Reliability Analysis of a Suspension Bridge Affected by Hydrogen Induced Cracking Based upon Response Surface Method

Abstract

This paper deals with the Hydrogen Induced Cracking (HIC) of wires in a cable of a suspension bridge. The main objective is to compare the safety of a bridge system locally and globally. In a deterministic analysis stage, HIC in cable wires is calculated in order to evaluate the local safety of the main cable of suspension bridge. In the local analysis, a decoupling technique has been developed for the evaluation of crack propagations in a wire section driven by the hydrogen diffusion to a wire section, in terms of two 2-dimensional finite element models. One is for the fracture analysis in a longitudinal section, and the other is for a hydrogen diffusion model in a horizontal section. In a stochastic analysis stage, an ultimate limit state function for the cracking in cable wires is considered for the local safety of main cable. Using the ultimate limit state, the reliability of time-dependent and crack depth-dependent HIC of a cable wire has been calculated in component and parallel system reliability analysis. Globally, a serviceability limit state based on the global responses of a stiffening girder is also evaluated. Based on the observed difference of safeties between the global and local behaviors of the suspension bridge system, the proposed solutions are discussed.