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Preliminary Analysis of Cable - Stayed Bridges

Introduction to Section 3
Module SE1M93 Long Span Bridges
Unit 2 Suspension and Stayed Systems
Section 3 Preliminary Analysis of Cable - Stayed Bridges
Study time 120 minutes
Aims of the Section:
The aims of the section are to understand:
1. The equations of the approximate analysis of cable-stayed bridges
2. The equations and different actions involved in the response of a single plane cable-
stayed continuous girder
Study Plan:
This section has a study time allocation of 120 minutes and is divided into two study sessions.
Study Session Titles Study time

Session 1 Approximate Method 50 minutes
Session 2 Single Plane Cable-Stayed Continuous Girder 70 minutes
Learning Outcomes:
On completing this section you should be able to:
1. Calculate forces, bending moments, deflections and cable areas in cable - stayed bridges,
using an approximate analysis
2. Make a comparison between the approximate method and the linear stiffness method
3. Discuss the three different actions that are involved in the behaviour of stayed girders
4. Derive the equations for the analysis of the stayed girder, including the multi-cable radial
system
Copyright 2006 - University of Surrey
File: Approximate Method - Part 1
http://vle.surrey.ac.uk/webct/urw/lc14418860.tp14421994/selectItemsForCompile.dowebct 8/22/2007
Approximate Method - Part 1

Study session 1 Approximate Method
In order to estimate the initial values of cable area, deck stiffness etc an approximate analysis
of cable-stayed bridges may be made by assuming the structure to be represented by a
continuously elastically supported beam. Using this analogy, it is possible to calculate influence
lines for stay forces and bending moments in the bridge deck girder.
Figure 2.13. Cable force, Pi, and reaction, Ri, at a cable-stay node
The stay force is:
(1)
The cable areas can be determined from (see Figure 2.13):
(2)
where the design stress.
The ultimate tensile stress for a 16.0mm, 7 wire, prestressing strand is 1860 N/mm2. Using a
working stress of 0.45 times ultimate gives a working stress of 837 N/mm2. The reactions Ri at
each cable-stay node may simply be determined as:
Ri = S W.
However, at the ends of the girder Ri will have to be determined by other means.
To determine the force Po, in the back stay cable, the horizontal force at the pylon top, Fh, must
first be calculated. The maximum force in the back stay cable will be produced with dead plus
live load in the centre span and dead load only in the side span. If the pylon head is assumed to
be fixed with no horizontal translation, then Fh can be determined from (see Figure 2.14):
Figure 2.14. Left and right reactions and angles in a cable stayed bridge
File: Part 2

Part 2
If the change in the angle (Figure 2.15) is assumed negligibly small as the pylon deflects
under load Fh, then the load in the back stay can be determined as:
Figure 2.15. Back stay
If the bending stiffness of the pylon is neglected the Po becomes:
Influence lines for stay forces and bending moments for the girder are determined on the basis
of a continuous elastically supported beam.
Figure 2.16. Forces and deflections at a cable stay node
Then
Using equation 2 and noting
The deflection at point i becomes:
Using the spring stiffness of cable stay i is obtained as:
File: Part 3

Part 3
When the point load W=1 is not at the girder/cable intersection (Figure 2.17), the equation for
the cable force Pi becomes:
Figure 2.17. The force W is at a distance x from the girder/cable intersection
where
and
which is the degree of flexibility (units m-1).
For the bending moment Mi at point i the following equation applies:
where
File: Comparison of Approximate Method with Linear Stiffness Method of Analysis

Comparison of Approximate Method with Linear Stiffness Method of Analysis
Figure 2.18. Example of a cable stayed bridge
Details Girder lc = 286.5 m Tower hd = 62.4 m

ls = 34.1 m A = 11.148 m2
S = 6.1 m I = 31.24 m4
A = 9.42 m2 Et = 0.310 x 105 N/mm2
I = 4.168 m4
Eg = 0.324 x 105 N/mm2 Stays Es = 1.93 x 105 N/mm2
Approximate equations
Stay Number PDL (kN) PDL+LL (kN)

Back stay (1,2 & 3 Combined) 11536 17638
4 3661 4070
10 3039 3377
15 2444 2715
40 3261 3622
Linear Stiffness Method
PDL (kN) PDL + LL (kN)

12332 15905
3782 4661
3088 3542
2479 2906
3359 3902
This is the end of Study Session 1
File: Single Plane Cable-Stayed Continuous Girder

