ELASTIC-PLASTIC SEISMIC BEHAVIOR OF LONG SPAN

CABLE-STAYED BRIDGES

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By Wei-Xin Ren1 and Makoto Obata2

ABSTRACT: This paper investigates the elastic-plastic seismic behavior of long span cable-stayed steel bridges
through the plane finite-element model. Both geometric and material nonlinearities are involved in the analysis.
The geometric nonlinearities come from the stay cable sag effect, axial force-bending moment interaction, and
large displacements. Material nonlinearity arises when the stiffening steel girder yields. The example bridge is
a cable-stayed bridge with a central span length of 605 m. The seismic response analyses have been conducted
from the deformed equilibrium configuration due to dead loads. Three strong earthquake records of the Great
Hanshin earthquake of 1995 in Japan are used in the analysis. These earthquake records are input in the bridge
longitudinal direction, vertical direction, and combined longitudinal and vertical directions. To evaluate the
residual elastic-plastic seismic response, a new kind of seismic damage index called the maximum equivalent
plastic strain ratio is proposed. The results show that the elastic-plastic effect tends to reduce the seismic response
of long span cable-stayed steel bridges. The elastic and elastic-plastic seismic response behavior depends highly
on the characteristics of input earthquake records. The earthquake record with the largest peak ground acceleration value does not necessarily induce the greatest elastic-plastic seismic damage.

INTRODUCTION
The reconstruction of bridges in Europe, primarily Germany, destroyed during World War II provided bridge engineers with the opportunity to apply new technology to an
old concept in bridge design, the cable-stayed bridge, although the concept of supporting a bridge girder by inclined
tension stays can be traced back to the seventh century (Podolny and Fleming 1972; Troitsky 1977; Podolny and Scalzi
1978). The increasing popularity of contemporary cable-stayed
bridges among bridge engineers can be attributed to (1) the
appealing aesthetics; (2) the full and efficient utilization of
structural materials; (3) the increased stiffness over suspension
bridges; (4) the efficient and fast mode of construction; and
(5) the relatively small size of the bridge elements.
Over the past 40 years, rapid developments have been made
on modern cable-stayed bridges. Cable-stayed bridges are now
entering a new era, reaching a central span lengths ranging
from 400 to 1,000 m or longer. The rapid progress is largely
due to (1) the development of box-girders with orthotropic
plate decks; (2) the manufacturing techniques of high-strength
wires that can be used for cables; (3) the use of electronic
computers in structural analysis and design; and (4) the advances in prestressed concrete structures.
It is well known that the increase in the center span length
of cable-stayed bridges makes nonlinear analysis inevitable.
For this special type of flexible, long span cable-supported
bridge, nonlinear analysis is essential for evaluating the
stresses and deformations induced not only by static loads but
also by dynamic loads, such as vehicular traffic, wind, and
earthquakes. When the center span length increases, a pronounced nonlinearity in the response may be expected, which
will result in a considerable increase in the displacement and
deformations of the bridge under strong shaking. In this case
it is essential to understand the behavior from those dynamic
loadings realistically.
A long span cable-stayed bridge exhibits nonlinear charac1
Prof., Dept. of Civ. Engrg., Changsha Railway Univ., Changsha,
410075, Hunan Province, Peoples Republic of China.
2
Assoc. Prof., Dept. of Civ. Engrg., Nagoya Institute of Technology,
Gokiso-Cho, Showa-ku, Nagoya 466, Japan.
Note. Discussion open until January 1, 2000. To extend the closing
date one month, a written request must be filed with the ASCE Manager
of Journals. The manuscript for this paper was submitted for review and
possible publication on December 22, 1997. This paper is part of the
Journal of Bridge Engineering, Vol. 4, No. 3, August, 1999. ASCE,
ISSN 1084-0702/99/0003-01940203/$8.00 $.50 per page. Paper No.
17243.

