Lateral hysteretic behavior of a novel metal rubber bridge bearing

Abstract

In this paper, a novel metal rubber bearing is proposed as an alternative to the conventional rubber bearings for small- and medium-span highway bridges to solve the aging-related issues of conventional rubber bearings such as chemical degradation and erosion. The bearing is made of porous metal wire by coiling, weaving and cold-pressing to specific shapes. A shear test program is then described on two metal rubber bearings of stainless steel wire with different densities in order to identify the characteristics of hysteretic curves. The effects of shear strain, compressive stress, loading frequency and repeated loading cycles on the hysteretic behavior were investigated. It was found that the lateral hysteretic curves are approximately in bilinear shape, which consists of an initial elastic stage and a post-yield stage. The equivalent damping ratio of the tested bearings was around 20% at 25% shear strain levels and meanwhile increased with the strain levels, indicating an appreciable energy dissipation capacity. In addition, stiffness degradation was observed for the hysteretic curves beyond a certain deformation limit due to the plastic deformation caused by wire delamination and bearing bulging. However, beyond this limit, the bearing could still work as a unit with stable hysteretic behavior. These characteristics make the metal rubber bearing a great candidate for the conventional rubber bearings. It was also found that the hysteretic behavior is related with a variety of parameters such as density, loading frequency and compressive stress. Finally, it was found that the Bouc-Wen model with appropriate input parameters representing the mechanical properties can accurately simulate the hysteretic curves of the proposed bearings.