1

Multi-support excitation test of single-pylon

cable-stayed bridge using shaking table


Yeong I Gong
1
, Yong Myung Park
2
, Hyoung Suk Choi
3
, Seongdo Kim
4

and Jin Hwan Cheung
5


1
Managing Director, Jungshin EnC Co., Ltd.
(Bujeon 168-451, Busanjin, Busan 614-845, South Korea)
E-mail:yelin002@hanmail.net
2
Professor, Dept. of Civil and Env. Eng., Pusan National University
(Busandaehak-ro 63, Geumjeong, Busan 609-735, South Korea)
E-mail:ympk@pusan.ac.kr
3
Senior researcher, Seismic Simulation Test Center, Pusan National University
(Mulgeum, Yangsan, Kyungsangnam 612-030, South Korea)
E-mail:engineer@pusan.ac.kr
4
Professor, Dept. of Civil Eng., Kyungsung University
(Daeyeon 314-79, Nam, Busan, 608-736, South Korea)
E-mail:sdkim@ks.ac.kr
5
Professor, Dept. of Civil and Env. Eng., Pusan National University
(Busandaehak-ro 63, Geumjeong, Busan 609-735, South Korea)
E-mail:cheung@pusan.ac.kr


In this paper, a large scale laboratory test of cable stayed bridge model using three independent shaking
tables is presented. The height of steel H-beam pylon and total length of the cable stayed bridge are 10.2 m
and 28.4 m respectively. The main purpose of this test is to understand the dynamic behavior of cable
stayed bridge under multi-support and non-uniform excitation by earthquake ground motion and to verify
the existing analysis, the control and measurement methods such as finite element method analysis for the
cable bridge, the application of active and passive state MR damper and seismic base isolation bearings
such as rubber bearing, lead rubber bearing and high damping rubber bearing, the wireless acceleration
measurement method using smart sensing node and bridge system identification methods. This paper is
very much focused on the test model design, construction, sensor installation and test methods.

Key Words : cable stayed bridge, shaking table test, multi-support excitation, base isolation bearing


1. INTRODUCTION

The cable-stayed bridge is an elegant, economical and efficient structure and the cable bridge has recently
proved to be highly cost-effective for short to medium span bridges. The role of dynamic forces in cable-stayed
bridge is very important. More than for any other type of bridge, such forces can even determine the various
feasibility of the cable bridge project. There are, in general, aerodynamic stability, physiological effects and
safety against earthquakes problems in the bridge
1)
. During the last 30 years, some investigators have been
working on the numerical analysis of seismic behavior of long span bridges subjected to historical, artificial,
multi-support exciting and non-uniform ground motion. However, few experimental studies have been carried
out with large scale structural model because lack of the large scale multiple shake table testing system. In this
study, a series of large scale single-pylon asymmetric cable-stayed bridge testing using multiple shaking table
system in the Seismic Simulation Test Center (SESTEC) at Pusan National University, Yangsan, South Korea
is presented. The purpose of this research is listed in below.

1) verifying the acceleration measurement method using the wireless smart sensing node
2)
.
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2) application of the finite element method analysis for dynamic behavior of cable stayed bridge.
3) MR damper performance on the cable-stayed bridge under passive and active state.
4) analyzing the effect of multi-support and non-uniform excitation on the long span cable bridge.
5) dynamic behavior after sudden failure of the cable.
6) seismic performance of rubber bearing, lead rubber bearing and high damping rubber bearing


