bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Modelling techniques and processes used on the recalculation of the Friedrich-Ebert suspension bridge in Germany
Authors: Muñoz-Cobo Cique Guillermo , Gabler Markus
Published: August 2023

The more complex the bridge is, the stronger the engineer’s technical knowledge needs to be to understand its behavior and lead the design towards a safe, functional, and cost-effective structure. The bridge design industry shows, however, that technical knowledge is not enough: engineers not only have to master a whole range of technical subjects, but also need to be able to manage and treat data to understand and interpret results. This is the only way to make the right decisions in a conscious way. In the case of long span bridges, management and processing of information becomes critical since the amount of data increases with the span length. This paper showcases some modelling techniques and processes used to carry out the recalculation of the Friedrich-Ebert bridge in 2021, that were found essential to capture and analyze, in an accurate way, its almost 70 years of history, including the strengthening that took place in 2000, and that enabled a precise rating of a bridge with a main span length of more than 285m over the Rhine River. Techniques touch upon input of complex geometry, consideration of shear lag, checks on plate buckling and the so-called contribution charts. The ir application lead ultimately to the preservation of this beautiful landmark.
The 1915 Çanakkale Bridge: Designing a twin-box girder suitable for a world record span
Authors: Boteanu Valentin-Dan , Sørensen Jesper Warschow , Park Jeffrey , Bjærre Simon Rem , Polk Henrik
Published: August 2023

Optimization is the key to the success of any long span suspension bridge. Since the deadload covers up to 80% of the utilisation of the expensive main cables, keeping the weight of the girder down is essential. For the 1915 Canakkale bridge the twin-box girder design was introduced to ensure suflicient aerodynamic performance, but with a natural quantity penalty. Using extensive FEmodelling on critical and pervasive structural elements, while pushing the limits of the codes, the goal of achieving suflicient structural capacity with lowest possible quantities was achieved. The Vierendeel effect has global influence on the deformations of the deck and therefore the connection between the transverse cross girders and the deck had high focus in the design. The fatigue performance of the girder for both traflic and wind also posed a challenge and here the use of an integrated shell model in the global analysis model was used to ensure that all boundary effects and load behaviours were correctly considered. Another important consideration was the local effects from hanger rupture on the design of the supporting structure not leading to excessive use of thick plates and high strength steel.
The 1915 Çanakkale Bridge – Concept Development of Substructure
Authors: Löhning Thomas , Ravn Uffe Graaskov , Pedersen Flemming , Christoffersen Louis Westh Moe
Published: August 2023

The 1915 Çanakkale Bridge in Turkey carries the new Malkara-Çanakkale Motorway across the Dardanelles strait. The substructure of the suspension bridge with the world record main span of 2023m consists of the two tower foundations, the two anchor blocks and the two side span piers. This paper describes the concept development for the substructure. It is the first of two papers, with the second paper focusing on the design and construction of the substructure. For all the substructure elements construction time, risks, sustainability, and cost are important parameters when selecting the most favourable concept. The soil conditions at the individual substructural element have the most significant influence on the selection of the best concept. Hence, an alignment study including the positioning of the substructure elements is the first step to find the optimal substructure concept.

The two towers are founded at water depths up to 45m. Open dredged wells, a steel truss structure, a classic pile cap with steel piles, and a concrete caisson foundation are considered for the design. Critical load cases are ship impact and seismic loadings. For the anchor blocks deep foundation with excavation within one or two diaphragm rings are investigated. For the Asian anchor block an alternative concept with a flat massif and shear walls below is developed. For the European anchor block a relocation with a tunnel anchorage or with a massif partly buried in a rock outcrop is investigated.
Incremental Launching Method in a challenging geography: Ahmetbeyli-Fuzuli-Şuşa Motorway Project
Authors: Aygen Sinan , Solak Okan , Koru Burak , Gedik Mustafa , Özel Cemal Noyan , Karayiğit Hatice , Güler Cankat
Published: August 2023

