Mechanical Analysis on Anchorage Structure of Self-Anchored Suspension Bridge

Abstract

Main cables of self-anchored suspension bridge are anchored at each end of main girder, thus producing a self-balancing system. In order to transfer the cable force to main girder safely and smoothly, the anchorage region is one of the most critical issues in design of a self-anchored suspension bridge. It is hard to fully understand the mechanical behavior only by spatial beam and column model, so a 3D shell finite element model is established to overcome the limitation of spatial beam and column model. The mechanical behavior of initial designed anchorage structure is then analyzed and a modified anchorage fabrication is proposed to improve the stress distribution. Analysis results show that: the modified anchorage system effectively reduces the stress level of anchorage structure and enhances the efficiency of anchorage structure.