Modelling of stay cables with large earthquake-induced force variations in cable-stayed bridges

Abstract

The present study proposes a practical yet reliable model for stay cables in cable-stayed bridges considering large force variation under seismic actions. The proposed model is capable of approximating the nonlinear equivalent stress-strain relationship of cables, taking into account the variation of equivalent modulus of cables during the earthquake as well as possible cable loosening. The cable performance based on the proposed method shows an overall good agreement with the actual response of cables. Then, the model is applied to a case cable-stayed bridge under seismic actions and the structural response is compared with the conventional method which models the cables with a constant equivalent modulus derived at dead load state. Comparing to the proposed model, the conventional method fails to accurately describe the cable force at the low stress level and shows discrepancies in time histories of the structural response in terms of amplitude and phase angle. Moreover, conventional method might lead to underestimation of the bending moment at the tower bottom and longitudinal displacement at deck end for most cases, resulting in unconservative seismic design. Such result highlights the importance of applying the proposed model in seismic design of cable-stayed bridges.