In 2021 important highway projects started to be implemented in the Karabakh region by the Azerbaijani government. As a part of 81 km Ahmetbeyli-Fuzuli-Shusha Motorway project, three viaducts (V6, V7, and V8) were built using the Incremental Launching Method (ILM). Karabakh is a mountainous region having a challenging geography for roadway construction. At the beginning of the project the three viaducts were designed as classical precast beam structures. Nevertheless, due to the deep valleys where the viaducts are located and the very tight construction schedule, the ILM was eventually retained, considering its advantages in terms of cost and works duration. V6 Left and Right Viaducts have a total length of 295m, V07 Right Viaduct of 185m, V07 Left Viaduct of 130m, V8 Right Viaduct of 350m and V8 Left Viaduct of 405m, with a central span of 55m. The six viaducts have minimum 4.2% and maximum 4.7% longitudinal slope. Due to their geographical conditions and possible access, it has been decided to launch four viaducts (V6 Left, V6 Right, V8 Left, V8 Right) downward and two (V7 Left, V7 Right) upward. Launching decks with such a high longitudinal slope was significant challenge, and special braking system were designed to withstand the sliding forces. In addition, V7 Right and Left viaducts required a particular design, not only because of their longitudinal slope, but also because of their small radius in the highway plan. For these viaducts, the precast sites were specially designed in accordance with the radius of the road requiring two launching jack locations. The guiding devices were resized according to the transverse horizontal forces due to the radius. During the construction, a kinematic study was prepared to determine the locations of the temporary supports on the piers according to each launching stage. Lead Rubber bearings (LRB) were used for the substructure design of the viaducts located in a significant earthquake zone, reducing the earthquake loads and limiting the displacements. Details of the permanent and temporary structures used in the construction phase of these viaducts will be detailed in this paper.
Load identification and damage evaluation of a beams subjected to moving loads by using co-located strain and acceleration measurements
Authors: Son Pham-Truong , Hoang Tien , Duhamel Denis , Foret Gilles , Schmidt Franziska , Cartiaux François-Baptiste , Le Corvec Véronique
Published: August 2023

Bridge structural health monitoring and assessment are important subjects nowadays. In this paper, we propose a novel method which allows to evaluate both the bridge structural health and its loads based on strains and accelerations measured at the same location. The bridge is considered as governed by the Euler-Bernoulli beam equation. The strain can be obtained directly from sensors such as fiber optics. This type of sensors has many advantages such as high precision, high sampling frequency, durability… so that the dynamic strain component can be acquired easily. By decomposing the obtained signals into static and dynamic components, the correlation between strain and acceleration for the same type of component is clarified. The proportional coefficients, which reflect the intrinsic state of the beam and its load, can be obtained by optimization. From the variation of these coefficients, information on the damage of the bridge can be obtained. Moreover, in case of multiple loads (multi-axle vehicle), the distance between the axles of the vehicle can also be determined. Numerical results with several scenarios will be presented to demonstrate the efficiency and the robustness of the method.
Deterministic and probabilistic approaches for aeroelastic design optimization of long-span bridges
Authors: Hernández Santiago , Jurado José Á. , Baldomir Aitor , Cid Montoya Miguel , Kusano Ibuki
Published: August 2023

The last decades have witnessed the construction of a number of long span bridges. Suspension bridges have reached main spans of more than 2000 m and cable stayed bridges of more than 1100 m. In addition to that, more challenging proposals are under steady. The main difficulty for these structures is to undergo the effects of earthquakes or aeroelastic phenomena and this paper is devoted to the latter class of loads, generated by wind flow. Giving the social relevance and cost of these constructions it is very important to use during the design the best technologies and numerical optimization methods are a powerful design tool. They have been applied since many years ago in other fields as aircraft or mechanical engineering but the idea of design optimization of long span bridges considering aeroelastic constraints is very recent. The optimization problem can be formulated as deterministic,-that means that all mechanical bridge properties and also the values assigned to loads, including wind related excitations, have fixed values-, or as probabilistic, which means that a level or uncertainty is included in the formulation, given the random nature of wind speed and the possible inaccuracies in the definition of bridge properties. This paper describes the formulations of aero-structural optimization of long span bridges considering flutter in both deterministic and probabilistic approaches. A long span cable stayed bridge and two suspension bridges, the Great Belt and the Messina bridges, are used as application examples of this methodology of design.
Aero-structural design optimization of long-span bridges: From linear to nonlinear aeroelasticity-driven perspectives
Authors: Cid Montoya Miguel , Kareem Ahsan , Hernández Santiago
Published: August 2023

Structural optimization techniques have been demonstrated to be a powerful tool for the cost-effective design of bridges under aeroelastic considerations, particularly when applied to super-long span suspension or cable-stayed bridges. The efficacy of this methodology relies on the comprehensive and accurate formulation of the wind-resistant design problem. The analysis of the wind-induced responses, such as flutter and buffeting, has been typically addressed in the industry by adopting multi-mode analysis techniques using linear force modeling approaches based on the fundamental contributions of Prof. Davenport and Prof. Scanlan. In the same way, the aero-structural optimization frameworks previously developed by the authors have followed this approach by mimicking the design goals and specifications of real bridge projects in the formulation of the optimization problem. However, wind tunnel tests and on-site monitoring measurements have shown that under some circumstances, the so-called linear aeroelasticity models fail in predicting the bridge responses. Hence, several nonlinear aeroelastic methods have been developed in the last decades, including the corrected quasi-steady theory (QST) model, band superposition model, hybrid nonlinear model, rheological model, artificial neural networks (ANN) based model, and Volterra models, among others. These methods should be advanced in order to define deck shape-dependent accurate models that permit their implementation into design optimization frameworks to achieve cost-effective and safe bridge design. This study reviews the effectiveness of these methods and discusses practical directions to follow to adequately implement nonlinear aeroelasticity features into the holistic aero-structural optimization of long-span bridges.
Development of Seismic Response Model for Wellington Building Inventory Using Indicator Buildings
Authors: Ghasemi Amin , Stephens Max T.
Published: August 2023

