Mechanics of Cable-Suspended Beams

Abstract The cable-suspended bridges differ from the elastic structures because of the inherent nonlinearity of the suspension cables. The primary focus of the available theories is to investigate the effect of nonlinearities associated with the distributed self-weight of the cable and its finite elastic displacements. The main point of departure of this paper is to study the effect of the configurational nonlinearity of the weightless linear elastic suspension cables undergoing small elastic displacements. Based upon authors’ theory of weightless elasto-flexible planar sagging cables, a new Beam with Elasto-Flexible Support (BEFS) model of the cable-deck interaction is proposed here. Rate-type constitutive equations and third order differential equations of motion are derived for a simple four-node cable-suspended beam structure undergoing small elastic vertical displacements. Static and dynamic analysis of the cable-suspended structures is carried out to reveal their characteristic configurational response. The proposed theory is critically evaluated in the context of existing theories of suspension bridges