A Fundamental Study on the Shock Cushioning Characteristics of a Novel pin-Fixed Aseismatic Connector for Bridges

This paper presents a novel pin-fixed aseismatic connector for bridges. A feature of this device is that the anchorage areas of both ends are connected with hinges; thus, there are no restrictions with respect to their mounting angles. Additionally, the PC cable of this device is given an appropriate amount of sag; thus, within the range of the sag the structure is capable of absorbing the amount of displacement because of temperature changes and live loads. In addition, this device has a certain shock-cushioning effect because of the rubber material surrounding the hinge pins. However, there is no quantitative evaluation method on the shock-cushioning effect of this device. Therefore, in this study, the shock-cushioning effect of the novel pin-fixed aseismatic connector for bridges is investigated using impact load tests and numerical analysis. It is found that the shock-cushioning effect of this device is almost equal to similar aseismatic connectors. Furthermore, it is also confirmed that their effects can be quantitatively evaluated using impact response analysis.