Single Plane Cable-Stayed Continuous Girder
Study session 2 Single Plane Cable-Stayed Continuous Girder
(Ref Stafford Smith Paper 7011 ICE)
The overall behaviour of a stayed girder is more easily understood if different actions are
isolated and considered separately. The total behaviour may then be obtained by superposition
of these independent actions.
Consider the single plane two-span stayed girder shown below.
Figure 2.19. Single plane two-span stayed girder
The tower is hinged at its base and the girder is continuous at B.
Consider a load to be applied to span AB. If the cables were omitted the response of the
continuous girder would be for D to drop and E to rise, the movement of E being smaller than
that of D. If the cable had been connected along DFE, tension would have been induced in the
whole length of it, restraining the drop of D, increasing the rise of E causing the tower BF to
rotate in an anticlockwise direction. This overall response may be considered as the
superposition of three separate actions.
Figure 2.20. Effect of tower rotation, tower and cables axially rigid
First Action
Initially consider D and E in Figure 2.19 to be supported by rigid cables attached to a rigid tower
fixed at its base. D and E are then fixed in height and the structure behaves as a continuous
girder over five level supports. When the load is applied to span AB the first action occurs when
a hinge is introduced at the base of the tower assuming the cables and tower remain axially
rigid. The result is that D falls and E rises by an equal amount and the tower rotates in an
anticlockwise direction as shown in Figure 2.20.
The effect of the cables and tower is to convert part of the downwards load on the girder at D to
an upwards load at E. In the analogous structure shown in Figure 2.21 the tower and cables are
replaced by a rigid lever and links.
Figure 2.21. Analogous structure for figure 2.20
File: Second Action

Second Action
The second action is that of the elastic stretching of the cables, which are in tension from
the first action. When the cables extend elastically, their loads are partially relieved thus
causing an increase in the bending load of the girder shown in Figure 2.22.
Figure 2.22. Effect of cable elasticity, tower axially rigid
In the analogous structure in Figure 2.23 the vertical elasticity of the cables is represented by
using springs to replace the links. The flexibilities of the springs, i.e. the vertical flexibilities of
the cables at D and E are:
(1a)
(1b)
where A, E, L and represent the sectional area, Young's modulus, length and slope to the
horizontal, respectively of the cables.
File: Third Action

Third Action
The third action, which is usually not so important, is due to the axial flexibility of the tower.
The compressive load in the tower causes it to shorten and therefore lower the upper anchorage
of the cables. The cable tensions are further relieved and the bending load in the girder is again
increased. The resulting effect of this action superimposed on the others is shown in Figure
2.24. In the analogous structure (Figure 2.25), the axial flexibility of the tower is represented
by a spring which supports the tower at its pivot. The tower flexibility, ft is given by:
where H is the tower height and AT is its sectional area.
Figure 2.24. Effect of tower elasticity
File: Analysis of the Stayed Girder - Part 1

Analysis of the Stayed Girder - Part 1
If the girder in Figure 2.19 were released vertically at B and one of the cables cut, it would
revert to a simply supported beam AC with deflections at D, B and E, due to the

applied loading.
In the initial case in which the cables and tower are fully rigid i.e. A, D, B, E and C are level, the
equations of compatibility are:
(2a)
(2b)
(2c)
in which Vd and Ve are the vertical components of the cable forces at D and E, Vb is the support
reaction at B and fbd is a flexibility coefficient for the deflection at B due to unit load at D, for
the simple beam AC.
In the stayed girder, the supports D and E do not remain level with A, B and C, but deflect due
to the three actions described.
1. The rotation of the tower effectively lowers the anchorage's of the cables (springs)
connected to D and E by BD x and - BE x respectively, these additional deflection
terms must be added to equations (2a) and (2c), which establish the compatibility of
points D and E respectively.
2. The increases in the deflections at D and E due to the flexibility of the springs are
respectively. Therefore in equations (2a) and (2c) the coefficient fdd
must be modified to and fee to .
3. As the tower shortens the anchorage of the cables connected to D and E suffer a further
drop (Vd + Ve) ft. Therefore the coefficients of Vd and Ve must be further modified by the
addition of ft the tower flexibility, in each of the equations (2a) and (2c).
File: Part 2

