SEISMIC PERFORMANCE OF STEEL TOWERS OF CABLE-STAYED BRIDGES

Mohamed Omar
Candidate for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Toshiro Hayashikawa Division of Built Environment

Introduction
Cable-stayed bridges have been around for the last couple of centuries but have become more prevalent in the last 50 years. During the 1989 Loma Prieta, 1994 Northridge and 1995 Hyogoken Nanbu earthquakes, the cable-stayed bridges were subjected to near-field strong ground motion, and as a result a large portion of the routes suffered serious damage. Observation and experience of structural performance in various earthquakes were used to formulate the seismic design method. The seismic analysis must be probabilistic because of the consequence of various uncertainties involved in the analysis. They include uncertainties of seismic input, bridge properties, analysis procedure and modeling, assessment of damage states etc. How bridges respond during earthquakes is complex. Insights into bridge behavior and methods for improving their performance are constantly being developed. This continuous evolution requires that researchers periodically review and update their seismic design methodology and criteria. Consideration of rocking or uplift of the bridge pier foundation introduces other modes of nonlinearity (rocking) and energy dissipation. Limited rocking can reduce demands on the bridge structure, effectively acting as an isolation mechanism. The development of durable and cost effective high performance construction materials and systems is important for the economic well being of a country mainly because the cost of civil infrastructure constitutes a major portion of the national wealth. To address the problems of deteriorating civil infrastructure, research is very essential on smart
74.30 115.00
8 x 11.5 = 92.00 34.50 34.50 8 x 11.50 = 92.00

materials. A new challenge to the earthquake engineering community is to develop new technologies that could improve the seismic performance of bridges; these new technologies consist of new construction materials (smart materials) and protective systems. The term shape memory refers to the ability of certain alloys (SMA), (Ni Ti, Cu Al Zn etc.) to undergo large strains, while recovering their initial configuration at the end of the deformation process spontaneously or by reloading without any residual deformation .The particular properties of SMAs are strictly associated to a solid-solid phase transformation which can be stress induced. Currently, SMAs are applied in mechanical engineering and can open new applications in civil engineering specifically in seismic protection of buildings. The effect of the soilstructure interaction is noticeable especially for stiff and massive structures resting on the relatively soft ground. It may cause the dynamic characteristics of the structural response to be altered significantly. When foundation soil is subjected to seismic ground motion its response is dictated by the soil characteristic properties, the soil conditions and the characteristics of the earthquake.

Nonlinear Solution Technique

Based on the total incremental equilibrium equations, finite displacement three-dimensional beam-column element formulation is carried out. The tangent stiffness matrix and nodal point force vectors considering both geometrical and material nonlinearities can be determined by using the fiber model in which the bending-axial force interaction is automatically considered. The initial state of residual stresses effects on both tangent stiffness and force
284.00
31.00 8 x 11.50 = 92.00 34.50 34.50

115.00
8x 11.5 = 92.00

81.10

68.00

36.00

34.00

36.00
34.00

Fig. 1 General view of the cable-stayed bridge (m)

68.00

vector is considered. The implicit Newmark step-bystep integration method is used to directly integrate the equation of motion, since it has been experienced that the Newmark method is the most suitable for nonlinear analysis; it has the lowest period elongation and has no amplitude decay. In addition, the stability concern is not a problem with the variable ratio of time increment to natural period. The equation of motion is solved for the incremental displacement using the Newton Raphson iteration method where the stiffness matrix is updated at each increment to consider the geometrical and material nonlinearities and to speed the convergence rate. As the incremental displacement is determined, the response acceleration and velocity components of the tower can be determined. In addition, attenuation of the steel tower structure is adopted the Rayleighs viscous damping with damping coefficient equal to 2% to the in-plane and out-plane fundamental natural vibration modes.

