Cable Stayed Bridge

Auto-generate a two-dimensional shape of a cable stayed bridge using Cable Stayed Bridge Wizard. It generates symmetric and non-symmetric bridges with truss and box sloped girders.

From the Main Menu select Structure > Wizard > Cable Stayed Bridge

Node Coordinates & Heights

Enter the coordinates of the basic nodes defining a cable-stayed bridge.

Type
Assign the symmetry of the cable-stayed bridge.

A: Origin point of the girder

B: Top of the left tower

C: Top of the right tower

D: End point of the girder

Height: Heights of towers

H1: Height of the left tower

H2: Height of the right tower

Depth of Girder
Enter the depth of the truss-girder structure.

When the depth is not entered, the girder is modeled as a beam. And, when it is entered, the girder is modeled as a truss consisted of upper and lower chords connected by diagonal members.

Material, Section
Enter the material and section properties for:

Cable

Girder

Tower

Select Cable Element Type: Assign the element type for the cable and hangers.

Truss: Truss element

Tension Only (Cable): Equivalent truss element for linear analysis & Elastic catenary element for nonlinear analysis are automatically selected.

Distance from Girder to Tower: Horizontal distance separating the girder from the tower

Shape of Girder: Slope and arc length signifying the curvature

Left Slope (%): Slope at the left end of the arc

Arc Length (m): Arc length

Note
Enter the arc length, (C-B) long if only the center span is sloped. In order to specify a slope throughout the entire length of the bridge, enter a length equal to or greater than (D-A).

Right Slope (%): Slope at the right end of the arc

Cable Distances & Heights

Enter the distances between the cables and the heights of the cables located at the towers.

Left: Cable spacings and heights in the left span

Center: Hanger spacings and heights in the center span

Right: Hanger spacings and heights in the right span

Node No.: Display node numbers

Member No.: Display member numbers

View option

Bitmap: Display the position and shape representing the data.

Drawing: Display the overall shape of the bridge using the data entries.

: It is activated when Drawing is selected. It displays the entire shape reflecting the entered data.

: Generate the data by computing all the nodal coordinates, elements and the initial tensile forces in the cables using the initial data, and close the Wizard window.

: Cancel the data entries and close the Wizard window.

Note
The default data entries reflect the 2-D shape of a recent bridge project.

Revision of Civil 2014 (v2.1)

Q1. There are different tutorials for Construction Stage Analysis of Cable Stayed Bridges mentioning different methodologies. Which method should I adopt and how?

Q2. Can someone explain the idea behind drilling DOF in detail?