Estimation of life-cycle fatigue damage for suspension bridge hangers

Abstract

The third aspect of discussion, concerning the subject of the paper, is the interactionmechanism between train and wind. First, there is an aerodynamic interaction caused from the local changes in aerodynamic forces due to the train presence on the bridge deck (Petrini et al. 2005). This effect increase in importance when the geometrical dimension ratios between train and structure (length of the train vs length of the span, height and width of the train vs height and width of the deck section) increase. The second interaction mechanism concerns the structural dynamic behavior, it can be significant in the case of large deflection of the bridge. Third interaction mechanism concerns the fatigue damage interaction: the sum of damages due to wind and train is not equal to the damage caused from train transit when the structure is subjected to the wind action. In the present paper, interaction mechanisms are not considered.