A SOLUTION TO EXTENDING THE LIFE OF SUSPENSION BRIDGE SUSPENDERS SUBJECTED TO LATERAL LOADS

Suspenders are crucial force transmission components in suspension bridges that transmit deck loads to the main cables, and their durability plays an important role in the safety and serviceability of the suspension bridge. However, one of the problems in suspension bridges is that they face the failure of suspenders under applied loads and consequently, exerted displacements. Therefore, the suspenders often have a shorter life time and needed to be replaced. In this paper, the authors aim to find a solution to extend the life of the suspenders; therefore, a new method was proposed to improve the performance and behavior of suspenders. For this purpose, a polyethylene member was added between the socket and the pendant cable. A case study suspender and the proposed model were modeled and analyzed. The results showed that in the proposed model, the stress on the model members was reduced by about 39% compared with the initial model. Also, the results showed that unlike the original model, the plastic strain remained zero in the socket and cable. After proving the effectiveness of the proposed model, two other materials were replaced by the polyethylene member. The results showed that among the proposed materials, Teflon gave the best result.