Effects of Concurrent Earthquake and Temperature Loadings on Cable-Stayed Bridges

Abstract

This paper discusses the necessity of considering the concurrent effects of uniform temperature and earthquake loadings in the design of cable-stayed bridges. This load combination is not foreseen in current design standards such as AASHTO and Eurocode. Three-dimensional finite element models of cable-stayed bridges are employed for nonlinear time history analyses. A load combination is proposed that adds uniform temperature loading to the existing extreme event load combination. The proposed combination is compared with existing extreme event load combination and the changes in forces and displacements are noted. A parametric study is then conducted by varying a number of properties of the cable-stayed bridges such as, span length, shape of the pylon, the deck/pylon connection and the actual temperature load. Pylon reactions and the deck axial forces are found to be more vulnerable to concurrent loadings for cable-stayed bridges of longer spans.