Influence of central buckle on suspension bridge dynamic characteristics and driving comfort

The central buckle, which is often used in a suspension bridge, can improve bridges’ performance in the actual operation condition. The influence of the central buckle on natural vibration characteristics and bridge-deck driving comfort of a long-span suspension bridge is studied by using a case study of Siduhe Suspension Bridge in China. Based on the finite element software ANSYS and independently complied program, the influence of the central buckle on the structure force-applied characteristics of a long-span suspension bridge has been explored. The results show that the huge increases of natural frequencies can result in the presence of central buckles because of the increases of bending and torsional rigidities. The central buckle basically makes the stiffening girders and cables within the triangular area covered as a relatively approximate rigid area. Hence, the central buckle can reduce the torsional displacement of the main girder. However, the increases of bending and torsional rigidities have little influence on the impact factor, which is obtained by using vehicle-bridge coupled vibration analysis. This means that the central buckle has little effect on the comfort indices. In addition, it is found that the central buckle can enhance the bridge deck’s driving stability due to the decrease of the torsional displacements of the main girder.