Investigation of the strut‐and‐tie model of a two‐plane cable‐stayed bridge tower under vertical component of the cable force

Abstract

AbstractThe geometry and mechanical behavior of concrete bridge towers are complex. Hence, it is important to generate a rational mechanical analysis model for structural design. The method of strut‐and‐tie models (STMs) is an effective way to analyze disturbed regions (D‐regions) such as the anchorage zones of cables in bridge towers. This paper provides a detailed analysis of the elastic stress distribution on the bridge tower of a cable‐stayed bridge with two cable planes. The vertical component of the stay cable force was considered for the analysis. Additionally, two different STMs of the bridge tower were developed with the load path method using different horizontal spacings of the stay cables. Based on the minimum energy principle, the optimal STMs of the two different STMs were generated. A detailed calculation method for the configuration of the optimal STMs is presented. In the paper, computational expressions of the internal force for the tie members in the two STMs are also proposed. Overall, this study demonstrated the strong applicability of the proposed STMs for a bridge tower in a cable‐stayed bridge with two cable planes. This can be considered an effective simplified method in the structural design of bridge towers. Furthermore, the study established that the influence of the horizontal distance between stay cables on the mechanical response‐behavior of the structure should be considered in the design of concrete bridge towers.