Bewertung historischer Brückenlager - Das Kontaktproblem [Teil 2]

Assessment of historical bridge bearings: The contact problem - part 2.

This paper addresses the calculation of stresses within the contact zone of historical bridge bearings. Special attention is paid to the contact between ball stud and bearing cup. It will be shown that the stresses calculated according to the Hertzian theory at the idealised analogous geometry of a ball on a plate present considerable differences to the stresses numerically calculated at the real geometry of a ball stud on a bearing cup. Afterwards the causes and influencing factors of these failures are discussed, and a method to improve them significantly is provided.