1 INTRODUCTION

For arch bridges, concrete filled steel tube (CFST) have many advantages compared to steel or
concrete ones. The infilled concrete delays the local buckling of steel tubes, which reinforce the
concrete against tension, bending moments and shear forces. The tube also serves as a formwork
for the concrete during the construction of an arch bridge, thus saving major construction costs
(Yoshimura M et al.2006, Zong Z. H. et al 2005, Wu Q. X. et al 2006). Moreover, the
composite structural action between the infilled concrete and the steel tube improves the
load-carrying capacities of components. As a result, CFT construction for arch bridges has been
widely employed during the recent decades (Clawson W. C.1999, Nakamura S.2000). In China,
more than one hundred CFT arch bridges have been constructed since 1990 (Zhen Z et al 2000).
Because of the great mass of the CFT arch bridges, the substructures of such bridges are more
vulnerable to earthquakes. One of the most effective methods to reduce the earthquake effects
on the substructure is the base isolation. The most common isolators used for the base isolation
include high-damping rubber bearings, lead rubber bearings and sliding friction steel bearings.
Sliding friction steel bearings have been wildly used due to their simple structures, high
carrying capacity, satisfactory durability and self-healing capacity. In order to make more
effective use of sliding friction steel bearings, the Department of Bridge Engineering of Tongji
University has developed a new type of steel isolator, named the double spherical aseismic
bearing, based on the mechanics of friction pendulum sliding isolators (Peng T. B. et al 2007).
In this paper, the configuration and working mechanism of the double spherical aseismic
bearing are presented first. Then a CFT arch bridge, the Yigangchi Bridge, is introduced. The
models with and without the installation of the double spherical aseismic bearing is analyzed by
the nonlinear and linear time history method respectively. Finally, with the comparison of the
analyzing results, the isolation performance of the double spherical aseismic bearing is
evaluated.
2 THE DOUBLE SPHERICAL ASEISMIC BEARING
As shown in Fig.1, the double spherical aseismic bearing consists of a top bearing board with a
sliding concave spherical surface, a mid bearing board with a protruding spherical surface on
both sides and a bottom bearing board with a rotational concave spherical surface. The sliding
and rotational surfaces are both made of stainless steel plates and PTFE (polyfluortetraethylene)
plates(Peng T. B. et al 2007).

Application of double spherical aseismic bearing in
concrete-filled steel tubular arch bridge
Hua Zhang, Jianzhong Li and Tianbo Peng
Department of Bridge Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, China


ABSTRACT: The configuration and working mechanism of a double spherical aseismic bearing
developed recently are presented. Then two models of an actual concrete-filled steel tubular
arch bridge with and without the installation of the double spherical aseismic bearing were
analyzed by time history method. The analysis results from the two models were detailedly
compared each other, in including the force response and displacement responses of the
structure. The comparison demonstrates that the double spherical aseismic bearing is applicable
to the concrete-filled steel tubular arch bridge and has a distinct advantage in seismic isolation.




776 ARCH10 6th International Conference on Arch Bridges


Figure 1 : Configuration of the double spherical aseismic bearing

The working mechanism of the double spherical aseismic bearing is decribed as follows: the
deck is supported on the top bearing board and the restraining bolts limit the deck movement
under regular load; when the earthquake comes, the restraining bolts will be snipped and the top
bearing board will slide and rotate relative to the bottom bearing board; because of the spherical
surface, the movement can make the elevation of the deck, which can provide resilience under
the action of gravity. The relative movement can prolong the basic period of the structure,
which is the aim of the base isolation. The friction slide of the bearing can also provide
hysteretic damping.
If the supporting load of the bearing is W, the largest sliding displacement is D and the
friction coefficient is , then the resilience can be defined as:

+ = ) (sgn D W D
H
W
F
&
(1)
where H denotes the distance between the centres of the two spherical surfaces.
The first part on the right of equation (1) is the horizontal resilience from the elevation of the
deck, from which the horizontal stiffness can be derived as:
h
W
K
H
= (2)
If the basic period of the original structure is T
1
, the basic period with the installation of the
double spherical aseismic bearing will be:
1/ 2
2
2
1
4
H
T
g
T


