Techno Press
Techno Press

Structural Engineering and Mechanics
  Volume 97, Number 2, January25 2026 , pages 163-181
DOI: https://doi.org/10.12989/sem.2026.97.2.163
 


Wear analysis of fork-ear plates in hanger connectors of longspan suspension bridge and its effect on bearing capacity
Xiaopeng Wang, Song Xing, Yongjun Zhou, Peiyuan Hou, Yangming Xu

 
Abstract
    The hanger connectors are crucial components that connect the hangers to the stiffening girders. During operation, the back-twist effect of the hangers can lead to wear between the fork-ear plates of the connectors and the ear plates of the stiffening girder. To quantitatively identify the wear depth of fork-ear plates, the axial forces and the back-twist torque of the hanger are firstly calculated. Then, the longitudinal relative angle of the hanger connector is analyzed. Finally, the wear depth of the fork-ear plates is obtained by the Archard model. The results indicate that: when the design twist angle of the hanger is (3+-0.5)o, the wear depth of the fork-ear plate within the first month is 0.0246-0.0267 mm and the average wear depth is 0.0256 mm. After 120 months, the wear depth is 0.2308-0.2931 mm and the average wear depth is 0.2630 mm. The thickness loss is about 0.6%, and the bearing capacity loss is about 2.09%. The wear depth increases with the increase of the twist angle and axial force of the hanger, but the rate of increase continuously decreases. As the wear depth increases, the effect of wear on its bearing capacity should be fully considered.
 
Key Words
    back-twist effect; bearing capacity; hanger connector; suspension bridge; wear depth
 
Address
Xiaopeng Wang: School of Highway, Chang'an University, Xi'an 710064, China; Shaanxi Railway Institute, Weinan 714000, China
Song Xing: Bay Area Super Major Bridge Maintenance Technology Center of Guangdong, Highway Construction Co. Ltd., Guangzhou 510635, China
Yongjun Zhou: School of Highway, Chang'an University, Xi'an 710064, China
Peiyuan Hou: School of Highway, Chang'an University, Xi'an 710064, China; Tianjin
 

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