The effect of salt freeze-thaw cycles coupled with carbonation on the mechanical performance of quick hardening sulphoaluminate cement-based reactive powder concrete combined with basalt fibers was investigated. The ratios of basalt fibers in sulphoaluminate cement-based reactive powder concrete (SAC-RPC) were 1%, 2%, 3% and 4% by the volume of concrete. The mechanical strengths (compressive strength, flexural strength and bonding strength) of SAC-RPC were investigated after curing for 5 h, 1 d, 14 d and 28 d, respectively. Meanwhile, the mechanical strengths of resultant concrete were detected, when different NaCl freeze-thaw cycles and carbonation were adopted. Results showed that the addition of basalt fibers could effectively improve the mechanical strengths, especially the flexural strength of SAC-RPC. The dosage of 3.0% was the threshold value affected mechanical strengths. The flexural, compressive and bonding strengths of SAC-RPC were higher than 8.53 MPa, 34 MPa and 3.21 MPa, respectively. The mass loss and mechanical strengths loss of SAC-RPC increased in the form of quadratic function with the increasing number of NaCl freeze-thaw cycles and varied in the form of quadratic decreasing function. Meanwhile, the effect of carbonation on the mechanical strengths of SAC-RPC can be ignored. Additionally, the coupling effect of salt freeze-thaw cycles and carbonation could accelerate the attenuation of concrete strength. The mechanical strengths loss demonstrated a decreased quadratic function with the increasing volume of basalt fibers.

Vehicle load may not only cause vertical deformation and vibration of suspension bridge but also lead to longitudinal deformation and vibration. And the longitudinal behavior is closely related to the durability of the girder end devices and the bending fatigue failure of suspenders. In this study, the longitudinal deformation behavior and longitudinal vibration of suspension bridge under vehicles, as well as the related influencing factors, are investigated. The underlying mechanism of girder longitudinal movement under the moving vehicles is revealed. Based on the simplified vehicle model of vertical concentrated force, the characteristics of main cable deformation and girder longitudinal displacement under vertical loads are analyzed first. Then, the longitudinal motion equation of the girder under vertical moving loads is derived. Finally, a single long‐span suspension bridge is employed in the case study, and the girder longitudinal response and influencing factors are investigated based on both numerical simulation and field monitoring. Results indicate that the asymmetric vertical load leads to cable longitudinal deflection owing to the geometrically nonlinear characteristic of the main cable, leading to longitudinal movement of the girder. The results of field monitoring and numerical simulation indicate that the girder moves quasi‐statically and reciprocates longitudinally with centimeter amplitude under normal operational loads.

Recent research showed that ultrahigh‐performance concrete (UHPC) and orthotropic steel bridge decks could be integrated to form steel‐UHPC composite sections offering superior load‐carrying capacity and fatigue resistance. This study investigates the effects of longitudinal stiffener types on the fatigue resistance of steel‐UHPC composite sections. Three types of longitudinal stiffeners were compared, including U‐ribs, bulb flat ribs, and plate ribs. Finite element analysis and full‐scale fatigue tests were performed to investigate the load‐carrying capacity and fatigue resistance of the composite bridge decks with different stiffeners. Besides, the proposed steel‐UHPC composite bridge decks were compared with conventional orthotropic steel decks. The results show that steel box girders with bulb flat rib composite deck have reasonable fatigue resistance, construction efficiency, and economic benefits. This study is expected to promote the design and evaluation of economic steel‐UHPC composite bridge decks to achieve higher mechanical performance and long‐term durability.

This paper investigates the optimization of viscoelastic dampers (VEDs) for vibration control of a transmission line tower. Considering the stiffness of the steel brace connected to a VED, the mechanical model of the VED‐brace system was established. Subsequently, the additional modal damping ratio of the transmission line tower attached with VEDs was obtained analytically. Furthermore, the finite element model of a two‐circuit transmission line tower with VEDs was built in ANSYS software, and the influences of installation positions and parameters of VEDs on the additional modal damping ratio were clarified. In addition, the control performance of VEDs on the transmission line tower subjected to wind excitations was emphatically illustrated. The results show that the stiffness of the steel brace connected to a VED has a significant effect on the maximum additional modal damping ratio of the VED‐brace system provided for the transmission line tower and the optimal parameters of the VED. Meanwhile, the installation positions of VEDs dramatically influence the additional modal damping ratio. Moreover, the increase of the brace stiffness and the loss factor is beneficial to improve the control performance of VEDs. Besides that, the VEDs present superior control performance on the top displacement of the transmission line tower as well as the transverse bending vibration energy.