Self-centering cable with metal-based energy-dissipation

Abstract

A self-centering cable includes a restoring and energy-dissipation unit and a cable reinforcement connected to the restoring and energy-dissipation unit by a connecting unit. The restoring and energy-dissipation unit includes an outer trough, an axial tube provided in an opening at the upper end of the outer trough, two inverted U-shaped mild steel members provided side by side and fixedly mounted in the outer trough, an axial pallet sandwiched between and fixedly connected to the two inverted U-shaped mild steel members, and a disc spring set provided in the outer trough and sleeved onto the axial tube. The cable reinforcement includes a tensile reinforcement penetrating into a reinforcement bottom connector and a reinforcement top connector. The reinforcement bottom connector is connected to the axial tube, the top end connector, connected to the reinforcement top connector, and a bottom end connector are connected to a structure to be reinforced.

Claims

1. A self-centering cable with metal-based energy-dissipation, comprising a restoring and energy-dissipation unit and a cable reinforcement connected to the restoring and energy-dissipation unit through a connecting unit, wherein the restoring and energy-dissipation unit comprises an outer trough, an axial tube disposed in an upper-end opening of the outer trough, two inverted U-shaped mild steel members arranged side by side and fixedly mounted in the outer trough, an axial pallet sandwiched by and fixedly connected to the two inverted U-shaped mild steel members, and a disc spring set disposed in the outer trough and sleeved on the axial tube; and the connecting unit comprises a reinforcement-bottom connector and a reinforcement-top connector, wherein the reinforcement-bottom connector and the reinforcement-top connector are disposed at an upper end of the axial tube, the cable reinforcement comprises a tensile reinforcement, a reinforcement-top anchor head and a reinforcement-bottom anchor head, wherein the reinforcement-top anchor head and the reinforcement-bottom anchor head are respectively disposed at an upper end and an lower end of the tensile reinforcement, the reinforcement-bottom connector is connected to the axial tube, the tensile reinforcement is anchored on the reinforcement-bottom connector through the reinforcement-bottom anchor head, and the tensile reinforcement is anchored on the reinforcement-top connector through the reinforcement-top anchor head.

2. The self-centering cable with metal-based energy-dissipation according to claim 1, wherein a lower end of the axial tube is connected to an end head of an upper end of the axial pallet in a screwed manner, a locking nut is mounted on the axial tube through an external screw thread provided at the upper end of the axial tube, a pre-pressure is applied to the disc spring set sleeved on the axial tube, and a compression amount and the pre-pressure of the disc spring set are adjusted by adjusting a length of the locking nut screwed into the axial tube.

3. The self-centering cable with metal-based energy-dissipation according to claim 1, wherein the two inverted U-shaped mild steel members are made of mild steel, are provided with holes at bottom ends of two side walls of the two inverted U-shaped mild steel members, and are mounted in the outer trough through a first group of high-strength bolts; the two inverted U-shaped mild steel members and the axial pallet sandwiched between the two inverted U-shaped mild steel members are connected as a whole through a second group of the high-strength bolts, and an energy dissipation capacity of the self-centering cable with metal-based energy-dissipation is adjusted by adjusting a wall thickness and a width of the two inverted U-shaped mild steel members.

4. The self-centering cable with metal-based energy-dissipation according to claim 3, wherein the axial pallet has a T-shaped cross-section, and the axial pallet comprises a vertical lower-end plate, a middle pallet disposed at a top of the lower-end plate and an end head disposed on an upper side of the middle pallet, wherein the middle pallet supports the disc spring set, the end head is provided with an external screw thread, and the lower-end plate is disposed between the two inverted U-shaped mild steel members and is connected to the two inverted U-shaped mild steel members through the second group of the high-strength bolts.

5. The self-centering cable with metal-based energy-dissipation according to claim 1, wherein a bottom-end connector is disposed on a bottom side of the outer trough, the reinforcement-top connector is connected to a top-end connector, and the bottom-end connector and the top-end connector are separately connected to a to-be-reinforced structure by using a pin shaft connection, to ensure axial force transmission of the tensile reinforcement.

