Universitätsbibliothek
Weimar Open Access

Abdulmagid Sedig Khalafallah Bendalla

• Identifying cable force with vibration-based methods has become widely used in engineering practice due to simplicity of application. The string taut theory provides a simple definition of the relationship between natural frequencies and the tension force of a cable. However, this theory assumes a perfectly flexible non-sagging cable pinned at its ends. These assumptions do not reflect all cases,Identifying cable force with vibration-based methods has become widely used in engineering practice due to simplicity of application. The string taut theory provides a simple definition of the relationship between natural frequencies and the tension force of a cable. However, this theory assumes a perfectly flexible non-sagging cable pinned at its ends. These assumptions do not reflect all cases, especially when the cable is short, under low tension forces or the supports are partially flexible. Extradosed bridges, which are distinguished from cable-stayed bridges by their low pylon height, have shorter cables. Therefore the application of the conventional string taut theory to identify cable forces on extradosed bridge cables might be inadequate to identify cable forces. In this work, numerical modelling of an extradosed bridge cable saddled on a circular deviator at pylon is conducted. The model is validated with the catenary analytical solution and its static and dynamic behaviours are studied. The effect of a saddle support is found to positively affect the cable stiffness by geometric means; longer saddle radius increases the cable stiffness by suppressing the deformations near the saddle. Further, accounting the effects of bending stiffness in the numerical model by using beam elements show considerable deviation from models with truss elements (i.e. zero bending stiffness). This deviation is manifested when comparing the static and dynamic properties. This motivates a more thorough study of bending stiffness effects on short cables. Bending stiffness effects are studied using two rods connected with several springs along their length. Under bending moments, the springs resist the rods' relative axial displacement by the springs' transverse component. This concept is used to identify bending stiffness values by utilizing the parallel axis theorem to quantify ratios of the second moment of area. These ratios are calculated based on the setup of the springs (e.g. number of springs per unit length, transverse stiffness, etc...). The numerical model based on this concept agrees well with the theoretical values computed using upper and lower bounds of the parallel axis theorem. The proposed concept of quantifying ratios of the second moment of area using springs as connection between cable rods is applied on an actual extradosed bridge geometry. The model is examined by comparison to the previously validated global numerical model. The two models showed good correlation under various changing parameters. This allowed further study of the effects of stick/slip behaviour between cable rods on an actual bridge geometry.…