Abstract
Abstract
A reliable numerical method is proposed for the nonlinear inelastic dynamic analysis of suspension bridges subjected to earthquake excitations. It is also a general-purpose theory framework for nonlinear finite element analysis of large-scale structures. The proposed procedure includes both geometric and material nonlinearities. The geometric nonlinearities of cable members are captured by the catenary element derived from exact analytical expressions of elastic catenary, while the geometric nonlinearities of tower and girder members are predicted by the ameliorative nonlinear beam element which can undergo large deflections and large rotations. The material nonlinearities of tower and girder are considered by the improved distributed plasticity model whose state determination is based on an iterative scheme that satisfies internal equilibrium and compatibility. The large deformation of truss member is tracked by the rod element deduced from Euler angle decomposition of rigid body rotation. An incremental iterative solution based on Newmark time integration with Newton–Raphson iteration is adopted for solving the nonlinear equation of motion. The results are compared with those generated by OpenSees to illustrate the accuracy of proposed procedure.
Publisher
Research Square Platform LLC