Experimental Vibration Analysis for Civil Engineering Structures

383

A peculiar case of non-linear cable resonance combination of a

cable-stayed bridge submitted to wind and traffic
O. Boujard
Centre Scientifique et Technique du Btiment (CSTB), Nantes, France

S. Pernot & C.H. Lamarque

Civil Engineering Departement, Ecole Nationale des Travaux Publics de lEtat, Vaulx-en-Velin, France

A. Berlioz
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Universit Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France

ABSTRACT: Time-frequency analysis of the decks and pylons accelerations has enabled to
identify nonlinear couplings between global modes of the structure, submitted to wind and traffic, and one stay-cable of the Iroise Bridge, which suffered episodic vibrations. A nonlinear reduced model of the bridge is then introduced, for a future parametric analysis of the influence
on the resonance regimes of a negative aerodynamic damping linked to an aeroelastic wind effect on the cable, evidenced in another study (Boujard & Grillaud 2007). The combination of
the wind effect and this complex nonlinear phenomenon is suspected to be responsible for the
onset of cables vibrations.

1 INTRODUCTION

Figure 1. Localization of the damaged stay-cables of the Iroise Bridge

Consequently to the observation of cracks at the bottom anchorages of 4 stay-cables of its main
span, the Iroise Bridge, France, has been instrumented by the C.S.T.B. since 2004 to bring an
insight in the understanding of local vibratory phenomena. To highlight the occurrence of the
phenomenon likely responsible for the cracks, external dampers of the H3Q22 stay-cable were
removed (Fig. 1). Then the monitoring revealed episodic oscillations of this stay in narrow
ranges of wind speed (Fig. 2) and direction. Therefore, a local peculiar aerodynamic instability,
presented in a companion paper (Boujard & Grillaud 2007), was first suspected to be at the origin of the oscillations.
Nevertheless, although this wind effect seems to be responsible for a decrease of the effective
damping of the cable, it does not explain the quasi-systematic excitation of the 3rd mode of the
stay, obvious on Figure 2. Besides, behaviour of the cable during vibration events is hardly always the same, with a steep increase of the 3rd mode amplitude along with a slower excitation of
the 2nd one, sometimes followed by a short apparition of the 1st mode (Figs 3a, b). Therefore,
repetition of the same scenario has lead the authors to consider the eventuality of a complex

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nonlinear coupling between the stay-cable and some global modes of the structure. This paper
deals with this nonlinear dynamics of the Iroise Bridge under wind and traffic.

Figure 2. Peak modal amplitude of the dominant mode of the H3Q22 stay-cable versus the mean wind
speed.

Figure 3. Example of vertical displacement time-history (a) and peak modal amplitude time-history (b) of
the H3Q22 stay-cable.

Contribution of different modes of the H3Q22 stay-cable and the global structure are first underlined from full-scale measurements, before the definition of a 4 degrees of freedom nonlinear
reduced model of the bridge. Future prospects for the analysis of this nonlinear dynamic system
through multiple scales method are then sketched in last section.
2 DYNAMICS OF THE STRUCTURE
2.1 H3Q22 stay-cables modes
Figure 2 shows that the first 3 modes of the H3Q22 stay-cable are mainly involved in vibrations.
A previous experimental campaign performed by the CSTB was intended for the assessment of
the first eigen frequencies and the corresponding damping ratios of the stay-cables of the Iroise
Bridge. Table 1 summarizes the characteristics of the first 4 modes of the cables of which anchorages suffered cracks.

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Table 1. Main characteristics of the considered cable-stays (without external dampers).

1st fre1st damp- 2nd fre2nd
3rd fre3rd
4th freStayquency
ing ratio quency
damping quency
damping quency
cable
(Hz)
(%)
(Hz)
ratio (%) (Hz)
ratio (%) (Hz)
H3Q18
0.90
0.154
1.79
0.086
2.69
0.129
3.57
H3Q20
0.78
0.278
1.55
0.291
2.32
0.404
3.10
H3Q21
0.75
0.344
1.50
0.317
2.24
0.223
2.99
H3Q22
0.74
0.178
1.47
0.182
2.20
0.203
2.94

4th
damping
ratio (%)
0.062
0.364
0.243
0.257

It can be noticed from Table 1 that first frequencies of the H3Q20, H3Q21 and H3Q22 staycables are particularly close. This point could comfort the hypothesis that a same coupling with
the global structure is responsible for the cracks at the bottom anchorages of these stays.
2.2 Wind induced excitation of the first 2 bending modes of the deck
The 3 years monitoring of the Iroise Bridge has revealed that under Atlantic West winds, corresponding to the H3Q22 stay-cables vibrations, the first 2 bending modes of the structure, at
F1 = 0.305 and F2 = 0.445 Hz, are mainly excited (Fig. 4a). The mode shapes are presented on
Figures 5a, b.