teristics under any load level. These nonlinear sources may

come from
The sag effect of inclined cable stays
The combined axial load and bending moment interaction
effect of the girder and towers
The large displacement effect
The nonlinear stress-strain behavior of materials (material
nonlinearity)
Many investigations have studied the dynamic behavior and
seismic responses of this highly nonlinear structure. Some researchers disregarded all sources of nonlinearities, whereas
others included one or more of these sources. The 2D geometric nonlinear seismic responses of cable-stayed bridges
were studied by Fleming and Egeseli (1980), whereas other
investigators (Nazmy and Abdel-Ghaffar 1990a,b; AbdelGhaffar and Nazmy 1991) studied the 3D geometric nonlinear
seismic responses of long span cable-stayed bridges. Dumanoglu and Stevern (1989) analyzed the earthquake response of
modern suspension bridges subjected to asynchronous longitudinal and lateral ground motion with the plane and linear
finite-element model. Betti et al. (1993) dealt with the kinematic soil-structural interaction for long span cable-supported
bridges. Jones and Spartz (1990) presented the results of a
study that attempted to separate and estimate the mechanical
and aerodynamic damping of a prototype bridge structure using full-scale ambient vibration and wind measurements, finite-element analysis of the bridge structure, and a wind tunnel
model of the bridge deck section. Wilson and Gravelle (1991a)
and Wilson and Liu (1991b) studied the dynamic behavior of
cable-stayed bridges through a linear elastic 3D finite-element
model. In their studies the modal behavior predicted by the
finite-element model is compared to measured ambient vibrations of the full-scale cable-stayed bridge. Until now, however,
the elastic-plastic seismic response analysis of long span cablestayed bridges has seldom been done. In fact, large member
stresses may be induced under strong ground motions.
Another important feature of long span bridges is the effects
of the dead load. The dead load of a long span cable-stayed
bridge may contribute 8090% to total bridge loads. Dead
loads are applied before the earthquake so that nonlinear seismic analysis should start from the deformed equilibrium configuration due to dead loads.
This paper is focused on the plane elastic and elastic-plastic
seismic response behavior of a long span cable-stayed steel
bridge with a center span length of 605 m. Both geometric

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and material nonlinearities are considered. Three strong earthquake records of the Great Hanshin earthquake of 1995 in
Japan are used in the analysis. These earthquake records are
input in the longitudinal direction [north-south (N-S) component], vertical direction [up-down (U-D) component], and
combined longitudinal and vertical directions. The seismic response computations start from the deformed equilibrium configuration due to dead load. Geometric nonlinear effects are
included. To evaluate the elastic-plastic seismic responses, a
new kind of seismic damage index called the maximum equivalent plastic strain ratio is proposed.
NONLINEAR CONSIDERATIONS
A long span cable-stayed bridge is a nonlinear structural
system in which the main girder is supported elastically at
points along its length by inclined cable stays. Although the
behavior of the material is linearly elastic, the overall loaddisplacement response may be nonlinear under normal design
loads (Fleming and Egeseli 1980; Nazmy and Abdel-Ghaffar
1990b). The geometric nonlinear sources of long span cablestayed bridges arise from the stay cable sag effect, the axial
force-bending moment interaction of the superstructure, and
large displacements.
A popular approach to account for the sagging of inclined
cables is to consider a straight chord member with an equivalent modulus of elasticity first suggested by Ernst (1965). If
the cable stress changes from 1 to 2 during a certain load
increment, the secant value of equivalent elastic modulus over
the load increment can then be used as follows (Nazmy and
Abdel-Ghaffar 1990c):
E eq =