This paper is focused on regional building responses to earthquakes and the identification of broad vulnerability archetypes to increase resilience and limit human and economic loss. Wellington, New Zealand has been selected as the case study for this research due to the unique access to building data within the Central Business District (CBD), and the potential risk of seismic events. A database of reinforced concrete buildings with five or more stories in the Wellington CBD were clustered using a novel deep neural network architecture. The buildings in each cluster are similar in the seismic vulnerability and hence, the seismic response of the indicator buildings in each cluster can be used to quantify the seismic response of all buildings within the clusters. The building inventory was clustered into five clusters and eight indicator buildings were selected for detailed nonlinear response modeling based on their relative location to the cluster mean. The selected indicator buildings had different vulnerabilities based on their date of construction and lateral system; appropriate nonlinear models were generated using the most-detailed macro modeling approaches of buildings available in OpenSees. Next, the seismic response of selected buildings due to the input ground motions were quantified. Finally, results from the indicator buildings response models were utilized to predict the seismic response of all buildings within the same vulnerability cluster using linear regression models. The results of response prediction for the Wellington Building Inventory were verified by the measured response of some instrumented buildings for the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake.
Gordie Howe International Bridge: Project Overview and Design Features
Authors: Chung Barry , Martínez Antonio , Corres Hugo , Navarro Juan Antonio , Gutierrez Antonio Leocadio
Published: August 2023

The Gordie Howe International Bridge, crossing the Detroit River between Windsor (Canada) and Detroit (USA), will be the longest main span cable stayed bridge in North America with an 853 m / 2800 feet main span and the longest main span cable stayed composite deck bridge in the world. This paper provides a general overview and design features including foundation, tower, piers and superstructure and erection. It will highlight design challenges including aerodynamics, stay cable design, redundancy and durability.
Arched Reinforced Concrete Pylon Composite Bridge in Hungary
Authors: Teiter Zoltán
Published: August 2023

In this paper the design and the construction of a unique bridge are presented, and the history of the basic idea is described as well. The bridge spanning over the second largest river is innovative in many ways in Hungary, such as the first bridge with non-prestressed reinforced concrete pylons (allowing tension), the first cable-stayed bridge applying saddles, the first cable bridge with composite stiffening girder, etc. These facts and the immaturity of the antecedent designs repeatedly raised problems to which unique answers had to be found in the detailed design phase.

To bring them into their exact final position, the erection control of the pylon and the composite stiffening girder had to be designed and carried out, which required extremely precise calculation and construction. The building of the half ellipse pylon, which also proved a serious challenge to the contractors is also discussed.
A Comprehensive Review on the Suspension Bridge Rehabilitation: Conceptual Approach
Authors: Lee Minjae , Kim Hobi
Published: August 2023

This paper deals with the history of suspension bridge rehabilitation through case studies made and proposes the concept to strengthen the main cable without its replacement. Since modern-type suspension bridges appeared in 1850s, over 70 suspension bridges had been built all over the world by 1970s. Many of these suspension bridges confront degradation over the years. In order to assess the main deterioration of suspension bridges, historically core concepts enhancing the modern suspension bridges were categorized as key components of suspension bridges and their characteristics, and as a consequence, how the assessment should be made for the rehabilitation. Although major case studies for the rehabilitation showed to repair decks and suspenders, several cases were made to rehabilitate main cables which are the backbone of suspension bridges. A newly proposed method to increase the strength of main cables without their replacement is presented with demonstrating its effectiveness throughout the analysis. This paper aids in facilitating the health assessment and determining associated rehabilitation techniques for suspension bridges.
Probabilistic Capacity Model for Concrete-Filled Steel Tubes
Authors: Contento Alessandro , Aloisio Angelo , Xue Junqing , Quaranta Giuseppe , Gardoni Paolo , Briseghella Bruno
Published: August 2023

Concrete-filled steel tubular (CFST) columns are increasingly used around the world due to their significant structural and economic advantages. Although considerable research and several experimental tests have been carried out on CFST columns, there are no mechanics-based probabilistic models of their axial capacity. The present research proposes a mechanicsbased probabilistic capacity model for the assessment of the ultimate axial capacity of CFST columns. The accuracy of the numerical predictions obtained with the proposed formulation is compared with that of existing capacity equations already in use within technical standards or available in the literature.
1915 Çanakkale Bridge, Tower foundations: Independent Design Verification
Authors: Morrison Paul , Kaasa Lars Halvor , Go James , Kim Hobi
Published: August 2023

