Advances in Stress Ribbon Bridge Design and Analysis: A Review

الملخص

This paper comprehensively reviews the changes in the structures and the technical innovations in Stress Ribbon Bridges (SRB) over time to pinpoint the major deficiencies in the existing modeling and optimization techniques. A thorough content analysis was carried out by accessing various academic databases and covering the time span 1900-2025. The findings were categorized into structural systems, high-fidelity non-linear numerical modeling, aerodynamic stability modifications, and patented construction methods. The study discloses a significant advancement in the technology from simple equivalent modulus approximations to sophisticated non-linear Finite Element Method (FEM) utilizing isogeometric elements for better convergence in flexible systems. The aerodynamic properties are enhanced by using semi-circular fairings and variable-depth 'Fish Belly' girders with the help of which tension-bearing and traffic-bearing functions are successfully separated. However, the present design optimization is still heavily dependent on computationally very expensive and non-transparent heuristic black-box algorithms. Due to the inherent lateral and torsional instabilities of SRB, their applications today are mostly limited to the light-traffic pedestrian walkways. Hence, there is an urgent need to carry out the physical validation of the bridges under extreme non-linear seismic events, which is the big gap in research pointed out in this paper. Advancing the field of research is contingent upon the use of Physics-Informed Neural Networks (PINNs) and Explainable AI (XAI) in combination.