E
(L 0)2(1 2)
1
E
24 21 22

(1)

where Eeq = equivalent elastic modulus of inclined cables; E

= cable material elastic modulus; L0 = horizontal projected
length of the cable; = weight per unit volume of the cable;
and = cable tensile stress.
Similar to all nonlinear structural analysis problems, the
nonlinear analysis of a long span cable-stayed bridge finally
reduces to forming the nonlinear incremental equilibrium
equations of the system and to solving these equations. The
nonlinear finite-element method (NFEM), with the concept of
continuum body discretization, has been a popular way to
study the nonlinear behavior of long span cable-stayed bridges.
Based on the characteristics of the geometric nonlinear sources
described above, some NFEM formulations have been proposed. In the plane formulation presented by Fleming and Egeseli (1980) or the space formulation presented by Nazmy and
Abdel-Ghaffar (1990a), for example, the sag effect of cables
was accounted for by the Ernsts equivalent elastic modulus
concept. The updated structural geometry due to large displacements was included by updating each set of node coordinates, whereas the axial force-bending moment interaction
effect was considered by introducing the stability beam functions based on structural stability analysis.
By using the Ernsts equivalent elastic modulus concept, the

FIG. 1.

secant stiffness matrix of an inclined cable stay is simply equal

to the stiffness matrix of a truss element with length L and
cross-sectional area A. Truss elements can therefore be sufficiently used to model the inclined cables. Both bending and
axial force members such as the stiffening girder and towers
are suitably modeled by nonlinear beam elements.
It is accepted in practice to assume that the geometrical
deformations of structural members in a long span cablestayed bridge are characterized by large displacements and
large rotations but small strains. With the developments of the
finite-deformation theory and nonlinear FEM techniques with
computers, researchers are more likely to use the finitedeformation theory to study the nonlinear behavior of long
span cable-stayed bridges. There are several rigorous NFEM
formulations available such as total Lagrangian formulation,
updated Lagrangian formulation, and corotational formulation.
Any of these formulations can include large displacements,
large rotations, and small strains. Therefore, the geometric
nonlinear sources of a long span cable-stayed bridge, such as
the interaction between axial force and bending moment as
well as large displacements, can be accurately considered.
A cable-stayed bridge is usually composed of three main
structural parts (or bridge components), namely, inclined cable
stays, superstructure, and towers. These structural parts may
be made of different materials. The material nonlinear analysis
of a long span cable-stayed bridge depends on the nonlinear
stress-strain behavior of individual materials for the structural
components. When some points (integration points) of an element exceed the yielding limit of the material, the stiffness
matrix of the element should be revised to form the elasticplastic stiffness matrix through the incremental plastic theory.
After the long span cable-stayed bridge is completed, and
before the earthquake loading is applied, the bridge has sustained large dead load deformations and stresses in each member, which should be included. To consider the effect of dead
load, the seismic response analysis should involve two steps:
(1) The static analysis under dead loading to form the deformed equilibrium configuration; and (2) the seismic response
analysis starting from the deformed configuration due to dead
load.
In the seismic response analysis, the nonlinear differential
equations of motion are directly integrated by the Newmark
-method. The integration constants = 1/4 and = 1/2 are
chosen, which correspond to an unconditionally stable scheme.
In each time step the Newton-Raphson iteration technique is
used to obtain the solution that satisfies both equilibrium equations and material constitutive relationships.
MODELING OF EXAMPLE CABLE-STAYED BRIDGE
Description of Example Bridge
The example bridge studied here is the Ming River long
span cable-stayed steel bridge. The bridge central span length
is 605 m, which is one of the longest central span cable-stayed
bridge design in China. The bridge crosses the Ming River,
Fuzhou, the capital of the Fujian Province and represents an
important link in the highway between Fuzhou city and the
new airport of Fuzhou. The bridge span arrangements are 90

Elevation View of Example Bridge

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TABLE 1.

FIG. 2.