Figure 4. Power spectral density of decks (a) and pylons (b) accelerations under wind and traffic.

It has to be noticed that the sum of the frequencies of these 2 global modes of the structure
are nearly equal to the first frequency of the H3Q22 stay-cable (f1 = F1 + F2). Therefore, the excitation of the 1rst mode of the H3Q22 cable from times to times (Fig. 2) could be induced by a
combination of these 2 bending modes through a nonlinear coupling with the structure, which
will be taken into account in the following analysis.
Nevertheless, these 2 frequencies of the bridge seem to be far beneath the 3rd frequency of the
cable for being directly responsible for its excitation.

Figure 5. Mode shapes of the first 2 bending modes of the bridge at 0.305 Hz (a) and 0.445 Hz (b).

2.3 Traffic induced excitation of the 2nd bending mode of the pylon
Under ambient excitation by wind and traffic, the power spectral density of the acceleration of
the pylon, measured at the top in the bridge axis, exhibits a component at F3 = 2.94 Hz in addition of the 2 bending components at 0.305 and 0.445 Hz mentioned above (Fig. 4b). At the on-

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set of the H3Q22 stay cables vibrations, these 3 global modes of the structure are present simultaneously on the wavelet scalogram of the acceleration of the pylon (Fig. 6).

Figure 6. Wavelet scalogram of the pylons acceleration at the onset of the stay-cables vibration.

The analysis of the dynamics of the pylon under weak wind (for wind speed around 5 m/s)
revealed that the 2.94 Hz component of the pylon motion, mainly induced by trucks transiting
on the bridge, is responsible for an intermittent excitation of stay cables modes around 3 Hz, 3rd
mode of the H3Q18 stay-cable and 3rd and 4th modes of the H3Q22 stay-cable being particularly
sensitive to this indirect traffic induced vibration (Figs 7a, b).

Figure 7. Wavelet scalogram of the pylons (a) and H3Q33 stay-cables (b) accelerations under traffic induced vibration

In November 23rd 2006, a dynamic testing campaign, sketched in Figure 8, was led on the
Iroise Bridge to identify the local mode of the pylon under traffic induced vibration. Vibratory
tests were performed by using a truck loaded with salt that was driving along the girder at a
speed of roughly 90 km/h, and recording vibratory data of several accelerometers glued on the
interior pylon wall (Fig. 8). The analysis of all available FrF and phase data allowed to display
the localized pylon mode shape, obvious on Figure 8, which appears to be the second bending
mode of the pylon.
Although the 4th mode of the H3Q22 stay-cable is not involved in the vibration (Fig. 2), it has
to be noticed that the 4th cables frequency, which is also twice the second one, coincides with
the pylon mode. Therefore, the hypothesis of a classical parametric excitation (Fujino et al.
1993; Clment & Crmona 1996; Berlioz & Lamarque 2005; Georgakis & Taylor 2005), eventually responsible for the excitation of the 2nd cable mode from times to times (F3 = 2.f2), will
also be included in the following analysis of the Iroise Bridges dynamics.

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Figure 8. Experimental map of November 23rd 2006 testing campaign and identified pylon mode shape.

3 NONLINEAR REDUCED MODEL

Considering that during recorded vibration events only the H3Q22 stay-cable is excited, a reduced model of the structure is used, based on the global/local approach introduced by Fujino et
al. (1993) and Warnitchai et al. (1995). The total motions are then expressed in terms of global
and local ones, the local motions being the modal motions of the H3Q22 stay-cable, the global
ones being the motions of the global structure, which include quasi-static motions of the cables
only.
Notations relative to the H3Q22 stay-cable used in the model are the following : m = the cable mass per unit length, L = the cable length, A = the steel section, E = the Young modulus, =
the inclination angle, H = the static tension, = the Irvine parameter of the stay (Irvine 1981),
qk = the generalized coordinates of vertical cable modes and k = the corresponding natural circular frequencies. Full-scale values of these main parameters are given in Table 2. To simplify
the notations, parameters = mgLcos()/H, k = 1+(-1)k+1 and k = 1+2k/(k)4 are also introduced.
Table 2. Parameters of the full-scale cable-stay.
Mass per
Steel
Stayunit
Length
Diameter
section
cable
length
(m)
(m)
(m)
(kg/m)
H3Q22
79.6
172.0
0.18
25.2

Young
Modulus
(GPa)

Inclination angle ()

190

25.2

Static
tension
(N)
519104

Irvine
parameter
0.176

In the local framework attached to the cable (Fig. 9), the cable displacements are denoted as
u(x,t) for the axial component, v(x,t) for the vertical component perpendicular to the cable axis
and w(x,t) for the horizontal one. All these cable displacements are taken from the static equilibrium. Full-scale vibrations of the H3Q22 stay-cable being mainly vertical, the w component will
be neglected in the following model.

