Extending the Fatigue Life of Steel Truss Bridges with Tuned Mass Damper Systems

Abstract

The increasing traffic demand is continuously growing worldwide. Therefore, the life of a large stock of bridges that still exist throughout the world must be extended, ensuring at the same time that safety is not compromised for economic reason. This paper introduces the possibility to control the fatigue life of existing bridges by using a vibration control system. Based on a dynamic optimization analysis, the stresses from traffic on the bridge are obtained. Subsequently, a plate finite element (FE) model of the whole bridge is developed. The equation of motion is presented for a case study bridge, equipped with different tuned mass damper system, and the combination of external loads and train/track interaction with or without the TMD system is developed through own-developed routines and FEM software. The procedure is showcased for a case study bridge. After gaining the stress states at the critical hotspot, the fatigue crack life is evaluated by using the linear cumulative damage theory. The different TMD solution presented is demonstrated to be able to diminish the stress level in critical hotspots, improving the overall fatigue life of the bridge over an established lifetime.

Fachwerkbrücken – Bewertung der dynamischen Antwort des Brückendecks bei Zugüberfahrten

“…Die Anwendung von passiven Schwingungsdämpfern zur Reduktion der zuginduzierten Schwingungen von Eisenbahnbrücken wurde bereits im Jahr 2006 von Reiterer [15] untersucht, und im Jahr 2008 erfolgte eine Installation von Schwingungsdämpfern bei einer realen Eisenbahnbrücke [16]. Weitere Untersuchungen zur Anwendung von Schwingungsdämpfern bei Eisenbahnbrücken wurden auch von Kuss et al [17] und Pipinato [18] durchgeführt.…”

A Novel Solution to Find the Dynamic Response of an Euler–Bernoulli Beam Fitted with Intraspan TMDs under Poisson Type Loading

“…They are employed for a number of reasons, from passenger comfort, as a bridge that vibrates with a high mean displacement does not inspire confidence even when perfectly safe. Secondly, they are installed to increase the service life of bridges by lowering fatigue, and they are also employed to allow for the passage of "live loads" [27], i.e., moving loads that induce vibrations due to their high speed; as such, a number of existing bridges have been modified throughout Europe to conform to new Eurocodes because "existing bridges must carry the traffic category requested for new bridges" [28].…”

Optimization of Multiple Tuned Mass Dampers for Road Bridges Taking into Account Bridge‐Vehicle Interaction, Random Pavement Roughness, and Uncertainties

“…In this context, the most recent works, besides presenting the implementation of vibration control devices, also present the optimization of their parameters. Regarding footbridges and bridges, Miguel et al [40] proposed a method to optimize parameters and positions of friction dampers in footbridges, Fadel Miguel et al [41] proposed a method for robust optimization of parameters of TMDs in road bridges, and Wang et al [42] and Pipinato [43] proposed methods to optimize TMDs on railway bridges, for example. us, the present work aims to connect all the topics discussed above, proposing a complete methodology for dynamic analysis of road bridges, which takes into account the interaction among vehicle-pavement-bridge-TMD, optimizing the parameters of a single TMD and MTMD, in order to minimize the dynamic response of the bridge, thus ensuring safety and comfort to users.…”