Performance of long-span multi-tower suspension bridge with the action of static wind

Abstract

Long-span multi-tower suspension, a new bridge system, is more adaptable to such geography condition as straits and bays, so the static wind load can not be ignored in the design and construction. As well as, the origin of performance difference between multi-tower suspension bridge and the traditional one is the existence of center towers. Therefore, property change of multi-tower suspension bridge with the increase of tower number under the action of static wind is concerned in this paper. A three-tower suspension bridge is used as project reference, and finite element models of suspension bridge by the Midas/Civil platform, which the main span is longer than one kilometer and towers count from two to seven, are established to analysis the structure performance under static wind action. The mechanics effect of multi-tower suspension and its lateral stiffness difference are paid attention to. The results show that, because of the constraints of the center towers, stiffening girder of multi-tower suspension bridge has a more reasonable stress condition than that of traditional suspension bridge under the action of horizontal load. And, the number of bridge towers has little effect on lateral stiffness of suspension bridge.