An Independent Design Verification (IDV) has been carried out on the 1915 Çanakkale Bridge for the DBFO contractor client DLSY JV. The bridge spans the Dardanelles in Türkiye and has a world leading main span of 2023m. This paper presents the IDV for the foundations of the two main towers for the bridge. The Designer adopted an increasingly used solution wherein reinforced concrete caissons are supported on gravel mats which sit on the soil deposits which are reinforced with open ended driven steel tubes (“inclusion piles”) which are toed into stiff deep strata, this approach has been used on the Rion-Antirion bridge in Greece and the Izmit Crossing in Tukey. The IDV included: independent review of the ground investigation information; preparation of Ground Investigation Reports which included the seismic setting of the site and design spectra; and development of finite element models for the two tower foundations including (a) single pile models allowing investigation of the load path between caisson and Miocene bedrock through gravel mat, piles and more recent geological strata; and (b) full 3D FE models of the initial section of the steel towers, the reinforced concrete caisson and its geotechnical foundation for SLS, ULS, ALS (ship impact) and seismic design situations. The verification process included fruitful discussion with the Client and Designer to develop design solutions for the foundations. The bridge has been successfully opened to traffic.
A physics-informed machine learning model for reconstruction of dynamic loads
Authors: Tondo Gledson Rodrigo , Kavrakov Igor , Morgenthal Guido
Published: August 2023

Long-span bridges are subjected to a multitude of dynamic excitations during their life span. To account for their effects on the structural system, several load models are used during design to simulate the conditions that the structure is likely to experience. These models are based on different simplifying assumptions and are generally guided by parameters that are stochastically identified from measurement data, making their outputs inherently uncertain. This paper presents a probabilistic physics-informed machine learning framework based on Gaussian process regression for reconstructing dynamic forces based on measured deflections, velocities, or accelerations. The model can work with incomplete and contaminated data and offers a natural regularization approach to account for noise in the measurement system. An application of the developed framework is given by an aerodynamic analysis of the Great Belt East Bridge. The aerodynamic response is calculated numerically based on the quasi-steady model, and the underlying forces are reconstructed using sparse and noisy measurements. Results indicate a good agreement between the applied and the predicted dynamic load and can be extended to calculate global responses and the resulting internal forces. Uses of the developed framework include validation of design models and assumptions, as well as prognosis of responses to assist in damage detection and structural health monitoring.
An approach for generating spectrum and energy-compatible synthetic accelerograms
Authors: Chen Jiawei
Published: August 2023

For the purpose of seismic performance verification of bridges in the process of seismic design, it is desirable to use spectrum-compatible accelerograms. However, it is well known that the correct evaluation of seismic response of structures depends on the well-suited seismic inputs. The appropriate seismic assessment of structures under earthquake loading is affected by the characteristics of accelerograms. For example, Aria Intensity, that is effective in presenting the damage potential of accelerograms. It is found that the Arias Intensity is capable of predicting the likelihood of damage of structures with short period (e.g., short-span bridges. Thus, in addition to being spectrum-compatible, there is a need to correct Arias Intensity of synthetic accelerograms to be energy-compatible in the time domain. Therefore, a simplified method that can generate synthetic accelerograms that are both spectrum-compatible and energy-compatible is necessary. This study proposed a method that can modify Arias Intensity when generating spectrum-compatible synthetic accelerograms for given seismic records. This method introduces an energy-compatible algorithm to the spectrum-compatible model, which makes the generated synthetic accelerograms match with the target response spectrum in the frequency domain and Arias Intensity in the time domain. The proposed method has been validated using various seismic records, its performance is satisfactory and its application is straightforward and quite useful in any seismic design of building new bridges or retrofitting old bridges.
The Fuse-Element feature for modular expansion joints – protecting the expansion joint and connecting superstructure from serious damage during an earthquake
Authors: Geyik K. Hakan , Hoffmann Simon , Meng Niculin
Published: August 2023

For bridges in seismically active zones, it is vitally important that their expansion joints continue to facilitate traffic after an earthquake, given the critical function of bridges in such scenarios as lifeline structures. But since the expansion joints of large bridges are typically concreted or welded to the bridge’s superstructure, any exceeding of their movement capacity during an earthquake is likely to cause great damage to the joint and the connecting superstructure, leaving the bridge unpassable until major repairs have been planned and carried out. Rather than designing the expansion joint with enough movement capacity to facilitate even the largest potential earthquake, it may be far more economical to simply introduce a Fuse-Element into its design, which will fail in a controlled manner when non-seismic movements are exceeded. This will enable serious damage to the expansion joint and the connecting superstructure to be avoided, making repair works far easier (without the need for a replacement expansion joint to be designed and supplied), and probably even accommodating emergency traffic in advance of any such repair work. The Fuse-Element feature is presented, along with an example of its application in Turkey.
Nonlinear buffeting response of long suspension bridges considering parametric excitation due to large-scale turbulence
Authors: Barni Niccolò , Øiseth Ole Andre , Mannini Claudio
Published: August 2023

