Multiobjective Optimal Control of Longitudinal Seismic Response of a Multitower Cable-Stayed Bridge

The dynamic behavior of a multitower cable-stayed bridge with the application of partially longitudinal constraint system using viscous fluid dampers under real earthquake ground motions is presented. The study is based on the dynamic finite element model of the Jiashao Bridge, a six-tower cable-stayed bridge in China. The prime aim of the study is to investigate the effectiveness of viscous fluid dampers on the longitudinal seismic responses of the bridge and put forth a multiobjective optimization design method to determine the optimized parameters of the viscous fluid dampers. The results of the investigations show that the control objective of the multitower cable-stayed bridge with the partially longitudinal constraint system is to yield maximum reductions in the base forces of bridge towers longitudinally restricted with the bridge deck, with slight increases in the base forces of bridge towers longitudinally unrestricted with the bridge deck. To this end, a multiobjective optimization design method that uses a nondominating sort genetic algorithm II (NSGA-II) is used to optimize parameters of the viscous fluid dampers. The effectiveness of the proposed optimization design method is demonstrated for the multitower cable-stayed bridge with the partially longitudinal constraint system, which reveals that a design engineer can choose a set of proper parameters of the viscous fluid dampers from Pareto optimal fronts that can satisfy the desired performance requirements.