Experimental Study on Transverse Seismic Behavior of Long-Span Cable-Stayed Bridge with Two Inverted Y-Shaped Reinforced Concrete Towers

The transverse seismic behavior of a long-span cable-stayed bridge with two inverted Y-shaped reinforced concrete towers is investigated in this study. To accomplish this, a 1/35-scale model of a cable-stayed bridge with a span of 1088 m was designed, constructed, and tested until failure on four shake tables; the test was conducted at Tongji University, China. A site-specific artificial wave was applied in the transverse direction. Moreover, the input peak ground acceleration was increased from 0.1 g to 1.3 g until the test model failed. The transverse displacement, force, rebar strain, and curvature responses of the bridge model are obtained and studied. The test results showed that the transverse displacement response of the tower was significantly affected by high-order modes. This resulted in the maximum seismic displacement of the tower at the middle – upper level of the middle column except for the tower top. The ratio of the transverse seismic forces acting on the towers significantly exceeded that of the forces acting on the piers. In the final test case, severe damage, including concrete crushing and rebar exposure, occurred at the bottom of the middle column – the most critical part of the tower – leading to the inclination of the tower. Damage to the cables or deck was not observed. The finite element model captured the elastic transverse seismic behavior of the test model.