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5
14.5 Release
Workshop 6
Response Spectrum
(Suspension Bridge)
ANSYS Mechanical
Linear and Nonlinear Dynamics
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Workshop 6 - Goals
Our goal is to determine the response of a prestressed suspension
bridge subjected to a seismic load.
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Workshop 6 Project Schematic
From the project schematic, insert a new Static Structural system.
Drop a Modal system onto the Solution cell of the Static Structural system.
Drop a Response Spectrum system onto the Solution cell of the Modal system.
Import the Geometry file
simple_bridge.agdb
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Workshop 6 - Project Schematic
Edit the Model cell to open the Mechanical application.
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Workshop 6 Units
In Mechanical, set the following units system:
m, kg, N, s, V, A
Degrees
RPM
Celcius
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Workshop 6 - Preprocessing
Set the mesh defeaturing tolerance to 0.5 m.
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Workshop 6 - Preprocessing
Insert a fixed support on the vertex of all four tower foundations.
the Modal and Response Spectrum systems will inherit this support
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Workshop 6 - Preprocessing
Insert a zero-displacement constraint in the Y and Z directions on
the three outer edges at both ends of the bridge deck.
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Workshop 6 - Preprocessing
Finally, insert Standard Earth Gravity from the Inertial loads toolbar
button.
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Workshop 6 Modal Solution
Change the Max Modes to Find to 10, then run the Modal solution.
review the ratio of effective mass to total mass in Solution Information
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Workshop 6 Modal Solution
Review the frequency table for the extracted modes.





Are the frequencies closely spaced?
Yes

Make note of the highest extracted frequency.
f = 0.3 Hz
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Workshop 6 Modal Solution
Since we have closely-spaced modes, change the combination
method to something other than SRSS (e.g. ROSE).
under Analysis Settings of the Response Spectrum branch
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Workshop 6 - Preprocessing
Insert an RS Acceleration load in the Response Spectrum branch.
change Boundary Condition to All BC Supports and Direction to Y Axis
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Workshop 6 - Preprocessing
Open the supplied seismic data from the Savannah River Earthquake,
copy the spectrum data, and paste it into the Tabular Data.
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Workshop 6 - Results
Since the seismic data were supplied in units of G acceleration,
insert a Scale Factor equal to the acceleration due to gravity of
the working units.
9.81 for MKS unit system.

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Workshop 6 - Results
Note the frequency at the spectral peak for this spectrum.
f
SP
= 4 Hz






How does this compare to our extracted modes?
all modes have f <fSP
this means all modes are in the low-frequency region
therefore, no rigid response or missing mass is needed
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Workshop 6 - Results
Finally, run the solution and insert the result item of your choice.
Note that the bridge deck may need some mesh refinement. Try changing the
mesh settings and re-solving.