Structural behavior of suspension bridge with a stabilizing cable

Abstract

Suspended structures are commonly used in construction of motorway and pedestrian bridges. These structures allow wide spans without the need for intermediate supports. Suspension bridges are noted for lower structural stiffness as compared to beam bridges and arc bridges. The stiffness control depending on the environment and external effects (moving loads, wind, seismic forces, etc.) is a real-life challenge [1, 2]. The authors of this paper have evaluated the use of stabilizing cable installed in the central span under the stiffening girder as the means of stiffness control. A plane 3D model of a suspension bridge was developed using the ANSYS software. The study compared the stress deformed state and dynamic properties of the models with and without a stabilizing cable. The displacement in the model equipped with a stabilizing cable, as compared to the one without, was noted to be lower in all relevant sections: 2.6 times in the middle of the central span of the stiffening girder; 15 times in the middle of the end span; and displacement of the tower top was 3.5 times lower.