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Figure 9. Definition of the reference frameworks

The Euler-Lagrange equation for the kth cable mode is then:

d Tc

dt q& k

U c
+
=0
q k

(1)

with Tc and Uc, respectively the kinetic and the potential energy of the H3Q22 stay-cable defined as:
2
2
2
1 L u v w
Tc = m + + .dx
2 0 t t t

(2)

2
2
2
L u
1
1
v w
U c = H + + .dx + EAL 2
2 0 x x x
2

(3)

with the axial dynamic strain.

Assuming a cable with small sag, standard simplifications are made (Clment & Crmona
1996):
quasi-static in-plane vertical deflection is assumed to be parabolic:

1 mgL cos( )
x2

y(x ) =
x L
H
2

(4)

dynamic component of the stays axial displacement is negligible compared to the vertical
one u(x,t) being thus given by:

x
1
1
x 2
x 2 4 x 3

(u j (t ) u i (t ))
.
+

2
+
u ( x, t ) =
2
2

L2 3 L3

1 + 12 L 4 1 + 12 L

x x 2

2 (v j (t ) vi (t )) + u i (t )

2 L L

(5)

vertical modess shape are assumed to be those of a taut string. The vertical component of
the cable motion is then:

v( x, t ) = v qs ( x, t ) + v dyn ( x, t )
with:

(6)

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Experimental Vibration Analysis for Civil Engineering Structures

x x2
x
2
(u j (t ) ui (t )) 2
v qs ( x, t ) = vi (t ) + (v j (t ) vi (t ))
L 2 1 + 2 12
L L

kx
v dyn ( x, t ) = q k (t ). sin

L
k

(7)

(8)

Besides in metallic strings, the celerity of axial waves is larger than the celerity of the transversal ones by about one order of magnitude (Fujino et al. 1993). So the axial dynamic strain
can be assumed to be uniform along the cable span. Using all the assumptions, is given by:

1
1 + 2 12

(u (t ) u (t ))
j

1 L dy v
1 L 1 v
+
.dx + .dx
L 0 dx x
L 0 2 x

(9)

Noting Ts, Us and Zk respectively the kinetic and the potential energy of the global structure
and the generalized external force, the Euler-Lagrange equation for the kth global mode is similarly:

d Ts

dt s&k

d Tc
+
dt s&k

U s U c
+
+
= Zk
s k
s k

(10)

the displacements of the global motion of the structure being expressed in the global framework
attached to the bridge:

k , X ( X , Y , Z )
U ( X , Y , Z , t )

V ( X , Y , Z , t ) = s k (t ). k ,Y ( X , Y , Z )
W ( X , Y , Z , t ) k
( X , Y , Z )

k ,Z

(11)

with sk and k,i (with i = X, Y or Z) the generalized coordinate and the component of the modal
deflection in the direction i of the kth global mode of the structure.
It has been shown that 6 modes of the structure could be involved in the onset of the H3Q22
stay-cables vibrations:
the first 3 vertical modes of the cable, which of frequencies (respectively circular frequencies) are noted f1 (1), f2 (2) and f3 (3)
the first 2 bending modes of the bridge, which of frequencies (respectively circular frequencies) are noted F1 (1) and F2 (2)
the bending mode of the pylon (considered as a global mode), which of frequency is noted F3
(3).
Then, noting s1, s2 and s3 respectively the generalized coordinate of the first 2 bending modes
of the bridge and of the pylons mode, the nonlinear reduced model is:

2
2
q&&1 + 2 11 q&1 + 1 q1 + B1i .s i + C13 .q3 .q1 + (C11 + D11 ).q1
i =1

2
2
2
2

E
.
q
E
.
q
E
.
q
.
q
+
+
+

1
11 1
12 2
13 3
1
3
3

2
2
2

A
.
q
D
.
q
D
.
q
F
.
s
G1i .&s&i
=

+
+
+
+

1
13 3
12 2
13 3
1i i
i =1
i =1

(12)

3
2
q&&2 + 2 2 2 q& 2 + 2 q 2 + B2i .s i + C 21 .q1 + C 23 .q3 .q 2

i =1

3
2
2
2
2

+ 2 E 21 .q1 + E 22 .q 2 + E 23 .q3 .q 2 = G 2i .&s&i

i =1

(13)