The accurate modelling of self-excited forces for long-span suspension bridges is known to be very important for both the assessment of the flutter stability and the calculation of the buffeting response to turbulent wind. It has also been proved that self-excited forces often parametrically depend on variations of the angle of attack, which can easily be induced by large-scale turbulence. A nonlinear buffeting model is outlined here to explore this issue, emphasising the influence of nonlinear turbulence effects on the stresses in the main structural elements and not only on displacements and accelerations of the bridge deck. The proposed approach is based on the 2D Rational Function Approximation model for self-excited forces, recently developed and experimentally validated by the authors. Despite the complexity of the problem, this model only slightly changes the dynamic equations based on the linearised theory, making it friendly to be implemented. The Hardanger Bridge, in Norway, is chosen as a case study, as its aerodynamic derivatives strongly depend on the angle of attack. The contribution of the wind load to the internal forces in the main cables and in the hangers is found to be only marginal. In contrast, the stresses induced in the deck girder are large, and the results for high wind speed emphasise the strong impact on the torsional moment of the modulation of the self-excited forces due to the spatio-temporal fluctuation of the angle of attack produced by low-frequency turbulence.
Study on flow structures affecting vehicle running stability on bridge deck under strong cross wind
Authors: Katsuchi Hiroshi , Wang Jiaqi , Kim Haeyoung
Published: August 2023

Vehicle overturning accidents on a bridge often happen during strong crosswinds. In order to prevent such accidents, a bridge operator imposes some traffic regulations such as speed limit or bridge closure. Besides, safety measures such as a windshield are installed in some cases. In case of long-span bridges, a windshield is difficult to install for the entire span because it decreases aerodynamic stability. However, some recent bridges installed a windshield with keeping enough aerodynamic stability. In order to enhance vehicle running stability against strong crosswinds, in any case understanding of the flow structures on a bridge deck is necessary. Then, an optimum windshield having high aerodynamic performance can be developed. In this study, targeting typical bridge decks of truss and closed box, flow structures on the bridge decks are investigated by wind-tunnel experiment first. Then, optimum shape and dimensions of a windshield are investigated with respect to the reduction of crosswind on the bridge deck and wind-induced vibration. In addition, PIV tests are conducted to understand flow fields around the bridge deck.
Span Evolution and Aerodynamic Challenge of Suspension Bridges
Authors: Ge Yaojun , Xiang Haifan
Published: August 2023

Suspension bridges as the longest bridge have experienced with span length increase for 140 years. Long-span suspension bridges are becoming lighter, more flexible, and lower damping, which result in more sensitive to wind actions. The most challenging problem among wind-induced responses identified is aerodynamic instability or flutter, and some control measures have to be adopted to flutter stabilization. There are four successful aerodynamic countermeasures, including central vertical stabilizer firstly installed in Runyang Bridge built in 2005, side horizontal stabilizers recently adopted in Nansha Bridge in 2018, central slotted twin-box girder firstly applied in Xihoumen Bridge in 2009, and the combination of central slot and vertical stabilizer used in Akashi Kaikyo Bridge in 1998. The twin-box girder of Xihoumen Bridge has been further studied up to 3,000m, and the widely-slotted twin-box girder has been proposed to a 5,000m suspension bridge.
Improvement of Stiffener Configuration to Strengthen Tensile Type Joints with Long Bolts Applied to Bridge Main Tower
Authors: Sugimoto Yuma
Published: August 2023

Long-tightening joints, despite their ability to be assembled quickly, have been found to have complexities in structure and difficulties in welding during fabrication of joint components in suspension bridge main towers and wind power generation towers. In this study, a method was investigated to simplify the fabrication of long-tightening joints by reducing the welding length of joint members and improving the joint geometry through FE analysis. Additionally, a composite joint structure with concrete was studied to reduce stress concentration near the welds, which are potential weak points for fatigue cracks. The results showed that the welding length could be reduced while maintaining the strength and deformation performance of the joint by changing the stiffener geometry. The stress concentration near the welds was also improved by incorporating concrete into the joint.
Highway Bridge over the Sava River at Sremska Raca – Construction
Authors: Stipanic Bratislav , Pavić Lazar , Taktak Mehmet , Eksi Ugur Gokhan , Yazkac Ercan Kemal , Tandogan Eren
Published: August 2023

