Mechanical Behaviors of Special Joints of Inclined Trusses of the Zhengzhou Yellow River Highway-railway Cable-stayed Bridge

The 3D FEM model of the integral joints of the bottom chord of the inclined main truss of the Zhengzhou Yellow River Highway-railway Bridge was established by using ANSYS.The law of stress distribution of the integral joints subjected to be designed most unfavorable load combination was investigated.Specimen tests of the integral joints with a scale of 1∶2 were carried out.Comparing FEM analysis with the specimen tests,the stresses at test points in the FEM model were found to be in good agreement with those of tested specimens.The fine numerical FEM analysis can be used as an effective method to determine local stress distribution of the integral joints and as the basis of structure design.In the loading process where the maximum load reaches 1.4 times of the design load,the linear relationship between measured strains and applied loads indicates that all test points remain in a linear elastic state and stresses of all members are less than the allowable stresses specified in the design code.The bearing capacity of the integral joints is seen to meet the need of design and to leave sufficient room for the structure safety.