Hydroelasticity based fatigue assessment of the connector for a ribbon bridge subjected to a moving load q Cong Wang a, b , Shixiao Fu b , Weicheng Cui c, b, * a China Offshore Oil Engineering Company Limited, Tianjin 300451, China b State Key Laboratory of Ocean Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200030, China c China Ship Scientific Research Center, Wuxi 214082, China article info Article history: Received 20 June 2007 Received in revised form 7 May 2008 Accepted 16 June 2008 Available online xxx Keywords: Hydroelasticity Fatigue Ribbon bridge Connector Moving load Local stress–strain approach abstract In this paper, the prediction of the hydroelastic response of the floating bridge and the fatigue behavior of the connectors is pre- sented. And based on the hydroelastic response analysis of the ribbon bridge, the dynamic alternating load of the connector can be obtained, in that the fatigue behavior analysis of the connector simulated by the solid elements can be conducted by employing the local stress–strain approach. It is revealed that the sequence of the dynamic loads acting on the connectors, the value of various fatigue parameters and the ultimate tensile strength should be sufficiently considered, especially the passing speed of a moving load, so that it can significantly reduce the fatigue damage of the connectors. Ó 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction For the ribbon bridge, which plays a critical role in the utilization of national defense and civil engineering, subjected to a moving load, the estimation of the fatigue life for the connector is an inevitable procedure in the design stage of the floating bridge. Presently, a wide range of papers have covered the prediction of the hydroelastic response of floating bridges by employing various approaches, from the simplified analytical and numerical methods to the more complicated and q This project was supported by the Commission of Science Technology and Industry for National Defense. * Corresponding author. China Ship Scientific Research Center, P.O. Box 116, Wuxi, Jiangsu 214082, China. Tel.: þ 86 510 85555660; fax: þ 86 510 85555193. E-mail address: wccui@sjtu.edu.cn (W. C. Cui). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Marine Structures journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ marstruc ARTICLE IN PRESS 0951-8339/$ – see front matter Ó 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.marstruc.2008.06.009 Marine Structures xxx (2008) 1–15 Please cite this article in press as: Wang C, et al., Hydroelasticity based fatigue assessment of the connector for a ribbon bridge subjected to a moving load, Marine Structures (2008), doi:10.1016/ j.marstruc.2008.06.009