The bridge over Sava River on the highway Kuzmin-Sremska Rača (Serbia) consists of two neighbour bridge structures; each ~15m wide deck with 2 traffic lanes. The main bridge across Sava River, 330m length, having spans 90+150+90m, consists of 2 steel box beams with 5m constant depths. The trapezoidal single-cell box section, with both-sided cantilevers, has upper flange consisting orthotropic plate. The bridge length, with approach concrete structures, amounts 1321m. The piers are common for both bridge structures. Two cofferdam structures based on tubular steel piles sheeting, with lean concrete bottom, were executed for construction of river piers in dry condition, after previously performed pile foundation. River piers were built by Korfez Deniz. Entire bridge steel structure (5500t) was fabricated in Doka Endustri factory in Turkiye. Two box beams were divided in 23 blocks each, consisting of 7 segments per block. After trial assembly, blocks dissembled in segments were transported by long trucks from factory to construction site. The 15m length 21 blocks (100-174t weight) & 7,5m length 2 blocks were assembled at site. Afterwards, the blocks linked together by welding on the concrete platform, were protected for corrosion protection and prepared for incremental launching. The 13 stages of incremental launching, successfully applied by Metalyapi, were performed by strand jack pulling system sliding over teflon bearings on platform and piers. Main steel bridge structure was fabricated, transported, assembled and erected in 13 months. Tasyapi was the main contractor.
1915 Çanakkale Bridge – Detailed Design
Authors: Kroon Inger B. , Park Haekil , Özener Ali , Mete Dincer , Yamasaki Yasutsugu
Published: August 2023

Detailed design of 1915 Çanakkale Bridge posed a number of challenges and called for innovative engineering decisions and design to determine the best possible bridge arrangement under these circumstances. The geology along the bridge alignment ranging from very soft rock to complex soft soil conditions imposed tremendous challenges to the bridge design and resulted in the special layout where anchor blocks are moved away from the shoreline to reach competent soils. With a world record main span of 2023 m crossing the windy Çanakkale Strait significant design challenges for aerodynamics had to be dealt with. To achieve a wind-resistant design the long slender stiffening girder of the bridge is designed as a twin-box steel girder and for all elements great effort was put into analysis of the aerodynamic performance of the bridge and verification of the safety of the bridge by wind tunnel tests. Another challenge related to very dense ship traffic of Çanakkale Strait calling for robust design accommodating accidental ship collision loads. Further, the bridge is situated in a seismically active region and strict requirements from the Owner in this regard affected the design significantly. However, the ultimate design challenge was time. Bridge design and construction was to be completed within only 5 years impacting also the need for innovative solutions for fast construction.
Innovative unloading and lifting system applied for deck erection of new suspension bridge across the Danube river in Romania
Authors: Murano Fumiya , Nakayama Masaaki , Seki Shinjiro , Uchida Yuya
Published: August 2023

This paper describes an innovative unloading and lifting system applied for the deck erection of a new suspension bridge (1120m in main span) across the Danube in Romania, with emphasis on concept design and operation on site. The deck erection was performed in the spring of 2022. In this project, independent unloading and lifting systems were arranged while considering topographical constraints. One of the systems was used for unloading deck segments from the river to the tips of the embankments via a swing operation, whereas another was used to lift the deck segments vertically from the river or embankment to the designated elevations. In general, deck lifting devices equipped with both jacking and carriage system are installed in a cross-gantry manner on main cables. In this project, all structural and mechanical components relevant to deck unloading and lifting operations except clamps anchored to the main cables were integrated at the deck side to pursue light weight and highly mobile devices taking account of irregular deck erection step. As a result, less material and cost effective erection devices were realized compared with dominant gantry systems.
Leirfjorden suspension bridge
Authors: Berntsen Kristian , Manai Asma , Kyte Alexander
Published: August 2023

Leirfjorden suspension bridge is currently under design. It spans over the 800 m wide Leirfjord and is to carry the national highway E6 in Norway. The initial tender design was completed in 2018. However, the project was stopped due to a lack of funding. In 2021 an aluminum concept was investigated. It was found feasible. However, the aluminum concept was not continued, mainly due to a lack of experience in using that material in a suspension bridge. During the following planning and geological testing, the rock conditions in the steep hillsides were poor. This resulted in moving the towers backwards to the top of the steep hillsides. Therefore, the bridge has relatively short towers located 62 m behind the abutments. This unusual design leads to compression in the first pairs of hangers, an increase in weak axis bending moment, and an increase in the girder end rotation. This paper presents solutions to tackle the above-mentioned challenges.
Time History Analysis of Simple Supported Steel Concrete Beam Regarding Creep Phenomena, using Volterra Integral Equations
Authors: Kazakov Konstantin , Partov Doncho , Stoyanov Chavdar , Georgiev Lazar
Published: August 2023

