6.

Cables
Cables are used as temporarily guys during the erection and as permanent guys for supporting
masts and towers. Cables are also used in the suspension bridges.

Figure 6.1: Example of a cable suspended bridge

A cable is a flexible structure which cannot resist bending moment. It deflects so that the
bending moment is zero an any point which is achieved by developing horizontal thrust at the
support and thus, developing appropriate deflection. Provided the loadings are coplanar with
the cable, the requirements for equilibrium are formulated in an identical manner.

When deriving the necessary relations between the force in the cable and its slope, assumption
is made that the cable s perfectly flexible and inextensible. Due to its flexibility, the cable offers
no resistance to share or bending and therefore, the force acting in the cable is always tangent
to the cable at points along its length. Being inextensible, the cable has a constant length both
before and after the load is applied.

Figure 6.2: Equilibrium of cable

Let the horizontal force developed by H and let VA and VB be the vertical reactions at supports
A and B. At section X-X, let the deflection be y. Then,

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 𝑀 = 𝑉 𝑥 − 𝑊 (𝑥 − 𝑎 ) − 𝑊 (𝑥 − 𝑎 ) − 𝐻𝑦

Since, the cable is flexible, 𝑀 = 0

∴ 𝐻𝑦 = 𝑉 𝑥 − 𝑊 (𝑥 − 𝑎 ) − 𝑊 (𝑥 − 𝑎 )

= 𝐵𝑒𝑎𝑚 𝑚𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡

Cable subjected to concentrated loads

Consider the cable of length L spanning over a horizontal gap l subjected to the concentrated
loads as shown in figure 6.3. Let VA and VB be the vertical reactions and H be the horizontal
reactions at supports. The equilibrium condition is

𝑀
𝐻𝑦 = 𝑀 𝑜𝑟 𝑦 =
𝐻

Figure 6.3: cable subjected to concentrated loads

Example 6.1
A cable supports two concentrated loads at B and C as shown in figure below. Determine the
sag at B, the tension in the cable, and the length of the cable.

Solution

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Taking moments about A

100 ∗ 2 + 80 ∗ 10 − 𝑉 ∗ 13 = 0

𝑉 = 76.92𝑘𝑁

𝑉 = 100 + 80 − 76.92

𝑉 = 103.08𝑘𝑁

Taking moments about C

100 ∗ 8 − 𝐴 ∗ 10 = 0

𝐴 = 𝐷 = 80𝑘𝑁

Sag at point B

Taking moments at point B

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 −𝐴 ∗ 2 + 𝐴 (𝑦 ) = 0

𝐴 ∗ 2 103.08 ∗ 2
𝑦 = = = 2.58𝑚
𝐴 80

Tension in cable

Tension at A and D

𝑇 =𝑇 = 𝐴 + (𝐴 )

= 103.08 + 80 = 130.48𝑘𝑁

𝑇 =𝑇 = 𝐷 + (𝐷 )

= 76.92 + 80 = 110.98𝑘𝑁

Tension in segment CB

𝐹 =0

𝑇 cos 73.3° − 𝑇 cos 42.8° = 0

𝑇 cos 73.3°
𝑇 =
cos 42.8°
110.98 cos 73.3°
= = 43.46𝑘𝑁
cos 42.8°
Length of cable. The length of the cable is determined as the algebraic sum of the lengths of
the segments.

𝐿= (2.58) + (2) + (10 − 2.58) + (8) + (10) + (3) = 24.62𝑚

Example
A cable support loads at B and C. determine the sag at point C and the maximum tension in the
cable.

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