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2
2
q&&3 + 2 3 3 q& 3 + 3 q 3 + B3i .s i + C 31 .q1 .q3 + (C 33 + D33 ).q3
i =1

2
2
2
2
+ 3 E 31 .q1 + E 32 .q 2 + E33 .q 3 .q3

3
3

2
2
2

A
.
q
D
.
q
D
.
q
F
.
s
G3i .&s&i
=

+
+
+
+

3
31 1
31 1
32 2
3i i
i =1
i =1

(14)

&s&k + 2 k k s&k + ( k )2 s k

3
3

1
2
.
Z
P
.
q
P
.
q
Q
.
q
Rki .q&&i
=

+
+
+

k
k
1
1
k
3
3
ki
i

M
i =1
i =1

(15)

with:

22 k l
Akl = 3 4 , Bki =
k l k

2U i

2 L k 1 +

2 l
(i = 1, 2, 3), C kl =
,
Ll k
2

12

2 l 2 k
2 2 l 2
Dkl =
, E kl =
, Fki =
2Lk 3 k
4 2 L2 k
Gki =

2 k 2U i
. k ,
2

(k )3 1 + k
12
2

2 k 2U i
2Vi
i .U k
EA

,
,
=
P
ki
2
(
1 + 12 )L i
2 k
3
(k ) 1 +
12
2

mL2 iU k mLVk
EA
i
+
Qki =
.U k , Rki =
i
4 1 + 2 12 L
1 + 2 12 (i )3

and the modal participation factors Ui and Vi (i = 1,2 or 3) being given by:
Ui = i,Y(XDeck, YDeck, ZDeck).sin()- i,X(XPylon, YPylon, ZPylon).cos()
Vi = -i,X(XPylon, YPylon, ZPylon).sin()+(-1)i+1. i,Y(XDeck, YDeck, ZDeck).cos().
For the following analysis, this 6 degrees-of-freedom model is further reduced, assuming that
the cable motion do not modify the bridge motion according to its first 2 bending modes. This
hypothesis is justified by the ratio between the cables and the decks mass and the difference
between the corresponding frequencies. So the bridge motion according to its first 2 bending
modes will be considered as sinusoidal forcing terms in the equations (12), (13) and (14). The
influence on the resulting 4 d.o.f. dynamic system of the amplitudes of these forcing terms,
along with the effective damping ratios of the cable, will then be assessed by the multiple scales
method (Nayfeh & Mook 1979).
4 ANALYSIS OF THE NONLINEAR MODEL BY THE MULTIPLE SCALES METHOD
The multiple scale method is currently being applied to the present 4 degrees-of-freedom
nonlinear model. Among parametric resonances, four potential scenarios (which can occur simultaneously) must be checked analytically:
resonance of the 1st cable mode by combination of the first 2 bending modes of the bridge:
f1 = F1 + F 2
classical parametric excitation of the 2nd cable mode by the local bending mode of the pylon:
F3 = 2.f 2
resonance of the 2nd cable mode by internal non linear coupling with the first one: f2 = 2.f 1

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391

complex resonance of the 3rd cable mode by combination of the first 2 bending modes of the
bridge and the local mode of the pylon: f3 = F3 -(F1 + F 2).
All other possible mechanisms likely to provoke resonances are linear combinations of these
latter. In our multiple scale programming, four extra equations are required in the set of cable
equations so as to obtain secular terms. Previous four resonance assumptions are therefore simultaneously made and thus the model provides stationary solutions. A parametric study with
respect to damping ratios and forcing amplitudes shall later be performed to emphasize the
weight of each resonance depending on the studied case.
5 CONCLUSIONS
An experimental investigation of the Iroise Bridge dynamics stressed nonlinear parametric resonances between the global structure submitted to wind and traffic and some cable stays H3Q18
through H3Q22, of which anchorages suffered cracks. The diagnostic reveals four possible
resonance mechanisms involving the first 3 in-plane cable modes, a localized mode of pylon
and the first 2 bending modes of the global structure. At first sight, the analysis of recorded data
seems to demonstrate the existence of a transition state featuring classical parametric resonance
fs3 = 2.f c2. A reduced 6 d.o.f. model of the cable-stayed-bridge is currently studied by the multiple scale method to bring a better understanding of the dynamic behaviour of the stay H3Q22. A
parametric analysis with respect to cable damping ratios is particularly conducted to investigate
the influence on the resonance regimes of a negative aerodynamic damping linked to an aeroelastic wind effect on cable, evidenced by wind-tunnel tests (Boujard & Grillaud 2007).
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