= +


(3)
Equation (3) indicates that the basic period will change with different H. Therefore, ideal
isolation effects can be achieved by the double spherical aseismic bearing.
The mechanism of the double spherical aseismic bearing can be modelled by equivalent
linearization, as shown in Fig.2. The equivalent stiffness is:
0
eff
W W
K
H D
= +
(4)
And the equivalent damping ratio is:
0
2
0
0
0 0
4 2 1
2
1
2
eff
eff
WD area of the hysteresis loop
D W K D
D W D
H
H

= = =

+
+


(5)




Hua Zhang, Jianzhong Li and Tianbo Peng 777


Figure 2 : Lateral Hysteretic Loop of Double Spherical Aseismic Bearing
3 ANALYTICAL MODEL
3.1 Brief Description of The Yigangchi Bridge
The Yigangchi Bridge carries the Tangshan Caofeidian Xitong road over the Yigangchi River
and is a long span bridge having an entire span length of 1057 m. As shown in Fig.3, the main
structure of the Yigangchi Bridge comprises two spans of 138m+138m. The bridge width is
29.5m. The arch ribs consist of there concrete filled steel tubes spatially arranged. The stiffening
girder of the bridge, which is a composite beam, is supported by the suspenders.



Figure 3 : Elevation of the Yigangchi Bridge
3.2 Analytical Model of the Yigangchi Bridge
Fig.4 shows a three-dimensional FE model of the Yigangchi Bridge. The coordinate system of
the bridge is set to be the longitudinal direction X, the transverse direction Y and the vertical
direction Z. The arch ribs, the stiffening girder, the lateral bracings and the piers are all
modelled using three-dimensional beam elements based on their actual cross-sectional
properties. The suspenders are modelled using three-dimensional beam elements releasing both
moment and torsional degrees of freedoms. The pile caps are modeled as the mass points
constrained by the springs. The constraint conditions of different positions are shown in Table
1.
Table 2 gives the material properties of this CFT arch bridge (the cross-sectional area A and
the elastic modulus E). Since the cross sections of the arch ribs, the stiffening girder etc. are
different depending upon their positions, the basic material properties are measured at the
centers of those structures.




778 ARCH10 6th International Conference on Arch Bridges
The nonlinear model with the installation of the double spherical aseismic bearing is the same
as the linear model described above, except the constraint conditions between the stiffening
girder and the piers. The bearings are modeled as equivalent bilinear models, which are
described as Plastic (Wen) in SAP2000

. The parameters of the bearings are H=5m and =0.02.

Table 1 : Constraint Conditions of the Model
DOF
Position
x y y
x

y

z

Between Girder and Ribs 1 1 1 1 1 1
Between Girder and Side Piers 0 1 1 1 0 1
Between Girder and Mid Pier 1 1 1 1 0 1
Bottom of the Piers s s s s s s

where 0 denotes no constraints, 1 denotes the constraint without the relative movement and
s denotes the constraint by the spring.

Figure 4 : Three-Dimensional FE model of the Yigangchi Bridge

Table 2: Basic Cross-Sectional Area A and Elastic Modulus E of the Model
Part A(m
2
) E(kN/m
2
)
Arch rib 2.0534 3.4510
7

Stiffening girder 2.0625 2.1010
8

suspender 3.271E-03 2.1010
8

4 ANALYSIS RESULTS DISCUSSIONS
4.1 Natural Dynamic Characteristics of the Yigangchi Bridge
The natural dynamic characteristics of a structure determine the earthquake resistance
performance of the structure. Table 3 and Table 4 show the first five in-plane and out-plane
natural vibrations, respectively. It can be observed from Table 3 that the first in-plane natural
vibration having the frequency of 0.4931Hz is a longitudinal pendulum-like movement of the
stiffening girder. Table 4 shows that the first out-plane natural vibration having a frequency of
0.3104Hz is the swing movement of the arch ribs. By comparing Table 3 to Table 4, it can be
found that the out-plane frequencies are smaller than the in-plane ones, indicating that the
bridge has more problems in the out-plane stability.