3.50

13.00 2.40
17.00 5.00

III

2.70

IV
14.50

II

14.504
68.00

68.00

24.00 1.50 37.50 48.00

36.50

20.00

Y X
18.00

(a) Tower geometry

z y
b
t
22

11

Finite Element Model of Tower Structure

The steel tower of Tappu cable-stayed bridge located in Hokkaido, Japan is considered. Figure 1 shows a general view of the cable-stayed bridge elevation. The steel tower is taken out of the bridge and modeled as three-dimensional frame structure. A fiber flexural element is developed for characterization of the tower structure, in which the element incorporates both geometric and material nonlinearities. The stress-strain relationship of the beam element is modeled as bilinear type with kinematic strain hardening rule. The yield stress and the modulus of elasticity are equal to 355 MPa (SM490Y) and 200GPa, respectively; the plastic region strain hardening is 0.01. Inelasticity of the flexure element is accounted for by the division of the cross section into a number of fiber zones with uniaxial plasticity defining the normal stress-strain relationship for each zone, the element stress resultants are determined by integration of the fiber zone stresses over the cross section of the element. By tracking the center of the yield region, the evolution of the yield surface is monitored, and a stress update algorithm is implemented to allow accurate integration of the stress-strain constitutive law for strain increments, including full load reversals.
Table 1 Cross section dimensions the tower (cm) Outer dimension Stiffener dimension C. S. Dim. t a b t t A B t
1 2 11 22

t
1

t
1

(b) Cross section Fig. 2 Steel tower of cable-stayed bridge Table 2 Principal vibration modes for tower model Mode order 1 2 3 4 Period (sec.) 2.072 0.934 0.773 0.156 Effective mass as a fraction of total mass 33.195 30.330 0.000 34.079 Mode type H L T V

I Tower parts II III IV

240 240 240 270

350 350 350 350

2.2 2.2 2.2 2.2

3.2 3.2 2.8 2.6

25 22 20 31

22 20 20 22

3.6 3.2 2.8 3.5

3.0 2.8 2.2 2.4

To ensure path dependence of the solution, the implementation of the plasticity model for the implicit Newton Raphson equilibrium iterations employs a stress integration whereby the element stresses are updated from the last fully converged equilibrium state. The transformation between element local and global coordinates is accomplished through a vector translation of element forces and displacements based on the direction cosines of the current updated element coordinate system. This tower has nine cables in each side; the dead load of the stiffening girder is considered to be equivalent to the vertical component of the pretension force of the cables and acted vertically at the joint of cables. The inertia forces acting on the steel tower from the stiffening girders is neglected. For the numerical analysis, the geometry and the structural properties of the tower is

shown in Fig. 2. This tower has rectangular hollow steel section with internal stiffeners, which has different dimensions along tower height and its horizontal beam; the geometrical properties of the tower are summarized in Table 1. A spectral damping scheme of Rayleighs damping is used to form damping matrix as a linear combination of mass and stiffness matrices, which effectively captures the tower structures damping and is also computationally efficient. The damping ratio corresponding to the frequencies of the fundamental in-plane and out-plane modes of tower free vibration is set to 2%. The natural periods and the effective mass for different modes in three global directions obtained from the linear analysis, Table 2.

The column base connection consists of 24 anchor bolts arranged outside the tower leg flanges. To have sufficient weld to transmit the flange force into the base plate, additional weld is used through welding vertical plates to the flange and lengthening the anchor bolts. The complex nature of bolted base connections requires that advanced analysis techniques be used for seismic design. Finite element models of the connection components and their interaction have been developed. The submodels enable a full nonlinear elasto-plastic analysis of the connection to be performed. A component spring model for base connections is proposed. This model incorporates deformations from tension bolt elongation, bending of base plate and concrete bearing underneath base plates. The individual components of the connection are model by a nonlinear spring. Then each of these springs is added to the system and its stiffness is assembled into the final overall stiffness of the connection. Figure 4 shows mechanical model of the base connection. In this model, the constitutive components of the base connection are represented by means of springs system that includes extensional springs to simulate the anchor bolts tension deformation, extensional springs to simulate the concrete in compression under the base plate. Each of these springs is characterized by its own deformability curve as an individual component, as shown in Fig. 5. The stiffness and resistance properties of the springs are calculated on the basis of the geometrical characteristics and the mechanical properties of the nonlinear constitutive material as given in Table 3. The stiffness of the concrete is determined by using an elastic half space. The anchor bolt pretension force and concrete compression pre-stress state as a result of selfequilibrium are considered. The nonlinear behavior of bolts is accounted for by an iterative numerical procedure. The steel bolt plays little or no part in the compressive behavior of concrete, thus the bolts in compression are replaced by concrete in the finite element analysis. The base plate is assumed rigid (EI =) within tower leg dimensions, while the plate projections rigidity (EI) beyond the tower leg is computed. The anchor bolts are deigned to yield prior to anchorage rupture.
Load P Load P Pyield kb Pb0 Displacement 0.01kb

