Thermal behaviors of Tsing Ma Suspension Bridge

5th International Conference on Bridge Maintenance, Safety and Management, IABMAS 2010, Philadelphia, PA, 11-15 July 2010With a total span of 2132 m, the Tsing Ma Suspension Bridge is subjected to daily, seasonal, and yearly environmental thermal effects induced by solar radiation and ambient air temperature. This paper studies on temperature distribution of the Tsing Ma Suspension Bridge via both field monitoring and thermodynamic analysis. Thermodynamic models are established and transient heat-transfer analysis is conducted to predict the temperature distribution of the structure at different time. The analytical temperature results are compared with those from the Wind And Structural Health Monitoring System (WASHMS) for Tsing Ma.Department of Civil and Environmental EngineeringRefereed conference pape