2. TEST MODEL

The test model is designed and constructed to have general dynamic behavior of cable-stayed bridge by
considering natural frequency, principal mode shapes of vibration and especially geometric non-linear char-
acteristic of cable element. The specimen size was determined large enough to use the shaking table system of
SESTEC. The pylon of the bridge, which has two spans of different lengths is 10.2 meters height and com-
posed of two H-beams. The total stayed length is 28 meters and the two spans are 12 and 16 meters respec-
tively. The width of the deck is 1.20 meters and the deck consists of L-channels and C-channels without slab
but with added steel mass blocks(see Fig. 1). All members are made of SM490 steel and it was assembled in
the laboratory manually. Fig. 4 is showing a front view of the cable bridge model.
The model erection consists of seven stages, 1) assembling a pylon, two piers and two deck blocks, 2) in-
stalling load cells and cables to the upper anchorages, 3) the erection of a pylon and two piers, 4) moving and
combining the deck blocks with two 30 tons overhead cranes, 5) connecting and pre-stressing the cables to the
design stress level by fastening two M16 bolts with nuts(see Fig. 2(b)) and checking pre-installed load cell
values simultaneously, 6) installing additional mass blocks onto the deck and 7) installing sensors. The pylon
and piers are fully fixed onto the each shake table with M30 bolts. The supports between the deck blocks and
columns are designed to exchange the bearing types which are general roller and hinge, RB(rubber bearing),
LRB(lead rubber bearing) and HDRB(high damping bearing).
The choice of the cable type depends on the mechanical properties required as well as on structural and
economic criteria. In this study, a stranded wire type steel cable is used mainly for safety and economic rea-
sons. The wire rope, which consists of six twisted wires, is made of IWRC grade B steel. The actual diameter is
8.34 mm (norminal adimeter is 8 mm), cross-section area is 31.4 mm
2
, ultimate tensile strength is about 50 kN
and modulus of elasticity is 67.81 Gpa by the results of several tensile tests. Even the cable represents non-
linear behavior before 20 % of its failure load, it shows linear characteristic from 20 % to 50 % of failure load.
The allowable stress is assumed the 50 % of failure stress(800 MPa) and the load level is considered enough to
stay deck loads safe. Each end of the cable is pressed with swage studs and connected to the anchorages with
two nuts as shown in Fig. 2 and Fig. 5(d).
The anchorage is designed to attach swage stud with steel wire(see Fig. 2(a) and (b)) and also to install load
cell as shown in Fig. 3 and one of the lower anchorages is designed to make cable failure load case(see Fig
2(c)). The special type anchorage has two small slots to the out side of the anchor block and so sudden cable
failure can be simulated with a stick designed to rotate on an axis.



3. SHAKING TABLE SYSTEM

For multi-support and non-uniform ground motion testing and relatively long span structure testing under
earthquake ground motion, multiple shaking table system is necessary. According to advancement of science
and technology for hydlaulic equipment, there are several large multiple shake table testing systems have
recently been developed or under construction, such as two 6 DOF(degrees of freedom) shake table system at
University of at Buffalo, USA, three biaxial and one 6 DOF shaking tables at University of Nevada, Reno,
USA and four biaxial tables at Tongji University, China
3)
. In this study, a multi-support excitation shaking
table system(MTS system corporation) at Pusan National University, Yangsan is used to generate ground
motions. The system consists of two moveable biaxial tables and one 6 DOF tables. One of the remarkable
function of the system is that the biaxial tables can be moved at intervals of 4 meters and so maximum 40
meters long span bridge earthquake testing is possible. The shaking table performance and specification is
listed in Table 1.


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Fig.1 General cross-section view of bridge deck.


(a) side view (b) front view(normal) (c) front view(cable failure) (d) swage stud
Fig.2 Lower anchorage detail drawings.

Fig.3 Upper anchorage detail drawing.


Fig. 5(a) shows how the cable bridge specimen is installed onto the each tables. P1(left pier), pylon and
P2(right pier) are installed onto the table A, B, and C respectively. Each table is operated by an MTS 469D
controller and the controllers are connected to MTS STEX3 software, which generate earthquake motion and
control the all three tables simultaneously, via Scramnet real-time data sharing technology. DAQ(data acqui-
sition) system has 264 A/D channels and the system is also designed to achieve each table motion feedbacks
such as displacement, velocity and acceleration in real-time.

[Unit : mm]
[Unit : mm]
[Unit : mm]
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Fig.4 A front view of cable-stayed bridge model.
[
U
n
i
t

:

m
m
]

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Table 1 Shake table specification
4)
.

Table 2 SM490 material properties.



(a) bird view of the whole specimen (b) top of the pylon and the load cells


(c) deck bridge and additional mass blocks (d) (lower) anchorage detail
Fig.5 Specimen detailed photos.


