MR Damping System on Dongting Lake Cable-Stayed Bridge

The Dongting Lake Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge crossing the Dongting Lake where it meets the Yangtze River in southern central China. After this bridge was completed in 1999, its cables were observed to be sensitive to rain-wind-induced vibration, especially under adverse weather conditions of both rain and wind. To investigate the possibility of using MR damping systems to reduce cable vibration, a joint project between the Central South University of China and the Hong Kong Polytechnic University was conducted. Based on the promising research results, the bridge authority decided to install MR damping systems on the longest 156 stay cables. The installation started in July 2001 and finished in June 2002, making it the world's first application of MR dampers on cable-stayed bridge to suppress the rain-wind-induced cable vibration. As a visible and permanent aspect of the bridge, the MR damping system must be aesthetically pleasing, reliable, durable, easy to maintain, as well as effective in vibration mitigation. Substantial work was done to meet these requirements. This paper describes the implementation of MR damping systems for cable vibration reduction.