Investigation of Anchor Nut Loosening on Highway Ancillary Structures
Publication: Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 147, Issue 4
Abstract
Documented evidence shows that anchor nut loosening on highway ancillary structures has been a problem in the transportation industry since at least the 1990s. There have been reported cases in the past, where loose anchor nuts were found to be partially responsible for the failure of ancillary structures. Resonant vibrations in ancillary structures as a result of variable frequency winds are believed to be one of the potential causes of loose anchor nuts. The current research primarily focused on investigating the effect of wind-induced vibrations on the loosening of anchor nuts in double-nut moment connections in ancillary structures. The research involved large-scale vibration testing of a traffic signal on the basis of vibration stress results from a 4-month field monitoring program. The purpose of the large-scale testing was to establish the relationship between the number of vibratory cycles, rod pretension, and nut loosening. A small-scale vibration test was also performed to validate the large-scale testing results. The testing results showed that anchor rods tightened in a double-nut moment connection above a pretension of 38 MPa (5.5 Ksi) do not experience nut loosening under vibrations.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request:
1.
Field monitoring data
2.
Large-scale vibration testing data
3.
Small-scale vibration testing data
Acknowledgments
The research work reported herein was supported and funded by the Virginia Transportation Research Council (VTRC).
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 147 • Issue 4 • April 2021
Copyright
© 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Mar 5, 2020
Accepted: Nov 23, 2020
Published online: Jan 27, 2021
Published in print: Apr 1, 2021
Discussion open until: Jun 27, 2021
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