Material Data of Example Bridge

Material
(1)

E
(GPa)
(2)

(3)

y
(MPa)
(4)

b
(MPa)
(5)

(kg/m3)
(6)

Girder
Cables
Towers

210.0
200.0
33.0

0.30
0.30
0.15

340.0
1,500.0

520.0
1,600.0

7,850.0

2,625.0

Section area
(cm2)
(3)

Density
(kg/m3)
(4)

153.168
143.932
125.460
116.223
97.751
83.896
70.042
56.187

8,206.0
8,227.0
8,254.0
8,105.0
8,482.0
8,218.0
8,488.0
8,318.0

Section of Steel Boxed Girder

TABLE 2.

Cable Data

Number
of wires
(2)

Cable number
(1)
C18, C17
C 18, C 17
, C 16
, C 15
; C16, C15
C 14, C 13; C14, C13
C 12, C 11
, C10; C12, C11, C10
C ,
C9, C8, C7
9 C ,
8 C;
7
C ,
C6, C5
6 C ;
5
C ,
C4, C3
4 C ;
3
C ,
C2, C1
2 C ;
1

2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2

199
187
163
151
127
109
91
73

C i = ith outer cables; Ci = ith inner cables.

FIG. 3.

Reinforced Concrete Tower

200 605 200 90 m. The elevation view of the bridge

is shown in Fig. 1.
The deck cross section is an aerodynamically shaped closedbox steel girder, 25.1 m wide and 2.8 m high, as depicted in
Fig. 2. The bridge towers are A-shaped steel reinforced concrete towers, 175.5 m high, as shown in Fig. 3. The stay cable
arrangement is a two-vertical-plane system. The eight groups
of cables are composed of 73199 high-strength 7-mm wires.
The design live load of the bridge is the Truck-super 20 (Highway Bridge Design Specification of China). There are four
traffic lanes.
Material Data
The three bridge components, namely, stiffening girder, stay
cables, and towers, of the example bridge are composed of
three different materials. The main stiffening girder is structural steel, while the towers are reinforced concrete. The stay
cables are composed of high-strength wires. Material data of
the example bridge are listed in Table 1. The cable data is
summarized in Table 2, where the weight per unit volume of
each stay cable depends on the number of wires in individual
stay cables.
In the elastic-plastic seismic response analysis, the elasticplastic behavior of the steel girder is only considered. In other
words, stay cables and towers are assumed to remain elastic
throughout. This assumption is accepted according to the numerical results of the example bridge.
The elastic-plastic constitutive model of the steel girder under cycle loading used in the analysis is the common bilinear
hysteric model of structural mild steel as shown in Fig. 4,
where
1 = 235 MPa;
2 = 300 MPa;

p1 = 0.0

(2a)

p2 = 0.0313

(2b)

FIG. 4.

Bilinear Hysteretic Model

It should be noted above that the yield limit of the steel

girder used in the elastic-plastic seismic analysis is lower than
its actual yield stress given in Table 1.
Finite-Element Modeling
The finite-element modeling of the example bridge is almost
the same as Ren (1997; 1999). The stiffening girder is divided
into 76 plane beam elements, and each tower is divided into
32 plane beam elements. Each cable is treated as a plane truss
element with the concept of equivalent elastic modulus.
The bridge dead loads are applied in the first analysis step.
The total dead loads of the example bridge are the uniformly
distributed stiffening girder dead load qd = 170 kN/m, which
is its own weight, and the weight of the reinforced concrete
towers that can be obtained by the mass body density of the
towers.
The boundary conditions are as follows: The joint between
the stiffening girder and left tower is a fixed hinge, whereas
another joint between the stiffening girder and right tower is
a movable hinge. All side piers are movable hinge (roller)
supports.
Input Ground Motions
To evaluate the effects of different strong ground motions
on the seismic response behavior of long span cable-stayed
bridges, three earthquake records are used in the analysis.
They were all recorded during the Great Hanshin earthquake
of 1995 in Japan. These are the Kobe record measured at the

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PGAs of Each Component (cm/s2)

TABLE 3.

