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Existence of Torsional Solitons in a Beam Model of Suspension Bridge

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Abstract

This paper studies the existence of solitons, namely stable solitary waves, in an idealized suspension bridge. The bridge is modeled as an unbounded degenerate plate, that is, a central beam with cross sections, and displays two degrees of freedom: the vertical displacement of the beam and the torsional angles of the cross sections. Under fairly general assumptions, we prove the existence of solitons. Under the additional assumption of large tension in the sustaining cables, we prove that these solitons have a nontrivial torsional component. This appears relevant for security since several suspension bridges collapsed due to torsional oscillations.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Matematica, Università degli Studi di Pisa, Via Filippo Buonarroti 1/c, 56127, Pisa, Italy

    Vieri Benci

  2. Centro Interdisciplinare “B. Segre”, Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Rome, Italy

    Vieri Benci

  3. Dipartimento di Matematica, Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro, Via Orabona 4, 70125, Bari, Italy

    Donato Fortunato

  4. INFN, Sezione di Bari, Bari, Italy

    Donato Fortunato

  5. Dipartimento di Matematica, Politecnico di Milano, Piazza L. da Vinci 32, 20133, Milan, Italy

    Filippo Gazzola

Authors
  1. Vieri Benci
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  2. Donato Fortunato
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  3. Filippo Gazzola
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Filippo Gazzola.

Additional information

Communicated by G. Dal Maso

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Benci, V., Fortunato, D. & Gazzola, F. Existence of Torsional Solitons in a Beam Model of Suspension Bridge. Arch Rational Mech Anal 226, 559–585 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00205-017-1138-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00205-017-1138-8

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