Research on internal force distribution in tower, main cables and suspender cables of asymmetrical suspension bridges

Abstract

In a suspension bridge, the main girder, tower, main cable and suspender cable are the main load-bearing structures. There are usually two towers with the same height. However, in reality, the height of the two towers is not necessarily equal, depending on the Topography and Hydrology it can be asymmetry and the fact that there have been suspension bridges with asymmetrical tower heights. When that happens the distribution of internal forces, deformation, and displacement of the structures in the suspension bridge also changes. In the September 2022 issue of the Journal of Construction, the authors presented about the influence of tower height asymmetry on the distribution of internal forces of the main girder. In this paper, the author studies the influence of towers height asymmetry on the distribution of internal forces in the tower, main cable and suspender cable of a suspension bridge by analyzing the results of calculation of models of suspension bridges based on Statistical results of size, span ratio, tower height of the actual suspension bridge in the world. Using software to analyze bridge structure very popular in Vietnam is Midas/civil.

Keywords: Suspension bridge; New San Francisco-Oakland bay suspension bridge; tower, main cable; suspender cable.