Verification of Structural Performance of a Main Tower Inclined Suspension Bridge by Simple Monitoring and FE Analysis

This study conducted a simple monitoring for a deformed suspension bridge in Myanmar to confirm advances in deformation and verified the structural performance by FEM. The bridge is Twantay Bridge those main towers were inclined due to the movement of anchor blocks, that resulted in lowering of the road surface level. Therefore, inclinometers were set for simple monitoring to confirm advances in the deformation. The result of measurements performed for 50 days did not indicate any significant advances in inclination with respect to the main towers. The FE analysis to evaluate the structural performance estimated the current condition of the bridge by reproducing the construction process of the bridge and simulating the setting and removal of concrete blocks used as bridge railings as well as the sliding of anchor blocks. At each step of the analysis, the results were compared with the measured data to verify the appropriateness of the analysis. The findings confirmed that the current tensile force of the cable did not result in hazardous conditions that led to the rupture of the cable.