FULL-SCALE FATIGUE TESTS OF A CABLE-TO-ORTHOTROPIC BRIDGE DECK CONNECTION

摘要

Using a specially designed lever arm, full-scale fatigue tests of a cable-to-steel orthotropic bridge deck were conducted in the National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering (NCREE). The prototype cable-stayed bridge is to be constructed in Sunchung, connecting Chong-shing Bridge and crossing Er-chong Flood Diverting Canal. The span of the cable-stayed bridge is 400-meter and the width of the orthotropic deck is 55.6-meter. A 7.5-meter long and 2.55-meter wide full-scale bridge deck was constructed in the steel fabricator's shop. The specimen was then shipped and anchored on the strong floor in NCREE's laboratory. Four actuators were mounted horizontally on the strong floor and connected to the top end of a steel lever arm. The lever arm was pin-anchored at the bottom end to the strong floor while attach its one quarter point to the rear end of the stay-cable anchor box. Two- million cycles of fatigue loads ranging between 391 to 689 tons (3836 to 6759kN) were applied at the rear end of the stay-cable anchor box. Tests results confirm that the full-scale welded cable-to- orthotropic bridge deck connection sustained two- million cycles of the stated loading without any sign of failure. Tests also confirm that following the fatigue tests, the stated connection sustained static loads, of 172, 345, 689 and 984 tons (1687, 3384, 6759 and 9653kN) lasting 5 minutes each, without any failure.