ABSTRACT

This paper presents a smart base isolation system for cable-stayed bridges, which consists of passive hysteretic devices between the deck and the piers. The ASCE benchmark cable-stayed bridge developed in MATLAB is used as case study in an updated model developed in the commercial finite element code ANSYS. The ASCE benchmark on cable-stayed bridges has gathered, in the last years, the interest of many specialists in the field of the structural control and the dynamic response of long span bridges. Starting from the structural model of the original benchmark statement, a refined version is developed in a commercial finite element environment to include new modeling aspects, in the simulation of the stay cables dynamics and in the soil-structure interaction. The model comprises soil-structure interaction using impedance functions, the foundation are simulated by lamped masses with equivalent spring and dampers. Focusing the attention on the simulation of the structural dynamics, the cable model is refined moving from the single rod type representation, used in the benchmark, to a description with six rope elements for each cable. The monitoring of the bridge is approached in the symptom space, assuming that the bridge degrades and deteriorates with time. Damage to the longitudinal isolator between the deck and the pier is considered, while 42 observations are taken in account throughout the life span of the bridge.