Comportamento mecânico de dispositivos de dissipação de energia fabricados com elastômeros para vigas de pontes

Abstract

Bearing pads are devices that perform the coupling between beams and columns in bridges and viaducts. In its historical context, new materials and technologies were inserted in the manufacturing process of the pads to follow the modernization of their use in these structures. Reinforced Neoprene pads or reinforced elastomeric bearing pads, composed of intermediate layers of steel and rubber, stand out in the sector for its efficiency, durability and low cost. The use of rubber allows the attenuation of vibrations, reduction of noise and accommodation of rotation/translation movements arising from the movement of vehicles, expansion, temperature changes, earthquakes, etc. Rubbers are elastomeric materials that exhibit highly non-linear elastic behavior, being characterized by hyperelastic models developed through a strain energy function. The hyperelastic models need to be properly calibrated through experimental test responses of the material when submitted to different deformation modes. In this work, a methodology for computational modeling is propused using Abaqus®, a finite element method commercial software capable to simulate the behavior of an elastomeric bearing pad when subjected to compression and shearing. The constitutive relations of classic hyperelastic models (Yeoh, Arruda-Boyce and Ogden) are considered, calibrated through material experimental data, which were carried out by the bearing pads manufacture. To validate the model, responses from analytical models are used, as well as responses obtained in tests of bearing pad prototypes. Through this study, a knowledge of the behavior of elastomeric materials is attempted, combining studies and formulations developed over the years and applying them in a finite element software in order to obtain a computational model that can benefit the projects development of the bearing pads and its performance in structures.