Hua Zhang, Jianzhong Li and Tianbo Peng 779
Table 3 : In-Plane Natural Vibrations
No.
Freq.
(Hz)
Model Shape
1 0.4931

2 1.1523

3 1.1884

4 1.7305

5 1.7403

Table 4 : Out-Plane Natural Vibrations
No.
Freq.
(Hz)
Model Shape
1 0.3104

2 0.3116

3 0.8637

4 0.8953

5 0.9159

4.2 Comparison of the Time-History Analysis Results
In order to make comparison between the models without and with the double spherical
aseismic bearing, both linear and nonlinear time-history analysis was conducted. The time
history used in the analysis is El-centro, which has been wildly used in the relevant literature.
The PGA was adjusted to 0.2 g, where g represents the acceleration of gravity.
Fig.5 illustrates the time histories of the relative displacement between the stiffening girder
and the side pier of the models with and without the double spherical bearings. It can be found
that with the installation of the double spherical aseismic bearings, the relative displacement can
be reduced to some extent. The constraint condition of the model without the aseismic bearings
is free along the longitudinal direction, so the side piers almost have no restraints on the
stiffening girder. On the other hand, since the aseismic bearings have post-yield stiffness, the
longitudinal movement of the stiffening girder can be partly restrained by the side piers. It helps
to avoid the longitudinal unseating.
The time histories of the moments at the bottom of the mid pier are shown in Fig.6.
Compared to the time histories of the moments of the model without the double spherical




780 ARCH10 6th International Conference on Arch Bridges
aseismic bearings, those of the model with the double spherical aseismic bearings are
considerably reduced. The largest moment of the former model is 469153kNm but that of the
latter model is only 117149 kNm. The reduction of the seismic requirement should partly
attribute to the resistant contribution of the side piers and mostly to the isolation effect of the
bearings.



Figure 5 : Time Histories of the Relative Displacements Between the Stiffening Girder and Side pier



Figure 6 : Time Histories of the Moments at the Bottom of the Mid Pier

The realistic lateral hysteretic loop of the bearing in the nonlinear model, which is shown in
Fig.7, indicates that the double spherical aseismic bearing performs well on dissipating the
seismic energy. The largest displacement is 0.13m, than the equivalent damping ratio can be
calculated from the following equation:
0
2 1 2 1
27.68%
0.13
1
1
(0.02 5)
eff
D
H

= = =
+
+

(6)





Hua Zhang, Jianzhong Li and Tianbo Peng 781


Figure 7 : Lateral Hysteretic Loop of the Bearing in the Nonlinear Model
5 CONCLUSIONS
This paper presents a novel seismic isolator named double spherical aseismic bearing, which
is developed by the Department of Bridge Engineering of Tongji University. A CFST arch
bridge was used to verify the performance of that bearing, and also the natural dynamic
characteristics were studied. Because of heavy deadweight in a CFST arch bridge, it is a
practical way to use the base isolator to improve the aseismic performance of that kind of
bridge. By comparing the time-history analysis results of the two models with and without the
double spherical bearing installed, the advantage of employing above bearing is distinct.
REFERENCES
Yoshimura M., Wu Q. X. and Takahashi K., etc.2006. Vibration analysis of the Second Saikai Bridge-a
concrete filled tubular (CFT) arch bridge. Journal of Sound and Vibration, 290 (2006) p.388-409.
Zong Z. H., Jaishi B. and Ge J. P., etc.2005. Dynamic analysis of a half-through concrete-filled steel
tubular arch bridge. Engineering Structures, 27 (2005) p.3-15.
Wu Q. X., Yoshimura M. and Takahashi K., etc.2006. Nonlinear seismic properties of the Second Saikai
Bridge A concrete filled tubular (CFT) arch bridge. Engineering Structures, 28 (2006) p.163-182.
Clawson W. C.1999. Bridge applications of composite construction in the US. Structural Engineering in
the 21st Century, Proceedings of the Structures Congress, 1999, p.544-547.
Nakamura S.2000. New structural forms for steel/concrete composite bridges, Structural Engineering
International 1 (2000) p.45-50.
Zhen Z., Chen B. and Wu Q.2000. Recent development of CFST arch bridge in China. Proceeding of 6th
ASCCS Conference, USA, 2000, p.205-212.
Peng T. B., Li J. Z. and Fan L. C.2007. Development and application of double spherical aseismic
bearing. Journal of Tongji University, 2 (2007) p.176-180 (in Chinese).
Peng T. B., Li J. Z. and Fan L. C.2007. Analysis of vertical displacement of double spherical aseismic
bearing. Journal of Tongji University, 9 (2007) p.1181-1185 (in Chinese).