ABSTRACT
The Bosphorus Bridge is an iconic suspension bridge located in the heart of Istanbul, Turkey serving as an extremely important link of the city transportation network with an average daily traffic of around 190,000 vehicle/day. Recently, the bridge has undergone a major retrofit work which also included replacement of the entire suspender system by changing the inclined orientation of the hangers to vertical. The study aims to evaluate the fatigue performance of the newly installed hanger cables under traffic loads. Three-dimensional finite element model of the bridge is established and the model is verified by using the ambient vibration measurements taken from the bridge. A realistic traffic time history loading scenario is generated. The resulting stress time histories of the hanger cables are obtained from the analytical model. Fatigue analysis and life prediction of hanger cables under variable amplitude stress history due to traffic loading is discussed.