6. The self-centering cable with metal-based energy-dissipation according to claim 1, wherein the axial pallet has a T-shaped cross-section, and the axial pallet comprises a vertical lower-end plate, a middle pallet disposed at a top of the lower-end plate and an end head disposed on an upper side of the middle pallet, wherein the middle pallet supports the disc spring set, the end head is provided with an external screw thread, and the lower-end plate is disposed between the two inverted U-shaped mild steel members and is connected to the two inverted U-shaped mild steel members through a second group of high-strength bolts.

7. The self-centering cable with metal-based energy-dissipation according to claim 2, wherein the axial pallet has a T-shaped cross-section, and the axial pallet comprises a vertical lower-end plate, a middle pallet disposed at a top of the lower-end plate and an end head disposed on an upper side of the middle pallet, wherein the middle pallet supports the disc spring set, the end head is provided with an external screw thread, and the lower-end plate is disposed between the two inverted U-shaped mild steel members and is connected to the two inverted U-shaped mild steel members through a second group of high-strength bolts.

8. The self-centering cable with metal-based energy-dissipation according to claim 2, wherein a bottom-end connector is disposed on a bottom side of the outer trough, the reinforcement-top connector is connected to a top-end connector, and the bottom-end connector and the top-end connector are separately connected to a to-be-reinforced structure by using a pin shaft connection, to ensure axial force transmission of the tensile reinforcement.

9. The self-centering cable with metal-based energy-dissipation according to claim 3, wherein a bottom-end connector is disposed on a bottom side of the outer trough, the reinforcement-top connector is connected to a top-end connector, and the bottom-end connector and the top-end connector are separately connected to a to-be-reinforced structure by using a pin shaft connection, to ensure axial force transmission of the tensile reinforcement.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a disc spring set;

(2) FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an outer trough;

(3) FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of an axial tube;

(4) FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of an axial pallet;

(5) FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of inverted U-shaped mild steel member;

(6) FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a locking nut;

(7) FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a reinforcement-bottom connector;

(8) FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of a reinforcement-top connector;

(9) FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of a bottom-end connector; and

(10) FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of a top-end connector.

(11) FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of a restoring and energy-dissipation unit before installing a disc spring set;

(12) FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram of a restoring and energy-dissipation unit with a disc spring set;

(13) FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram of a connecting unit and tensile reinforcement; and

(14) FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram of assembly of a tensile reinforcement, connecting unit, outer trough and disc spring set.

(15) In the accompanying drawings: 1disc spring set, 2outer trough, 3axial tube, 4axial pallet, 5inverted U-shaped mild steel member, 6locking nut, 7reinforcement-bottom connector, 8reinforcement-top connector, 9bottom-end connector, 10top-end connector, 11high-strength bolt, 12tensile reinforcement, 13reinforcement-top anchor head, and 14reinforcement-bottom anchor head.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

(16) In the present invention, a self-centering cable with metal-based energy-dissipation includes a restoring and energy-dissipation unit, a connecting unit, and a tensile reinforcement. The restoring and energy-dissipation unit includes a disc spring set 1 that provides a restoring force through pre-compression, an axial tube 3 configured to connect the disc spring set 1 in series and connect an axial pallet, a locking nut 6 that is screwed into the axial tube 3 to lock pre-pressure of the disc spring set, an axial pallet 4 configured to support the disc spring set 1 and connect an inverted U-shaped mild steel member 5, and an inverted U-shaped energy-dissipative mild steel member of which a plastic yielding region changes with load-displacement. For a structure of the restoring and energy-dissipation unit, refer to FIG. 12. The connecting unit includes a reinforcement-top connector 8 connected to a tensile reinforcement 12 through a reinforcement-top anchor head 13, a reinforcement-bottom connector 7 connected to the tensile reinforcement 12 through a reinforcement-bottom anchor head 14, and a top-end connector 10 and a bottom-end connector 9 that are connected to a to-be-reinforced structure. For a structure of the connecting unit, refer to FIG. 14. A cable reinforcement includes the high-strength tensile reinforcement 12, the reinforcement-top anchor head 13 connecting the tensile reinforcement 12 to the reinforcement-top connector 8, and the reinforcement-bottom anchor head 14 connecting the tensile reinforcement 12 to the reinforcement-bottom connector 7. For a structure of the cable reinforcement, refer to FIG. 13. The tensile reinforcement 12 may be a steel strand and an FRP reinforcement.