Base Connection Components Modeling

In recent decades, long span bridges such as cablestayed bridges have gained much popularity. For these bridges, steel towers are preferred because of their efficient utilization of structural materials, improved speed of construction, earthquake resistance, and so on. Steel towers are usually fixed by multiple bolts to large anchor frame embedded in a concrete pier/footing, Fig. 3 shows sketch and details of tower base connection design drawings and the frame anchorage system, which provides a reliable and durable anchorage system.
3215
60.75 200.0 60.75 M80

391.5
620 500 1500

B
5900
5088

B
1620 3000 588 490

3765

(a) Anchor frame

5056
778 350 678 3500 3000 778 678 350

757.5

607.5

3915

250

750

3215

2400

2000

350 607.5

757.5

750

250

750

4356

(b) Section B-B

750

(c) Anchor bolt

Fig.3 Details of steel tower base connection (mm) (a) Out-plane

(1)

(b) In-plane Concrete contact model EI EI = Anchor bolt model

(2)

192

3098

5900

EI (3)

Fig. 4 Tower base connection mechanical model

(a) Concrete contact model (b) Anchor bolt model Fig. 5 Base connection components constitutive models

Table 3 Base connection components properties

Description

Properties value Eb Stiffness kb 205.80 GPa 201.2 MN/m 1.93 MN/ 440 MPa 0.81 MN 251.4 MPa S45C / M80 24.50 GPa 19.852 GPa / m 20.58 MPa 0.5 SM490Y

Anchor bolt

Yield force / stress Pre-tension force Shear stress Steel / Diameter Ec

Shape memory alloy (SMA) is considered as one of the smart systems in civil structures. Due to the high power density, solid state actuation, high damping capacity, durability and the fatigue resistance of SMA, it has found wide applications. SMA can reduce the environmental impact or earthquake damage when integrated with the structures. Though many of the SMA's applications in civil structures have been researched, a few researches have been carried out for cable-stayed bridges. In order to use the SMA in seismic resistant design and retrofit as a viable material, certain characteristics are needed to be possessed like stable hysteretic behavior, ductility, and large energy dissipation. Though several studies have quantified the material properties of shape memory alloy, the majority of these studies were related to biomedical applications. Different projects have taken advantage of the superelastic properties of shape memory alloys. Seismic applications have been implemented using superelastic alloys using wrapped bundles of wires. One example is the retrofit and rehabilitation of three cathedrals in Italy using wrapped wire superelastic devices. Other applications, only experimentally or analytically researched, include passive damping devices for bridges and buildings. During an earthquake event, connectors or connections in various structures are prone to damage. SMA connectors have been designed to provide damping and tolerate relatively large deformations. Tamai and Kitagawa proposed an exposed type column base with SMA anchorage for seismic resistance. The proposed shape memory alloy anchorage is made of the Nitinol SMA bars and steel bars. The results obtained from the pulsating tension loading tests and numerical simulation of the SMA bars have shown that the SMA bars were very effective in dissipating energy and reducing the buildings vibration under severe seismic ground motion. The researches by Tamai et al reported the pulsating tension loading tests on the exposed-type column base with SMA anchorages. It was observed that, contrary to the accumulated residual strain of ordinary anchorages, the SMA anchorages can recover their original shape after cyclic loadings and therefore their resisting performance remains the same to prevent plastic deformation and damage in the structural columns. Based on loading tests of the two full-scale SMA enhanced connections, they concluded that the connection exhibited stable and repeatable hysteresis for rotations and the SMA tendon was able to sustain without permanent damage. From the above reviews, the shape memory alloy member enables to recover its original shape. Furthermore, it effectively absorbs the energy inputted to the structure due to its pseudoelastic

Concrete foundation

Stiffness kc Bearing stress Friction coefficient

Base plate

Steel

Shape Memory Alloy (SMA)

