, and large expansion
joints.
Fatigue cracks in the steel decks have been observed in conventional steel decks (12mm-thickness), which does not
have sufficient fatigue resistance. A phased array ultrasonic testing (PAUT) has been employed to detect fatigue
cracks, and the PAUT enables to detect fatigue cracks before the cracks develop serious condition. As a permanent
measure, reinforcing the steel decks with cement-based materials is being considered, however, there are still some
problems to be solved such as traffic management during a construction work.
Large bridge expansion joints, made of cast iron, also suffer from damages due to heavy traffic.
For stay cables, an accelerometer was installed and tension was calculated from the natural frequency in order to
confirm the soundness of them. In addition, magnetic flux measurement is used to detect damage and cross-
sectional area loss of wires in a polyethylene sheath.

This paper presents the current conditions and issues of the Meiko Cable Stayed Bridges.

Keywords
fatigue crack, orthtropic steel deck, stay cables, large expansion joint

1. Introduction:

The Ise-wangan expressway has three steel cable-

stayed bridges: Meiko East, Central, and West
Bridges (Meiko West Bridge consists two separate
cable stayed bridges, east bound and west bound
bridges) (Figure 1). The Ise-wangan Expressway is
one of the heaviest traffic routes in Japan, with a
cross-sectional traffic volume of 90,000 vehicles/day
and truck vehicles occupy approximately 40% of the Figure 1. Meiko Central Bridge
traffic. The Ise-wangan Expressway supports the 1) testing for root-deck cracks
logistics of container yards and factories in the Port A probe sends sound wave from the underside of the
of Nagoya area, therefore, heavy weight trucks deck plate and reflected at the crack failure surface,
frequently pass through the expressway. Because of sound wave reflected from the crack surface after
these factors, the expansion joints and steel decks of reflection from the top of the deck plate and scattered
the Ise-wangan Expressway, which are directly component at the crack tip. (Figure 2-3(a))
subjected to traffic loads and impacts, are under a 2) testing for root- weld cracks
severe fatigue condition. For root-weld cracks, the weld geometry changes the
Besides fatigue problem, various concerns have been inclination of the crack and the direction of ultrasonic
raised on maintenance of the bridges. This paper reflection. In order to improve detection, two
reports mangement of Meiko cable stayed bridges different directions of ultrasonic testing are used. One
focucing on steel decks, stay cables, and large is the ultrasonic wave incident from the underside of
expansion joints the deck plate, which is reflected from the top of the
deck plate, and the other is the ultrasonic wave
2. Fatigue cracks in steel decks reflected from the crack fracture surface. The other is
the ultrasonic test using the ultrasonic wave incident
2-1 Overview from the web of the U- shape rib, which is reflected
Fatigue cracks have been observed in conventional from the inner surface of the U-shape rib web and
steel decks (12mm-thickness, Upper width of U- then reflected from the crack fracture surface. (Figure
shape ribs 320 mm or less), which does not have 2-3(a))
sufficient fatigue resistance. There are two major
types of cracks in steel decks as listed below.
・ Fatigue cracks at the rib-to-deck plate welded
joints. The crack initiates weld root and propagates
to the deck plate (hereinafter referred to as "root-deck
crack") (Figure 2-1(a))
・ Fatigue cracks at the rib-to-deck plate welded
joints. This type of crack also initiates weld root but
Figure 2-2. Device of PAUT
propagates into the weld bead. (hereinafter referred to
as "root-weld crack") (Figure 2-1(b))
In particular, root-deck cracks are not visible before
they penetrate steel decks. This implys that steel
decks show sudden deformation when the cracks
reach to the surface of the steel deck.Therefore, it is
necessary to detect and repair the crack before it
penetrates the steel deck.