The paper presents a precise analysis of the stress-strain behavior due to creep in statically determinate composite steel-concrete beam according to numerical method in comparison with EM method of Dischinger, take into account in EC4. The analysis is based on the results obtained by numerical solution with Volterra integral equations, derived for determining the redistribution of stresses in beam section between concrete plate and steel beam with respect to time “t”. The creep law of concrete, according EC2 provisions is used. On the basis of the theory of the visco-elastic body of Arutyunian–Trost-Bažant it is analyzed the migration of stresses from concrete plate to steel beam using two independent Volterra integral equations of the second kind. The duration of the course of study was adopted 100 years. Developed method will allow soon be confronted methods for calculating the composite beams according to EC4 considering rheology of concrete, based on the reduced elastic modulus of concrete.
Bridge Specific Live Load for the Assessment of Tsing Ma Bridge and Lantau Link
Authors: Yip Sammy , Yeung Ngai , Frederik Kevin , Vernooij Roel , de Meijier Felix , Georgiadis Konstantinos
Published: August 2023

The Lantau Link in Hong Kong forms part of the expressway linking Lantau Island to Tsing Yi, from which other roads lead to the urban areas of Kowloon and the rest of the New Territories. This is also part of the main route to the Hong Kong International Airport. The Lantau Link is 3.5km long and consists of Tsing Ma Bridge (suspension bridge), Kap Shui Mun Bridge (cable stayed bridge) and Ma Wan Viaduct (post-tensioned concrete viaduct). These structures carry traffic on two split deck levels. The upper deck carries 3 lanes of traffic in each direction. The lower deck carries a double-track railway line as well as two single-lane roads for emergency use or during strong wind when it is unsafe to drive on the upper deck. Due to continuing increase in road traffic on Lantau Link, it is proposed to increase the traffic carrying capacity by running traffic on the lower deck concurrently. The bridges were designed for 6 lanes of traffic and hence, an assessment to carry 8 lanes of traffic is required. To verify that opening the lower deck is possible without compromising structural safety, bridge specific live load study was carried out using WIM data and traffic data to derive the bridge specific assessment live load (BSALL) using Monte Carlo Simulation. WIM data was also used to derive fatigue load model (FLM) which represents the real truck weight and characteristics on the Lantau Link. This paper describes the derivation of BSALL and FLM and the results of the study.
Structural Health Monitoring of Bridges: State of the Art
Authors: Husain Rayan , Al-Sanad Shaikha , Parol Jafarali
Published: August 2023

Infrastructure is a vital component for the development of countries, where bridges in particular are a segment of infrastructure that are vital for the society. As bridges age they could show signs of deterioration that can be caused by continuously being subjected to traffic loads and environmental effects. Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) is a modern technology to monitor the structural performance through the continuous collection of data. The method enables engineers to monitor the health of the structure during its operation, in order to plan for maintenance when any signs of failure are observed from the very beginning. This paper covers a detailed overview of the state of the art of various types of SHM systems implemented on long-span cable-stayed bridges and suspension bridges all around the world. A variety of cases, sensors, and methods of obtaining and studying the data to monitor the structural health of bridges are evaluated, showing the importance of installing SHM systems in long-span bridges.
Fully automated global analyses of long-span bridges at a detail design level
Authors: Lystad Tor Martin
Published: August 2023

Long-span bridges require special analyses when addressing the global forces in the
system. For cable-supported bridges, geometric nonlinearities become crucial for the structural
behaviour and must be treated with care. The slender structural systems make them prone to
dynamic actions from wind and wave loading. In this paper, a framework for an automated
system that addresses these specific needs of long-span bridges is presented. The system covers
structures such as suspension bridges, cable-stayed bridges, and floating bridges. It employs
commercial tools like ABAQUS as a FEM calculator, while handling traffic loads and load
combinations directly within the system. Results reporting is automated, and the results can be
accessed interactively through a web page interface. The framework also includes links to special
design tools and BIM models. The system also includes a state-of-the-art software named
DynNO, developed by the author, to handle stochastic dynamic analyses including both wind
and wave loading. The system performs fully automated analyses at a detail design level,
providing a unique basis for optimization. The proposed framework offers flexibility and agility
in demanding detail design processes, as well as the possibility of performing high-level analyses
in early phase projects.
Parametric Approach for Composite Bridge Project: analysis and design
Authors: Boretti Valentina , Bohorquez Luis , Asso Rebecca , Sardone Laura , Domaneschi Marco , Masera Davide
Published: August 2023

Bridge designs usually exhibit significant geometric variations between different structural solutions, which implies a low degree of reuse of the models in similar projects. To overcome this limitation, a parametric approach is proposed as an answer. Generative design enhances the bridge design process, increasing efficiency by reducing time and effort. The proposed methodology is based on the creation of a flexible geometric model through the introduction of parameters and numerical relationships between them. Therefore, from a generic generative development, different geometric and structural solutions of composite bridges could be created by modifying the parameter values in a bridge model. The objective of the present work is to define the workflow for a multi-girder composite bridge project based on parametric design and optimization in Grasshopper/Rhino to model the bridge Karamba3D, for structural analysis, and Tekla Structures, for 3D representation. This article describes the methodology implemented, starting with the design of the script into a visual programming interface that runs inside Rhino. Thanks to Grasshopper-Tekla live link, the 3D model is generated by using a set of Grasshopper components that can create and interact with objects in Tekla Structures. Afterwards, the algorithm for FEM analysis is created with Karamba3D. Finally, an optimization process is defined to reduce material waste and achieve an efficient design.
Chesapeake Bay Bridge Dehumidification
Authors: Nader Marwan , Baker George , Duxbury James , Choi Carol , Grundel Erik , Tamrat Abey
Published: August 2023

