Nonlinear Assessment of Cable Vibration in a Stayed Bridge

An experimental study for cables in a stayed bridge is presented. In this analysis, the tensions on the cables were calculated considering linear and nonlinear approaches; for the nonlinear analysis a 2D model was used to evaluate vibration modes and responses under wind and traffic loads. The 8 semi-harp cable stayed bridge used for this study has 112 cables and vibration measurements were done under normal operational conditions. Tensions computed from the nonlinear model were compared with those from the traditional linear model, where average differences were within 3.3%. The estimated tensions from vibration tests have good correlation with the experimental values measured from load tests, while the vibration procedure was carried out in less than 2 days without limiting the bridge operation; converse to the load tests where approximately 30 days are necessary and the bridge traffic has to be closed for short periods during measurements.