Bridges

Roads and Maritime Services of Transport for NSW in collaboration with the Bridge Solution Alliance formed by Freyssinet, Lend Lease and Sage Automation undertook a major maintenance project to solve stay cable vibrations, strengthening-related issues and improved safety and maintenance access for the ANZAC Cable Stayed Bridge. The work was completed in October 2013.The vibration issues were dealt with using surface treatment and dampers to the stay cables. However, due to concerns over fatigue in the stay cables and increased loadings on the deck, a structural health monitoring system was installed to record live load variations, cable wire breakages and the effectiveness of the vibration mitigation undertaken. Several monitoring systems were considered before adopting the Advitam EverSense acoustic monitoring system in combination with other instrumentation. Advitam is a part of the Freyssinet Group and its system is extensively being used in numerous major bridges around the world. This paper discusses theoretical/design live load and fatigue assessments for the stay cables and edge beams, based on past and current Australian bridge design standards. The bridge was also assessed using a probabilistic assessment method (Bridge Specific Assessment for Live Loads) and compares current vehicle loading on the bridge with code design loadings.This paper also discusses the monitoring criteria and monitoring system adopted to manage this iconic infrastructure into the future.