SMA is a class of alloys that display several unique characteristics, including Youngs modulustemperature relations, shape memory effects, pseudoelasticity, and high damping characteristics. During deformation, SMA undergoes phase transformations instead of intergranular dislocations as typically found in metals. These phase transformations refer to spontaneous shifts between martensitic and austenitic crystal forms. Therefore, SMA experiences a phase transformation when subjected to either thermal or mechanical loading. Hence, The SMA is characterized by a unique superelastic behavior, which allows the alloy to recover its unreformed shape once the mechanical stress is removed. Figure 6 shows the stressstrain loop of a superelastic SMA material undergoing a stress-induced transformation of SMA at constant temperature. Before the stress reaches a critical value, the SMA behaves elastically. The stress induced martensite transformation takes place and results in a large deformation with little increase of stress. Because of the stressstrain hysteresis, which is identified with the stress difference of the loading and unloading, the area enclosed by the loop represents the energy dissipated through the loadingunloading cycle. Stress Loading

Un-Loading Strain Fig. 6 Stress-strain relationship for SMA

deformation. Because Nitinol has high strength and stiffness, it is easily applied to a seismic resisting member with a practical dimension. Furthermore, large size SMA could be produced by a Japanese company (Daido Steel Co. Ltd.). Thus, several applications to seismic resisting member of building structures are proposed. The proposed SMA anchorage is shown in Fig. 7. The column is welded to a base plate. The base plate is fastened to the concrete base with anchor bolts. The anchor bolts consist of SMA and ordinary steel bolts. The sheath encloses the SMA bolts to enable repair after an earthquake. The maximum strength of the SMA bolts is set smaller than that of ordinary steel bolts, the end of column and the base plate. As for the seismic design demand, the initial elastic limit displacement and strength as well, are controlled by changing the length and sectional area of the ordinary steel member. The seismic energy, inputted to the frame, is absorbed effectively in the SMA member by means of its pseudoelastic deformation as there is no slip in restoring force characteristics. Hence, it is possible to reduce the responses of the building frame to prevent serious damage to the frame under a severe earthquake, and to enable the frame to be easily repaired by simply renewing SMA members after earthquake.
Column Steel base plate

1
G0

Gab element

(a) Tower and soil model

Fig. 9 Concept of uplift and sliding modeling

R eloading

U nloading

Fig. 10 Ramberg-Osgood model

Soil-Structure Interaction
To consider the soil-structure interaction effect the entire system ca be divided into two subsystems, a superstructure that may include a portion of nonlinear soil around the foundation (near-field) and a substructure, which includes the unbounded soil around the superstructure (far-field). For the unbounded far-field soil, the spring constants in both bridge axis and right angle directions are calculated based on foundation geometry and soil profile of different layers underneath and along embedded depth of foundation by calculating the impedance functions for each layer. The impedance functions of the far field soil (unbounded medium) were calculated at a frequency equal to the weighted average of the first two fundamental frequencies of the structure obtained from the analysis of the fixedbase case. For the soil adjacent to the structure it was calculated as specified in Japanese Highway Specification as illustrated in Figs. 8 and 9. Each spring consists of a gap element and a soil element. The gap element transmits no tensile stress, which can express the geometrical nonlinearity of base mat uplift. To preserve simplicity, a modified RambergOsgood model with the Masing criterion is proposed to represent the soil resistance-displacement curves. For the vertically incident SV waves considered in the application presented here, the tower responds in shear vibration. Figure 10 illustrates the shear stress-shear strain relationship of the RambergOsgood model.

Concrete base Sheath Coupler

SMA anchor bolt

Steel anchor bolt

Fig. 7 Tower column base with SMA

+ 1 7 .2 7 + 5 .4 0

- 1 1 .2 3 - 1 8 .7 3

Summary and Conclusions

Recently, the construction of lighter, longer, and more slender bridges is enabled due to the developments in design technology, material qualities, and efficient construction techniques in bridge engineering. Numerical parametric study of the steel tower cable-stayed bridge has been conducted to investigate the dynamic behavior