(17) The disc spring set 1 is disposed on the axial pallet 4, the disc spring set 1 and the axial pallet 4 are placed together into an outer trough 2 that has been fixed. The reinforcement-top connector 8, the reinforcement-bottom connector 7 and the axial tube 3 are then sequentially sleeved on the tensile reinforcement 12, and an anchoring device is configured to anchor two ends of the tensile reinforcement are anchored by using the reinforcement-top anchor head 13 and the reinforcement-bottom anchor head 14 (refer to FIG. 13). Subsequently, the axial tube 3 is passed through the disc spring set 1 from the top of the outer trough 2 and is screwed into the upper end of the axial pallet 4. The axial tube 3 is tensioned to the pre-compression displacement of the disc spring set 1 and is screwed into the locking nut 6 to lock the pre-pressure of the disc spring set 1. The two inverted U-shaped mild steel members 5 that are designed according to an energy dissipation capacity are then separately disposed between the axial pallet 4 and the outer trough 2 and are connected by the high-strength bolts 11. Subsequently, the reinforcement-top connector 8 is connected to the top-end connector 10 in a screwed manner, the reinforcement-bottom connector 7 is connected to the axial tube 3 in a screwed manner, and the bottom-end connector 9 is connected to the outer trough 2. Finally, the top-end connector 10, the bottom-end connector 9, and the to-be-reinforced structure are connected by a pin-shaft, where the pin-shaft connection can satisfy an axial load-carrying requirement of the self-restoring energy-dissipative metal cable.

(18) In the present invention, the self-centering cable with metal-based energy-dissipation is installed and used in the following manner:

(19) 1. Place the axial pallet 4 into the outer trough 2, and then, dispose the disc spring set 1 on a middle pallet of the axial pallet 4.

(20) 2. Sleeve the axial tube 3, the reinforcement-bottom connector 7 and the reinforcement-top connector 8 on the tensile reinforcement 12 sequentially, and then, the two ends of the tensile reinforcement 12 is anchored by using the reinforcement-top anchor head 13 and the reinforcement-bottom anchor head 14.

(21) 3. Pass the axial tube 3 from the top of the outer trough 2 to connect the disc spring set 1 in series, and screw the axial tube 3 into a screw-threaded upper end head of the axial pallet 4.

(22) 4. Fix the outer trough 2 and tension the axial tube 3 by using the force with the same size as the pre-pressure of the disc spring set 1, and then screw the locking nut 6 into a screw-threaded end of an outer tube of the axial tube 3 to lock the pre-pressure of the disc spring set 1.

(23) 5. Connect the inverted U-shaped mild steel member 5 to the axial pallet 4 and the outer trough 2 separately by using the high-strength bolts 11.

(24) 6. Pass the tensile reinforcement 12 through the reinforcement-bottom connector 7 and the reinforcement-top connector 8, and anchor the two ends of the tensile reinforcement 12 by using the reinforcement-top anchor head 13 and the reinforcement-bottom anchor head 14; and then screw the reinforcement-bottom connector 7 into the axial tube 3, screw the reinforcement-top connector 8 into the top-end connector 9, and connect the outer trough 2 and the bottom-end connector 10 by using the high-strength bolts 11.