Part 2
Since an additional variable (Figure 2.20), the rotation of the tower, has been introduced,
one more equation is necessary for a solution. This equation is given by taking moments for the
tower about its hinge (as for the tower about its pivot) thus:-
(2d)
Hence the equations requiring a solution are:-
Expressing these equations in matrix form :-
The solution of the these simultaneous equations gives the vertical reactions at D, B and E
(Figure 2.20) and allows the shears and bending moments in the girder and the tension in the
cables to be computed.
The upper left-hand part of the coefficient matrix would be the flexibility matrix for the structure
if the tower were fixed against rotation. The additional right hand column and bottom row arise
from the rotation and the stability of the tower respectively. Because the unknowns include a
displacement as well as forces, the method falls into a mixed category.
File: Multi-Cable Radial System - Part 1

Multi-Cable Radial System - Part 1
This system involves the same action as described previously. Each cable-connected point on
the girder behaves as if supported on a spring. The deflection of each of the points is influenced
by the rotation of the tower, and all points are affected equally by the shortening of the tower.
Thus the coefficient matrix is:-
Figure 2.26. Multi-cable system
To account for axial forces in the stiffening girder, assuming the girder is free to move
longitudinally at A, the point of attachment D drops by an amount:
where AG = area of the girder and E = Young's Modulus of the girder.
Figure 2.27. Single plane two-span stayed girder
This factor must be included in the first equation by further modifying the coefficient of Vd by
adding:
File: Part 2

Part 2
If the support at A (Figure 2.27) resists longitudinal forces, then the axial component from the
cable must be divided into a tensile component along AD and a compressive one along DB. The
size of each component is inversely proportional to the length along which it acts. In this case,
the shortening of DB will be:
and the coefficient must be modified by adding:
If a multi-cable system is used, then the drop of G and D (Figure 2.26) will be given by:-
and
The coefficients of both Vg and Vd must be modified in each of the compatibility equations for G
and D.
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Section 3 (Unit 2) Page 1 of 15

Printable View of: Section 3 (Unit 2)

Print Save to File

File: Introduction to Section 3

Preliminary Analysis of Cable - Stayed Bridges

Aims of the Section:

The aims of the section are to understand:

1. The equations of the approximate analysis of cable-stayed bridges

Study Session Titles Study time

On completing this section you should be able to:

Copyright 2006 - University of Surrey

File: Approximate Method - Part 1

Preliminary Analysis of Cable - Stayed Bridges

Approximate Method - Part 1

The stay force is:

The cable areas can be determined from (see Figure 2.13):

where the design stress.

Copyright 2006 - University of Surrey

Preliminary Analysis of Cable - Stayed Bridges

Figure 2.15. Back stay

If the bending stiffness of the pylon is neglected the Po becomes:

Figure 2.16. Forces and deflections at a cable stay node

Using equation 2 and noting

The deflection at point i becomes:

Using the spring stiffness of cable stay i is obtained as:

Copyright 2006 - University of Surrey

Preliminary Analysis of Cable - Stayed Bridges

Figure 2.17. The force W is at a distance x from the girder/cable intersection

which is the degree of flexibility (units m-1).

For the bending moment Mi at point i the following equation applies:

Copyright 2006 - University of Surrey

File: Comparison of Approximate Method with Linear Stiffness Method of Analysis

Preliminary Analysis of Cable - Stayed Bridges

Figure 2.18. Example of a cable stayed bridge

Details Girder lc = 286.5 m Tower hd = 62.4 m

Eg = 0.324 x 105 N/mm2 Stays Es = 1.93 x 105 N/mm2

Stay Number PDL (kN) PDL+LL (kN)

Linear Stiffness Method

PDL (kN) PDL + LL (kN)

This is the end of Study Session 1

Copyright 2006 - University of Surrey

File: Single Plane Cable-Stayed Continuous Girder

Preliminary Analysis of Cable - Stayed Bridges

(Ref Stafford Smith Paper 7011 ICE)

Consider the single plane two-span stayed girder shown below.

Figure 2.19. Single plane two-span stayed girder

The tower is hinged at its base and the girder is continuous at B.

Figure 2.21. Analogous structure for figure 2.20

Copyright 2006 - University of Surrey

File: Second Action

Preliminary Analysis of Cable - Stayed Bridges

Figure 2.22. Effect of cable elasticity, tower axially rigid

Figure 2.23. Analogous structure for figure 2.22

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File: Third Action

Preliminary Analysis of Cable - Stayed Bridges

where H is the tower height and AT is its sectional area.

Figure 2.24. Effect of tower elasticity

Figure 2.25. Analogous structure for figure 2.24

Copyright 2006 - University of Surrey

File: Analysis of the Stayed Girder - Part 1

Preliminary Analysis of Cable - Stayed Bridges

revert to a simply supported beam AC with deflections at D, B and E, due to the