Fig. 8 Mathematical model of soil foundation superstructure

considering expected vertical motion at tower base connection. The fundamental period of the steel tower is significantly increased when base plate vertical motion taken into account through base foundation model. The loosening of base plate and concrete due to vertical motion affects the tower dynamic characteristics, this effect becomes more pronounced in case of more loosing of anchor bolts stiffness continuum. Allowing uplift effectively increases the structure period of vibration, hence the controlled rocking system has an inherent restoring force that allows for base connection self-centering following a seismic event. A discrete proposed base connection modeling representing material and geometrical nonlinear behavior of the base plate is developed in order to enhance rocking effect of bridges by using viscoelastic material. Nonlinear contact of the bridge towers with the base plate and concrete foundation has been demonstrated and its implementation in a finite element nonlinear analysis is presented. The nonlinear finite element dynamic analysis shows the bridge towers rocking influence tower seismic response. The resulting dynamic characteristics of the physical base model including the bridge towers rocking effect are significant different from this of tower structure rocking with its base foundation. The proposed base connections with viscoelastic material is so effective in providing safety rocking for the bridge tower and elongate its natural frequency. Shape memory alloy material concepts, to improve the bridges seismic performance, are suggested by providing base plate anchor bolts at the tower base. The calculated results prove the effectiveness of using shape memory alloy anchor bolts in reducing structural elements forces and control tower displacement for seismic design. The performance of cable-stayed bridge tower base connections can be improved by introducing ductile damping connecting elements which will enhance the seismic properties over conventional bolted connections. The effectiveness of the proposed SMA anchor connection in the bridge tower is assessed comparing with the ordinary steel anchor connection. The SMA connection effect on the responses of the bridge tower is presented. In addition, the results show the effectiveness of the proposed SMA connection in decreasing the total energy absorbed by the tower structure compared to the ordinary steel connection anchors. The shape memory alloy is more effective in reducing maximum displacement at the tower top and it provides a large elastic deformation range in comparison with ordinary steel anchor bolts. SMA anchor bolts have the ability to return to its original shape after cyclic loadings and therefore their resisting performance remains the same to prevent plastic deformation and damage in the structural

columns. SMA anchor bolt effectiveness is mainly affected by its characters rather than its deformation. An analytical approach to estimate the seismic response characteristics and to predict the earthquake response of cable-stayed bridge towers accounting for soil non-linearities has been developed. The supporting soil is decomposed to some concave bounded media, with non-linear properties, and the unbounded medium representing the far-field soil zone. The finite element is used to evaluate the unbounded soils reaction on the soil structure interface and to model the bounded media. The results show the efficiency of the proposed approach in seismic analyses of the complex soil structure interaction systems. The soil response is affected through the depth of the soil profile where it significantly decreases at the excavated zone adjacent to the structure and slight decreases for the rigid soil in far field.

References
[1] Mohamed OMAR, Toshiro HAYASHIKAWA and Shehata E. ABDEL RAHEEM, Seismic Analysis of Cable-Stayed Bridge Towers According to Its Base Predicted Vertical Motion, Journal of Steel Construction , JSSC, Vol.14, 2006 . [2] Mohamed OMAR and Toshiro HAYASHIKAWA, Soil-FoundationSuperstructure-Anchor Bolts Interaction Effects on Seismic Response of Cable-Stayed Bridge Towers, The 4th International Conference on Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering, ICEGE, Greece 2007. CD Rom. [3] Mohamed OMAR, Toshiro HAYASHIKAWA and Shehata E. ABDEL RAHEEM, Seismic Nonlinear Analysis of Cable Stayed Bridge Steel Towers with Shape Memory Alloy Connection, Journal of Steel Construction, JSSC, Vol.14, 2007. [4] Mohamed OMAR, Toshiro HAYASHIKAWA and Shehata E. ABDEL RAHEEM, Expected Column-Base Vertical Motions Effect on Seismic Analysis of Cable-Stayed Bridges, Journal of Earthquake Engineering, JSCE, Hokkaido branch, February 2007. [5] Mohamed OMAR and Toshiro HAYASHIKAWA, Seismic Analysis of Cablestayed Bridge Steel Towers with Base Plate Lift-off , Twelfth International Colloquium on Structural and Geotechnical Engineering, ICSGE, Cairo, Egypt, December 2007. [6] Hayashikawa, T., Mohamed Omar, Abdel Raheem, S.E., Seismic analysis of cable stayed bridge steel towers with shape memory alloy anchor bolts, Journal of Earthquake Engineering, JSCE, Hokkaido branch, Vol. 64, CD ROM, I-6, 2008.