Record
Component
(1)

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N-S
U-D

Kobe
(2)
579.0
332.2

Takatori
(3)

818.0
315.1

500.3
251.5

Higashi Kobe
(4)

641.7
289.7

651.7
395.8

442.0
305.9

Japan Meteorological Agency Kobe Observatory, the Takatori

record measured at Japanese Railway Takatori station, and the
Higashi Kobe recorded at Higashi Kobe Bridge. The bridge
longitudinal direction refers to the N-S component, and the
vertical direction refers to the U-D component of each record.
The peak ground accelerations (PGA) of each component are
listed in Table 3. In the numerical computations of the seismic
responses, a total time of 30 s of each record are used. The
time step is 0.01 s for the Takatori and Higashi Kobe records,
whereas the 0.02 s time step is used for the Kobe record. It is
found that those time steps are appropriate.
NATURAL FREQUENCIES
The natural frequencies and mode shapes of the example
bridge are first calculated. To investigate the effect of the dead
load on the natural frequencies of a long span cable-stayed
bridge, two cases are computed. One is the case without the
dead load where the dynamic computation is starting from the
undeformed configuration, and another is the case with dead
loads where the computation is starting from the dead load
deformed configuration. The first 10 natural frequencies of the
example bridge are listed in Table 4. It is shown that the effects
of the dead load decrease the bridge natural frequencies somewhat. Fig. 5 provides the first mode shape of the example
bridge with the dead load included.
The deformed configuration due to dead load may be
formed by linear static analysis and geometrically nonlinear
static analysis. The natural frequencies starting from those two
deformed configurations are computed respectively. The results are almost the same so that small deformation theory is
acceptable to form the deformed configuration due to dead
load.
ELASTIC-PLASTIC SEISMIC BEHAVIOR
The elastic and elastic-plastic plane seismic time-history responses of the long span cable-stayed bridge under three different earthquake records are studied. The first analysis step is
the static computation under dead load, as mentioned earlier.
In this static analysis step two cases are considered. One case
is the linear analysis under dead load where there is no equilibrium iteration. Another case is the geometric nonlinear analysis where the equilibrium iterations are needed.
TABLE 4.

The second analysis step is the seismic response analysis.

Three kinds of strong ground motions recorded during the
Great Hanshin earthquake of 1995 in Japan are input along
the bridge longitudinal direction (N-S component), vertical direction (U-D component), and combined longitudinal and vertical directions, respectively. Again, to investigate the effect of
the dead load on the seismic response behavior of a long span
cable-stayed bridge, the seismic response computations starting from the undeformed configuration and starting from the
deformed equilibrium configuration due to dead loads are studied separately and compared. To show the effects of geometric
nonlinearity and material nonlinearity, the following four cases
are investigated:
1. Small deformation and linear elastic material seismic behavior
2. Geometric nonlinearity and linear elastic material seismic behavior
3. Small deformation and elastic-plastic material seismic
behavior (steel girder)
4. Geometric nonlinearity and elastic-plastic material seismic behavior (steel girder)
In each seismic computation case, the following timehistory seismic responses are recorded:
Displacement time-history responsesthe horizontal and
vertical displacements at the span center, as well as the
horizontal department at the top of the left tower
Reaction time-history responses at the bottom of the left
towerthe shear force, axial force, and bending moment
Cable stress time-history response of inner cable No. C18
Stiffening girder internal force responses at the joints between the stiffening girder and the left towerthe axial
force, shear force, and bending moment
Only parts of the results are listed in this paper. Table 5
gives the comparison between elastic and elastic-plastic maximum displacement responses under three earthquake records
input along the combined longitudinal and vertical directions.
Table 6 summarizes the comparison between elastic and elastic-plastic maximum reaction responses as well as maximum
cable stress responses under three earthquake records input
along the combined longitudinal and vertical directions. The
comparisons between elastic and elastic-plastic seismic timehistory responses under three earthquake records input along
the combined longitudinal and vertical directions are shown in
Figs. 68, respectively. The seismic time-history responses include displacement responses at the span center, bending moments at the bottom of the left tower, and C18 cable stresses.
All results of Tables 5 and 6 and Figs. 68 are obtained starting from the deformed equilibrium configuration due to dead
loads.