Long span suspension bridges across the world are aging. With the slowed pace of replacement, it is prudent to provide innovative engineering solutions to prolong the useful lives of existing bridges and new structures. Dehumidification of main cables on suspension bridges provides an active method for preventing cable corrosion, as opposed to the traditional passive methods of painting, oiling, and wrapping. Approximately 30 suspension bridges world-wide have cable-dehumidification systems in place. The first dehumidification system was installed in the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge in 1998, and many followed in Asia and Europe. The cable dehumidification system on the Chesapeake Bay (William Preston Lane) Bridges in Maryland is the first installation of its kind in North America. By applying waterproof wrapping to the cables and injecting dehumidified air, the cables are dried of retained water, and the relative humidity is reduced to a level that would arrest corrosion. Cable dehumidification is becoming a more commonplace maintenance technique and is a needed measure to extend the lives of suspension bridges. This paper presents its history, theory, and practice, including optimal placement of injection and exhaust points, calibrated instrumentation, and effective mechanical, monitoring and control systems.
Evaluation of the Impact Forces of Ferries or Barges in Strutures of Protection of the Bridges on Navigable in Rivers of Pará
Authors: da Paixão Silva Evelly Beatriz , de Oliveira Almeida Pedro Afonso
Published: August 2023

Protection systems against impacts of vessels on bridge supports are essential to guarantee the structural integrity of bridges and the safety of users, avoiding the ruin of supports or the collapse of parts or the entire structure of the bridge, thus guaranteeing its functionality and prolonging its service life. These structures have their specificities and the definition of the type of protection to be adopted and its sizing must consider the environment conditions of the region. In the Brazilian standardizations, there are design criteria and specifications that contemplate the navigable spans considering the width of the vessels only, which has been insufficient for navigation in the region of bridges crossing navigable channels/rivers in Pará, North Region of Brazil. In evaluating the accidents that have been taking place in Pará, it appears that these criteria are insufficient to protect bridge structures from the severe accidents that have occurred in the last 10 years.
Evolution of Incrementally Launched Bridge Decks in Turkey
Authors: Özel Cemal Noyan , Karayiğit Hatice , Novarin Marco
Published: August 2023

Incremental Launching Method (ILM) has been seen as an efficient alternative by Contractors and Local Authorities considering many aspects like construction time, cost, and environmental effects. In last decade, Turkey had started several important highway projects including Northern Marmara Motorway, İzmir-İstanbul Highway and recent 1915 Çanakkale Bridge and Motorway Project around Marmara Sea. After a long hiatus, the application of the ILM method restarted in 2014, in the first phase of The Northern Marmara Motorway (NMM). Three viaducts were constructed according to ILM. After the success of this technique, in the second phase of NMM project two more viaducts were constructed according to ILM with some improvements in construction cycles and span lengths. In the recent Çanakkale Motorway project, four viaducts were constructed using the ILM method. In the motorway section, in order to reduce the seismic mass and provide an aesthetic appearance deck was designed as single cell box section with precast struts. This paper summarizes the evolution of post-tensioned concrete deck designs for ILM viaducts over the past ten years in Turkey.
Development of Indonesia’s Probabilistic based Bridge Loading Code
Authors: Nugraha Widi , Sidi Indra Djati , Suarjana Made , Zulkifli Ediansjah
Published: August 2023

Indonesian bridge loading code, SNI 1725 was first introduced in 1989. Due to insufficient data at that time, the nominal bridge live load and load factor values specified in the code was based on consensus rather than data, referring to overseas loading code, such as US’s AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications and Australia’s AS Bridge Loading Code. On the other hand, AASHTO themselves was derived using probabilistic approach based on Ontario’s truck measurement data in 1970’s. In this research, the load factor calibration for Bina Marga standard designed bridges in Indonesia was conducted using reliability analysis. The research team collected vehicle load measurement data using weigh-in-motion technology and used it to evaluate the reliability of standard bridges with different types and span lengths. The target reliability index was set at 3.72, in accordance with the Strength I Limit State in the SNI Bridge Loading Code. The analysis results showed that the current SNI Bridge Loading Code resulted in an under-designed bridge superstructure. The recommended load factors to reach the target reliability index were a resistance factor of 0.90, a dead load factor of 1.60, and a live load factor of 1.96. This study is significant as it is the first time in Indonesia that the development of a bridge loading code has been based on actual load measurement data using a probabilistic approach.