(a) root-deck crack

(a) root-deck crack (b) root-weld crack

Figure 2-1. Types of cracks

2-2 Inspection
(b) root-weld crack
A phased array ultrasonic testing (PAUT) has been
employed to detect internal fatigue cracks, and the Figure 2-3. Schematic of twin probes fixed to
PAUT enables to detect fatigue cracks before the the deck plate and the rib
cracks develop serious condition. (Figure 2-2) [1]
An example of the results obtained by image analysis
of the flaw detection data is shown below. (Figure 2-
4) By performing PAUT, the intrinsic cracks can be
detected even in areas where there are no weld
deformations.
Figure 2-4. Top-surface
reinforcement with UHPFRC
2-3 Repair policy
As a drastic measure to improve the stiffness of steel
decks, top reinforcement with cementitious materials
has been proposed. Steel fiber reinforced concrete
(SFRC) has been generally considered, but as a
further possibility, a reinforcement material that
satisfies the following is desired.
・A material with a higher Young's modulus than
SFRC so that the stress intensity factor range can be
significantly reduced
・Materials with high tensile strength to resist tensile
stress on the deck plate
・Materials with high resistance to fatigue due to
repeated cyclic loading
Therefore, top-surface reinforcement with ultra-high-
performance fiber reinforced cementitious composite
(UHPFRC) was outlined. (Figure 2-5) The results of
wheel load running tests and finite element analysis
have also shown that topsides reinforced with
UHPFRC have the potential to stop deck propagating
cracks even without crack treatment.[2]
Figure 2-5. Top-surface
reinforcement with UHPFRC
2-4 Problems
1) There are few examples of UHPFRC construction
on actual bridges.
There are few examples of construction of not only
steel decks but also RC bridges in Japan. The steel
decks are often located in urban areas with relatively
heavy traffic, making it difficult to select test
construction sites.
2) Difficulty in long-term lane restrictions
Long-term lane restrictions are required to perform
top-surface thickening. However, in Meiko Cable
Stayed Bridges, where traffic volume is heavy, it
takes a great deal of time to discuss with the relevant
authorities to implement lane restrictions. Therefore,
the construction cannot be done easily.
3. Evaluation of the integrity of stay cables
3-1 Overview
During a five-year inspection, damage to the sheath
of a stay cable was observed. In order to confirm the
integrity of stay cables, tension monitoring and
corrosion investigation of the cables with damaged
protection tubes. (Figure 3-1)
Figure 3-1. Damaged protection tubes
3-2 Tension monitoring
1) Survey method
Accelerometers were installed on cables with
damaged protective tubes (hereinafter referred to as
"damaged cables") and on sound cables for tension
monitoring. (Figure 3-2) The data was fast Fourier
transformed for 5 minutes for each of the four daily
measurements to obtain a frequency spectrum. The
natural frequencies that appear as peaks on the
frequency vector are automatically extracted from the
first to the highest order (25th order). The
coefficients (A, B) can be identified from the
multiple natural frequencies and their frequencies by
the least-squares method using the tension estimation
equation. Since there are design values for the cable
length and mass per unit length included in
coefficient B, the tension force can be calculated.
2) Results
A graph of the tension values calculated from the
natural frequencies for each measurement and the
moving average for one week is shown in Figure 3-3.
Table 3-1 shows the average tension values measured
during the measurement period (July 13, 2021 to
December 31, 2021).
The average values of tension measured during the
measurement period were 462.8 t for CN29 (west
bound) and 451.8 t for CS29 (east bound). The
measured tension was 99.8% for CN29 and 97.5% Figure 3-2. Survey Location
for CS29 relative to the design tension. The ratio of
the estimated tension of west and east lines was about
2%. Throughout the measurement period, the
changes in the weekly moving average of the
measured tension were small, within approximately
2%, with no unusual changes.
The relationship between the temperature in the
sensor at the point of measurement and the tension at
the time of measurement was also checked. The table
3-2 shows the rate of rise and the Figure 3-4 shows
the correlation graph between temperature and Figure 3-3. Tension Transition
tension. For both the CN29(west bound) and Graph
CS29(east bound), tension tended to be higher during Table 3-1. Average value of tesion
the winter months when temperatures were lower.
Comparing the initial (July 13-July 20) and final
(Dec. 24-Dec. 31) measured values, a +1.2% increase
was observed for the initial CN29 cable and a +1.8%
increase for the initial CS29 cable. Comparing the Table 3-2. Percentage increase in
initial (July 13-July 20) and final (Dec. 24-Dec. 31) tension
measured values, a +1.2% increase was observed for
the initial CN29 cable and a +1.8% increase for the
initial CS29 cable. This is considered to be a change
due to expansion and contraction of the bridge and
cable in relation to temperature.