Natural Frequencies (Hz)

Frequency

Mode

10

Without dead loads

With dead loads

0.358
0.352

0.424
0.420

0.714
0.703

0.752
0.755

0.957
0.939

1.018
1.003

1.084
1.064

1.119
1.099

1.231
1.209

1.327
1.299

FIG. 5.

First-Order Vibration Mode Shape (f1 = 0.35836 Hz)

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TABLE 5.

Maximum Displacement (m) Responses

Horizontal displacements at top of left
tower
(4)

Displacements at Center of Span

Earthquake
records
(1)
Kobe

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Takatori
Higashi Kobe

Horizontal
(2)
0.702
(0.691)
0.432
(0.320)
7.73
(7.87)

0.317
(0.317)
0.755
(0.806)
0.0569
(0.062)

Vertical
(3)
6.452
(6.390)
4.662
(4.540)
3.814
(3.786)

0.0
(0.0)
0.0
(0.924)
0.0
(0.0)

0.116
(0.179)
0.0235
(0.1007)
7.986
(8.448)

1.104
(1.104)
2.118
(2.382)
1.719
(1.849)

Note: Values in brackets are corresponding elastic seismic response values.

From the results obtained in the elastic and elastic-plastic

seismic response analyses of a long span cable-stayed bridge
under three strong earthquake records, the following can be
observed:
The comparisons between seismic responses starting from
the undeformed initial configuration and seismic responses starting from the deformed equilibrium configuration due to dead load have shown that the initial equilibrium configuration is essential to start the seismic
response analysis (Ren 1997). Both linear and nonlinear
seismic response analyses of long span cable-stayed
bridges should start from the deformed equilibrium configuration due to dead loads.
Regarding the equilibrium configuration under dead loads,
the seismic time-history responses starting from the linearly deformed equilibrium configuration and starting from
the nonlinearly deformed equilibrium configuration have
shown that the difference is so small that linearly elastic
analysis is acceptable when forming the deformed equilibrium configuration due to the dead loads (Ren 1997).
Starting from the deformed equilibrium configuration due
to dead loads, it is found that there is only a small difference between linear and geometrically nonlinear seismic time-history analysis under strong ground motions,
although the present center span length of the example
cable-stayed bridge is up to 600 m. The geometric nonlinearity has little influence on the plane seismic response
behavior of the example bridge. Therefore, small deformation seismic response analysis is acceptable for the
seismic response analysis of long span cable-stayed
bridges as was concluded by Fleming and Egeseli (1980)
and Nazmy and Abdel-Ghaffar (1990b), if starting from
the deformed equilibrium configuration due to dead load.
Compared with seismic time-history response results under the longitudinal direction inputs, vertical direction inputs, and combined longitudinal and vertical inputs, it is
found that the superposition principle is not suitable to
the seismic response of long span cable-stayed bridges
even in the linear seismic response case. Seismic responses under combined longitudinal and vertical inputs
are not the sum of the individual longitudinal and vertical
TABLE 6.

