Investigation of transportation infrastructure elements on the example of spherical bridge bearing

Abstract

Transportation infrastructure consists mainly of critical elements. They are subjected to a large set of requirements for strength, rigidity, reliability. The article considered deformation behavior of spherical bridge bearing at different introduction depth parameters of sliding layer. The influence of contact surface treatment on the character of contact parameters distribution is studied. Earlier the polymers and composites behavior was viewed as an elastic-plastic material. However, for predicting their life-cycle it is necessary to consider them as viscoelastic. The article compared the parameters obtained by modeling elastic-plastic and viscoelastic materials behavior. The influence of sliding layer thickness on the deformation structure behavior was also discussed. It is revealed that sliding layer modeling as an elastic-plastic body is sufficient for numerical calculations on determination of strength characteristics. However, it is necessary to consider the sliding layer as a viscoelastic/viscous-elasticplastic material to design the life cycle of the structure taking into account rheology, thermomechanics and cyclic loads in different directions.