Fatigue Mitigation in a Long Span Suspension Bridge with a Steel Frame Deck

Wind is regarded as an important source of fatigue damage for long span bridges. In this paper a suspension bridge model with steel deck is accounted as a case study for performing numerical simulations under buffeting wind loading. Structural control solutions can give an important contribution to satisfy the high standard of performance, feasibility and safety expected by these structures. Passive and semi-active control strategies are implemented. Standard deviation of bending moment in the bridge deck is a valuable parameter for assessing possible fatigue effects. The proposed control strategies significantly reduce the value of this parameter for gale type winds.