New Trends on Integrity, Reliability and Failure

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SEISMIC BEHAVIOR OF A DUAL-DECK CABLE-STAYED BRIDGE

WITH INVERTED-Y TOWERS
Pedro Almeida1, Rui Carneiro Barros2(*)
1
PhD student of PRODEC at FEUP, Dept of Civil Engineering, Structural Division, Porto, Portugal
2
Habilitation - PhD - MSc - Civil Engineer, Prof at Dept Civil Engng, Structural Division, FEUP, Porto, Portugal
(*)
Email: rcb@fe.up.pt

ABSTRACT
The Third Tagus Crossing (TTT) proposed to cross the Tagus River between Lisbon and the
southern side, is a cable-stayed bridge with double composite steel/concrete deck for
simultaneous road and high-speed railway use. The dual deck is supported by two Warren
type trusses and consists of two platforms: at the top, for the road traffic circulation, with six
lanes; the other lower platform, for high-speed railway traffic with four lanes. In this work are
detailed results of the seismic analysis for the possible typology of the bridge towers chosen
as inverted-Y, determining the generalized forces and displacements in the towers and deck
according to Eurocodes. Use is made of an equivalent beam with the properties of the
proposed deck cross section.
Keywords: cable-stayed bridge, seismic analysis, inverted-Y towers.

INTRODUCTION
The longitudinal configuration Third Tagus Crossing (TTT), is a classic case of large cable-
stayed bridges (Figure 1). The longitudinal configuration of this cable-stayed structure
involves two towers, one central span and two side spans. The bridge has a total length of
7200 m including the access viaducts, straight development, and a deck set 52.30 m above the
water level. The cable-stayed part consists of three spans: a main span of 540 m and two
approach spans with 300 m each. The side bays have two middle pillars dividing the span into
two sections of 210 m + 90 m. Structurally these two intermediate supports prevent the
vertical displacements of the deck, partially reacting to the retention rods which also limit the
longitudinal displacement at the top of the towers and decreasing the deformability of the
central span when actuated by overhead service loads (Manterola 2006). The suspension of
the multiple cables in done along two planes with 68 pairs of tie rods distribute over two
towers, with the configuration in semi-harp. The two towers have a height of 190 m.

Fig. 1 - Longitudinal configuration TTT (dimensions in m)

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5th International Conference on Integrity - Reliability - Failure

The main frame comprises a mixed steel/concrete deck suspended in the longitudinal plane.
The cross-section is formed by two trusses type Warren, these structural main beams are the
main part of the deck support and are connected by upper and lower crossbeams. The two
platforms (top and bottom) are in reinforced concrete, and in the lower deck there are four
longitudinal beams below each rail. In Error: Reference source not found is shown the
geometry of the towers and the cross-sectional geometry type, and the properties of the

Variables Properties
Area (m2) 3.89
Shear area AY 3.89
(m2)
Shear area AZ 2.38
(m2)
IY (m4) 83.43
IZ (m4) 313.94
Constant torsion 131.00
(m4)

equivalent beam used for this study.

Fig. 2 - Geometry of towers and of simplified cross-section; properties of the equivalent beam

RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS

The study was performed by nonlinear analysis imposed by the fact that the dissipation
dampers used have a non-linear behavior. The seismic action was modeled by series of
accelerograms, compatible with the regulatory response spectrum of the seismic action. In the
simulations, was used a set of 8 artificially generated accelerograms (SeismoArtif. 2015) to
enable a non-linear dynamic analysis, temporal analysis (Time History), the accelerograms
were set individually in both horizontal directions. The integration time of the selected
accelerograms, 20 seconds is divided into 2000 analysis times each with 0.01 seconds.
The bending stress resultants with the simulated seismic actions acting in the base of the
towers in the longitudinal direction (combinatory action of longitudinal earthquake as
fundamental or primary, and reduced or secondary regulatory contribution of the transversal

2 Porto/Portugal, 24-28 July 2016

 New Trends on Integrity, Reliability and Failure

earthquake) led to diagrams of MYY and MXX moments and also of longitudinal and
transversal vertical displacements. Similarly for the results with the simulated seismic actions
in the transversal direction (combinatory action of transversal earthquake as fundamental or
primary, and reduced or secondary regulatory contribution of the longitudinal earthquake).
These were partially published by Almeida and Barros (2015) and are detailed and discussed
in the full article of this abstract.

REFERENCES
Almeida, P, Barros, RC. Análise do Comportamento Sísmico de Duas Formas de Torres para a
Ponte Atirantada Proposta para a Terceira Travessia do Tejo. ICEUBI 2015 – International
Conference on Engineering, UBI-Covilhã, 2-4 December 2015.
Manterola, J. Puentes: apuntes para su diseño, cálculo y construcción. Colegio de Ingenieros
de caminos canales y puertos, Madrid, 2006.
SeismoArtif. A computer program for generating artificial earthquake accelerograms. Version
2.1.0, http://www.seismosoft.com, 2015.

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