3-3 Corrosion investigation

1) Survey method
Steel corrosion investigations were conducted on
damaged and sound cables using the solenoid-type
total magnetic flux method. (Figure 3-5) The total
magnetic flux method is a nondestructive inspection Figure 3-4. Tension Transition
method that estimates the amount of change in the
Graph
cross-section of a cable by strongly magnetizing the
cable, which is a ferromagnetic material. The
physical quantity to be measured is the amount of
magnetic flux, which is converted to the cross-
sectional area of the cable. The condition of the inner
cable (steel wire) can be inspected even when the
cable is protected by a non-magnetic coating material
or paint. The solenoid-type total magnetic flux
method is suitable for measuring the deformation of Figure3-5. Imaged figure of total flux method
the target cross section.
An electromagnetic coil (solenoid) is used to strongly
magnetize the target cable up to the asymptotic
saturation region (the region where no more magnetic
flux flows), and the magnetization characteristics of
the cable (upper flux limit, etc.) are measured.
The degree of damage of the subject cable is
evaluated by comparing it with a sound section of the
same cross section.

2) Results
The results of the magnetic flux values for each cable
are shown in the table 3-3.
Comparison of the magnetic flux values shows that
the ratios at the two fixed points ranged from -0.63 to
0.32%, resulting in a slightly smaller cable cross- Figure 4. Damage situation
sectional area for the damaged cable.
However, the difference was slight and not distinct, Based on the cause of the occurrence, the necessity of
suggesting that the damaged cable did not have a replacement of the expansion device and the priority
large cross-sectional loss. of replacement are planned to be reflected in the
formulation of the replacement plan.
Table 3-3. The results of the magnetic
flux values tension
5. Concluding Remarks

More than 20 years after its opening, many

deformations have become apparent at the Meiko
Cable Stayed Bridges. In order to prioritize repair and
reinforcement within a limited budget, it is necessary
to clarify the causes of the deformations and
4. Rupture of large expansion joints accurately determine the risks.

4-1 Overview
Although not cable stayed bridges, there have been
multiple incidents of comb ruptures of expansion
devices using high-strength materials (SM520C,
CM520c-H). This was due to a decrease in fatigue
durability as a result of reducing the thickness of the
members by upgrading to higher strength materials.
On the other hand, the comb of the intermediate
support type large telescopic device (made of cast
iron) used in the Meiko Cable Stayed Bridges has
broken on a new occasion. (Figure 4) On-site
inspection revealed that, in addition to the comb
rupture, there were other abnormalities such as
loosening of the face plate bolts, cracking of the
receiver at the end of the face plate, and wear of the
sliding plate at the intermediate support point.
4-2 Future Plans for Determining the Cause
The cause of the occurrence of the deformity
described in 4.1 has not been identified. Therefore,
material and fatigue tests will be conducted to
determine the cause.
6. References
[1] Nasafuni HATTORI, Tohru MAKITA, Kazuo
TATEISHI, Takeshi HANJI, Masaru
SHIMIZU and Naoto YAGI. Carck sizing
accuracy of a phased array ultrasonic scanner
developed for inspection of rib-to-deck
welded joints in orthotropic steel decks.
Journal of JSCE. 2018; Vol.74, No.3, 516-530
(in Japanese)
[2] Nasafuni HATTORI, Kazuo TATEISHI,
Takeshi HANJI and Masaru SHIMIZU.
Countermeasure effect of UHPFRC overlay
on fatigue cracks propagation from U-rib
welds of orthotropic steel decks. Journal of
JSCE. 2020, Vol.76, No.3, 542-559 (in
Japanese)