direction inputs due to the coupling effect that exists between longitudinal and vertical seismic responses. This is
probably caused by the complicated structural dynamic
characteristics of such long span cable-supported structures.
From both elastic and elastic-plastic seismic maximum
responses (Tables 5 and 6), it can been seen that the maximum horizontal displacement responses at the center of
the span and at the top of the left tower under the Higashi
Kobe record input are the largest, although the PGA of
the Higashi Kobe record is the lowest among the three
earthquake records. The largest maximum vertical displacement response at the span center is caused by the
Kobe record, whereas the largest maximum C18 cable
stress response and the largest bending moment reaction
response at the bottom of the left tower are caused by the
Takatori record input. Therefore, both elastic and elasticplastic seismic response behaviors of long span cablestayed bridges are strongly dependent on the characteristics of ground motions. The earthquake record with the
largest PGA value does not necessarily induce the greatest
maximum response.
Comparisons between elastic and elastic-plastic seismic
responses (Tables 5 and 6 and Figs. 68) have shown that
the elastic-plastic dynamic deformation of the stiffening
steel girder tends to reduce the response because the elastic-plastic deformation of the girder absorbs part of the
energy.
Even under the combined longitudinal and vertical seismic input, the cable stress responses are all below the
material strength limit so that the stay cables are still elastic for the example bridge.
EVALUATION OF ELASTIC-PLASTIC
SEISMIC RESPONSES
The ductility capacity and energy absorption capacity of a
structural system are probably the most significant design features that affect the ability of a structure to withstand strong
seismic ground motions. One of the most important problems
in the elastic-plastic seismic responses is how to evaluate the
intensity of the dynamic plastic deformation or the damage of
the structure. Actually, engineers are more concerned with the
residual deformation (plastic deformation) of the structure
from severe earthquakes. This kind of residual plastic deformation is also used to judge the level of earthquake hazard.
Engineers decide whether the structure can be repaired or not
according to the residual deformation intensity of the structures.
Ductility indices or damage indices are commonly used to
characterize the elastic-plastic seismic responses of structures.
Many seismic damage parameters or damage indices have
been proposed. Some of them may correlate with others. Very
important feature involves the selection of appropriate damage
parameters that are to be determined during a response inves-

Maximum Reaction and Cable Stress Responses

Reactions at Bottom of Left Tower

Earthquake
records
(1)
Kobe
Takatori
Higashi Kobe

Q
(MN)
(2)
260.6
(316.5)
289.3
(293.3)
193.6
(240.9)

220.9
(275.3)
217.2
(299.5)
168.3
(179.8)

N
(MN)
(3)
0.0
(0.0)
0.0
(0.0)
0.0
(0.0)

651.5
(651.4)
586.1
(612.9)
534.5
(534.5)

M
(MN m)
(4)
6,696.2
(8,780.9)
7,897.7
(11,537.0)
6,485.2
(7,862.9)

Note: Values in brackets are corresponding elastic seismic response values.

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10,552.0
(12,379.0)
12,108.0
(13,356.0)
10,567.0
(12,804.0)

C18 cable stress

(MPa)
(5)
182.7
(284.2)
483.9
(709.9)
173.0
(313.7)

1,007.8
(1,118.0)
1,222.8
(1,341.9)
898.64
(1,008.7)

FIG. 6.

Comparison between Elastic and Elastic-Plastic Responses Under Kobe Record

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FIG. 7.

Comparison between Elastic and Elastic-Plastic Responses Under Takatori Record

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FIG. 8.

Comparison between Elastic and Elastic-Plastic Responses Under Higashi Kobe Record

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tigation. Overall displacement and overall energy dissipation

are popularly used as seismic response damage parameters.
They are both quantities that have a direct physical meaning.
Various damage indices have been developed (Loh and Ho
1990). There are global and local damage indices depending on the characteristics of the damage parameters used.
Most damage indices are based on a single-degree-of-freedom
system or experiments in which the cycle numbers are limited.
Actually, in the numerical computation of the elastic-plastic
seismic responses for complicated structures, a large number
of degrees of freedom and cycle numbers are used. Therefore,
further research is needed to characterize the elastic-plastic
seismic damage, which can be easily determined in the NFEM
numerical computation of structural elastic-plastic seismic response.
Seismic damage indices should take into account both the
maximum deformation and the cyclic effects. As a suitable
seismic damage parameter, it should possess the cumulative
characteristics during cyclic loading that can be conveniently
determined. Plastic strains possess cumulative characteristics
during cycle loading, and it is part of the direct output of the
elastic-plastic seismic response computation with numerical
methods such as the NFEM. The maximum equivalent plastic
strain pmax of the structural elements may therefore be a suitable parameter to evaluate the inelastic deformation intensity
or the damage intensity of the structural elastic-plastic seismic
response. Similar to the maximum displacement ductility ratio
where the ductility index is the ratio of the maximum displacement xmax to the yield displacement xy, based on the plastic
strain of structural elements, a new kind of the seismic damage
index called the maximum equivalent plastic strain ratio is
proposed, which is defined as
=

