Stability assessment of a suspension bridge considering the tanker fire nearby steel-pylon

This paper presents an approach for investigating the stability performance of a three-pylons suspension bridge considering the tanker fire nearby middle steel-pylon. The proposed approach comprises of two steps, named as heat-transfer analysis and structural stability analysis. The first step involves the definition and simulation of fire scenarios, and the heat-transfer process from flame to the middle-pylon. The second step involves the stability performance under different fire scenarios, and the parametric study of burning time, fire area and fire location. Results show that the current fire temperature curves without considering height effects would strongly overestimate the influence of tanker fire. The stability coefficient drops significantly after 30 min and strongly dependent on the fire size and the burning location. The approach and the conclusions are of important value in the safety assessment, management, and maintenance of cable-supported bridges with steel pylons. (c) 2020 Published by Elsevier Ltd.