TITLE:
Load-Measuring Pot Bearing with Built-In Load Cell —Part I: Design and Performance
AUTHORS:
Jeong-Rae Cho, Young Jin Kim, Jong-Won Kwark, Sung Yong Park, Won Jong Chin, Byung-Suk Kim
KEYWORDS:
Bridge Bearing; Pot Bearing; Load-Measuring; Load Cell
JOURNAL NAME:
Engineering,
Vol.5 No.11,
November
6,
2013
ABSTRACT:
This paper presents the underlying principle and the
results of various performance evaluations for a load-measuring pot bearing
with built-in load cell. The pot bearing composed of a pot made of steel in
which an elastomer disk is inserted is a bearing supporting larger loads than
the elastomeric bearing and accommodating rotational movement. Owing to a
Poisson’s ratio close to 0.5, elastomer withstands hydrostatic pressure when
confined in a rigid body. Accounting for this principle, the vertical load
applied on the pot bearing can be obtained by converting the pressure acting on
the elastomer. Therefore, a load-measuring pot bearing is developed in this
study by embedding a load cell exhibiting remarkable durability in
the base plate of the bearing. The details for the insertion of the load cell
in the base plate of the pot were improved through finite element analysis to
secure sufficient measurement accuracy. The evaluation of the static
performance of the pot bearing applying these improved details verified that
the bearing exhibited sufficient accuracy for the intended measurement purpose.
The dynamic performance evaluation results indicated that accurate measurement of
the dynamic load was also achieved without time lag.