pmax
y

(3)

where pmax = total maximum equivalent plastic strain accumulated in the structural elements. The denominator y is used
to normalize the damage index. It may be an appropriate strain
as a material constant such as the yielding strain. In the following computation, this strain is chosen to be the plastic
strain p of (2) defined in the bilinear hysteretic model of the
steel girder. Obviously, the maximum equivalent plastic strain
ratio is a kind of local damage index because the strain is
a local parameter.
The maximum equivalent plastic strain ratio of the example long span cable-stayed bridge under three strong ground
motions, input along the combined longitudinal and vertical
directions, are listed in Table 7. It can be found that
Under the Kobe and Takatori earthquake record inputs,
the steel girder element with the maximum equivalent
plastic strain is close to the span center, whereas the element with the maximum equivalent plastic strain is located at the left auxiliary pier under the Higashi Kobe
earthquake record.
Under the Higashi Kobe earthquake record, maximum
equivalent plastic strain ratio is the largest, although
the PGA of the Higashi Kobe record is not the largest
among the three earthquake records. Under the Kobe
TABLE 7.

Maximum Plastic Strain Ductility Ratio

Earthquake Record

Strain
(1)

Kobe
(2)

Takatori
(3)

Higashi Kobe
(4)

Maximum equivalent
4.7314 104 2.2819 102 6.5896 102
plastic strain pmax
Ductility ratio
0.0151
0.729
2.105

earthquake record input with the largest GPA value, maximum equivalent plastic strain ratio becomes the least.
Therefore, the elastic-plastic seismic behavior or elasticplastic seismic damage of long span cable-stayed bridges
depends highly on the characteristics of input earthquake
records and the dynamic properties of the structures. The
earthquake record with the largest PGA value does not
necessarily induce the greatest elastic-plastic seismic damage.
CONCLUSIONS
Several observations can be made from the results of the
preceding analysis:
1. The effect of the dead load must be considered in the
seismic response analysis of long span cable-stayed
bridges. Both linear and nonlinear seismic analyses
should start from the deformed equilibrium configuration
due to dead load.
2. The geometric nonlinearity has little influence on the
seismic response behavior, even under strong earthquake
record inputs. Small deformation seismic analysis is adequate as was concluded by Fleming and Egeseli (1980)
or Nazmy and Abdel-Ghaffar (1990b).
3. Both elastic and elastic-plastic seismic behavior of long
span cable-stayed bridges depend highly on the characteristics of earthquake records and the dynamic properties of the bridge. The earthquake record with the largest
PGA value does not necessarily induce the greatest maximum responses and vice versa.
4. The elastic-plastic effects tend to reduce the seismic responses.
5. The elastic-plastic seismic damage index called the maximum equivalent plastic strain ratio proposed in this paper, which is a local value of the damage index, provides
a measure of elastic-plastic seismic damage or ductility
at the element level. It can be used in the evaluation of
damage during elastic-plastic seismic response analyses.
The index is particularly suitable when the NFEM is
used in the elastic-plastic seismic analysis.
6. The elastic-plastic damage of long span cable-stayed
bridges caused by strong ground motions is associated
with their own structural dynamic properties and the
characteristics of earthquake records. The earthquake
record with the largest PGA value also does not induce
the greatest elastic-plastic seismic damage.
APPENDIX.

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