4. TEST METHOD AND MEASUREMENTS

As the variety of interests, several shaking table test methods are selected. Test cases are listed in Table 3.
White noise random tests are performed to check characteristics before and after changing the test method or
occurring the major change of the specimen. Impact hammer test also carried out to know the natural frequency
at various points. The static loading test was conducted using 300 Kg steel mass block that is identical to
masses on the deck blocks with overhead crane. After moving the block over the mass location on the deck, the
block load was applied slowly to the specimen using phased low speed control of the crane. Base isolation and
MR-damper test was performed to know the seismic performance of RB, LRB, HDRB and MR-damper under
passive and active state. El Centro earthquake acceleration time history was used for input motion and the
Items Size
(m)
DOF Payload
(ton)
Overturning moment
(kN-meters)
Max. acceleration
at full payload(g)
Max. single
stroke(mm)
Operating Frequency
(Hz)
Table A 5 by 5 3 30 2,000 1.00 600 0.1-60
Table B 5 by 5 3 60 2,000 0.85 600 0.1-60
Table C 4 by 4 6 30 1,200 1.20 600 0.1-60
Type Classifications Yield point (N/mm
2
) Tensile strength (N/mm
2
) Elongtation (%)
Structural steel SM490 325 490 17
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excitation level was increased gradually until 100% of its original peak amplitude. In multi-support excitation
test case, artificial earthquake which has different phase and motion at the table A, B and C is used for input
drive motion data. The phase difference was 0.5, 0.75 and 1.0 seconds from table A to C and 5 combinations of
ground motion were used. Cable failure test was conducted in static and also dynamic condition. The sudden
failure was silumated using special anchorage as shown in Fig. 2(c). In dynamic condition, the failure was
ingenerated during El Centro earthquake motion.
Static and dynamic behaviors of cable bridge model are measured using a total of 121 sensors which are
accelerometers, displacement transducers, load cells and strain gages as shown in Fig. 6. The 20 kN capacity
load cells are attacheded between swage stud and upper cable anchorage to measure the cable forces. Strain
gages are located at the place where the maximum stress could be occurred like bottom side of the pylon and
piers.
A tri-axial accelerometer is installed on the deck and pylon`s point oI intersection as a reference point. 12
biaxial and 6 uni-axial accelerometers are attached on the cross beams to confirm the mode shapes, natural
frequency and etc. Displacement transducers are used for static loading cases and dynamic relative dis-
placement measurement of seismic isolation bearings.


5. TEST RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Fig. 7 and 8 are showing the displacement and acceleration time history and response spectrum of shaking
table feedback signals under El Centro earthquake motion. In displacement comparision, all three tables are
considered running with same movement but table B represents more response between 10 Hz and 50 Hz from
the acceleration data. Such responses are considered as a result of resonance of the reference frame for the
MR-damper and cable bridge specimen. However, in general, the low frequency component of earthquake
wave is more important for civil structures and therefore the multiple shake table system in SESTEC is useful
enough to research the large scale cable bridge model. The measured natural frequency of cable bridge system
is compared with FEM analysis results in Table 4. There is some errors between analysis and experiment
results because of many factors but the principle frequency and mode shapes are relatively well matched(see
Fig. 8).

Table 3 Test case name and excitation details.
TEST
CASE
TEST NAME EXCITATION REMARKS
Random Random vibration
test
White noise
- Frequency = 0.5 to 50 Hz
- RMS = 0.05 g to 0.10 g
Natural frequency analysis (using wi
reless accelerometer)
Impact Impact hammer test Impact mass = 4 kg
S-Series Static Loading Test Steel mass block(300 to 600 kg)
loading
Static load case
I-Series Base isolation test El Centro earthquake
- Direction = X, Y, X and Y
- Amplification = 10 to 100 %
Rubber bearing, lead rubber bearing
and high damping rubber bearing
M-Series Multi-support excitat
ion test
Artificial earthquake
- Multi-Phase excitation
- Multi-motion excitation
Multi-support shaking table test with
phase and motion difference
J-Series Cable failure test Cable failure simulation
(under dynamic condition)

D-Series MR-damper test El Centro earthquake
- Direction = X
- Amplification = 10 to 30 %
MR-damper performance test

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Fig.6 Sensor locations and directions.

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(a) Time history of table displacement (b) Time history of table acceleration
Fig. 7 Time history of shaking table feedbacks.


(c) Displacment response spectrum (d) Acceleration response spectrum
Fig. 8 Response spectra of shaking table feedbacks.


(a) Mode shape plot by FEM analysis (b) Mode shape by measured acceleration
Fig. 9 The first mode shape estimation

Table 4 Natural frequency comparision between analysis and experiment
Mode (N) 1 2 3 4 5
Analysis [Hz] 1.27 2.29 2.58 2.71 3.28
Experiment [Hz] 1.44 2.06 2.31 2.50 3.06



Sensor location [No.]
C
o
r
r
e
l
a
t
e
d

a
c
c
e
l
e
r
a
t
i
o
n

a
m
p
l
i
t
u
d
e

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ACKNOWLEDGMENT:
This work was supported by Seismic Simulation Test Cener at Pusan National University.


REFERENCES

1) R. Walther, B. Houriet, W. Isler, P.Moia, J.F. Klein : CABLE STAYED BRIDGES : London : Thomas Telford, 1999.
2) Zimmerman, A. T., Member, S.,& Lynch, J.P. : A Parallel Simulated Annealing Architecture for Model Updaing in Wireless Sensor
Networks, Seonsors (Pererborough, NH), Vol 9(11). Pp.1503-1510 ,2009
3) Yang, C.Y., & Cheung, M.M.S. : Shake Table Test of Cable-Stayed Bridge Subjected to Non-Uniform Excitation : Procedia En-
gineering, Vol.14, pp.931-938, 2011
4) High PerIormance Seismic Simulation Test System User`s Manual : MTS Systems corporation, Minnesota, 2009.

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