Analysis of the Dynamic Structural Response and Fatigue Design Verification of the Honestino Guimarães Bridge Steel Central Span (Brasília/Df)

Resume The Honestino Guimarães Bridge, designed by Oscar Niemeyer in Brasília and opened in the mid‐1970s, features a steel‐concrete composite structure in its central span. Consequently, this research work investigates the structural fatigue damage utilising the HL‐93 standard fatigue vehicle and dynamic vehicle‐structure interaction via computational models and the hot‐spot stress method. A finite element model and submodel, developed using the ANSYS software, simulated traffic ranging from 150.000 to 175.000 heavy vehicles per year, incorporating an applied growth rate. The results demonstrated that increased vehicular flow significantly reduces the service life of the bridge's central span in the critical scenario, particularly under conditions of poor pavement quality.