CHAPTER 2

BRIDGE COMPONENTS
2.1 GENERAL The cable stayed bridges are composed of three basic components:

Cable Stayed Bridge Components Cable Stays Pylons/Towers Deck/Superstructure

Figure 2.1: A typical Cable stayed bridge

The cables extending from one or more towers of the cable-stayed bridge support the superstructure at many points along the span. The cable system is ideal for spanning natural barriers of wide rivers, deep valleys, or ravines, and for vehicular and pedestrian bridges crossing wide interstate highways because there are no piers that will form obstructions. For the most part, cable-stayed bridges have been built across navigable rivers where navigation requirements have dictated the dimensions of the spans and clearance above the main water levels.

The most successful span arrangements are of three basic types: they may be categorized as: o Two spans: symmetrical or asymmetrical, o Three spans: symmetrical or asymmetrical, o Multiple spans. The versatile cable-stayed bridge concept lends itself to a large variety of geometrical configurations. The arrangement of the cables, type of

superstructure, and style of the towers can be easily adjusted to suit, the numerous requirements of site conditions and aesthetics for highway and pedestrian bridges.

2.2 TRANSVERSE CABLE ARRANGEMENT According to the arrangement of cables in transverse direction, cable stayed bridges can be categorized as: 1. Single Plane System, 2. Double Plane System. In transverse direction, cables may be symmetrically or asymmetrically placed, and may lie in oblique or vertical plane.

Figure 2.2: Transverse cable arrangement: (a) Single plane vertical, (b) Single plane vertical/lateral, (c) Double lane vertical, (d) double plane oblique.

2.2.1 Single Plane System The single plane cable arrangement is generally used with roadway deck with cables passing through the median strip and anchored below the roadway. This arrangement is not only economical but aesthetically pleasing also. A possible disadvantage of the single plane cable system is the fact that relatively high concentrated cable force is transferred to the main girder, thereby requiring a larger connection and girder to support the cable force. Additional reinforcement and stiffening of the deck web plates, and bottom flange will normally be required in order to distribute the concentrated load uniformly throughout the cross-section of the superstructure members. In a single-plane cable arrangement, the cables support vertical or gravity loads only. The torsional forces that develop because of the asymmetrical vehicular loading and/or wind forces must be resisted by a torsionally stiff box girder in order to transmit the unbalanced forces to the piers. Although the single-plane cable system has been used symmetrically with respect to the longitudinal centerline, on vehicular bridges, it has been constructed off-center or asymmetrically for pedestrian bridges. In the asymmetrical applications, the plane of the cables is at the edge of the walkway. Because the walkway loadings are small, the unbalanced system produces only small torsional forces that are easily resisted by the walkway structure. 2.2.2 Double Plane System The two principal double planar cable systems are: one system consisting of a vertical plane located at each edge of the superstructure and another system in which the cable planes are oblique, sloping toward each other the edges of the roadway and intersecting at the towers along the longitudinal centerline of the deck. The tower in the oblique double plane arrangement is generally of the Aframe type in order to receive the sloping cables that intersect along the centerline of the roadway. Using the two-plane cable system, the anchorages may be located either on the outside of the deck structure or within the limits of the deck roadway. With the

cable anchorages on the outside of the deck, an advantage is gained, because no portion of the deck roadway is required for the connection fittings. A disadvantage is the fact that additional reinforcement may be required to transmit the eccentric cable loadings of shear and moment into the main girders of the superstructure. For those applications in which the cable anchorage lies within the limits of the bridge deck, the overall width of the deck must be increased for the full length of the bridge in order to provide room for the anchorage fittings. This additional width of roadway deck usually results in an increased cost for the superstructure.

2.3 LONGITUDINAL CABLE ARRANGEMENT There are four basic cable configurations for cable stayed bridges as: Longitudinal Cable Arrangement

Radiating/Fan

Harp

Semi-harp

Star

The radiating/fan type system is an arrangement wherein the cables intersect at a common point at the top of the tower. The harp type, as the name implies, resembles harp strings the cables are parallel and equidistant from each other. The required number of cables are spaced uniformly along the tower height and, as a result, also connected to the roadway superstructure with equal spacing. The semi-harp type is a combination of the radiating and harp types. The cables are connected at equal spacing to the top of pylon and also along the superstructure. Because of the small spacings concentrated near the top of the pylon, the cables are not parallel.

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 In the star arrangement, the cables intersect the pylon at different heights and then converge on each side of the pylon to intersect the roadway at a common point. This pattern is only used on Norderelbe Bridge, Humburg for its unique aesthetics.

Figure 2.3: Longitudinal Cable arrangement

Using the four basic longitudinal cable configurations, a great variety of combinations are possible, such as: the Great Belt Bridge has a hybrid system combining fan and star arrangement. The selection of cable layout and number of cables is dependant on the length of span, type of loading, number of roadway lanes, height of towers, economy, and the designers individual sense of proportion and aesthetics. 2.3.1 Influence of Number of Cable Stays: Some bridges have relatively few cable-stays while others may have many stays intersecting the deck such that the cables provide a continuous elastic supporting system. When only a few cables support the deck structure, cable forces would be large, which requires massive and complicated anchorage systems connecting to the pylon and superstructure. The connections become source of heavy 11

concentrated loads requiring additional reinforcement of webs, flanges, and stiffeners to transfer the loads to the bridge girders and distribute them uniformly throughout the deck system. A large number of cables simplifies the cable anchorages to the bridge girders and distributes the forces more uniformly throughout the deck structure without major reinforcements to the girders and floor beams. Therefore a large number of cables can provide continuous support, thus permitting the use of a shallow depth girder. 2.3.2 Influence of Cable layout: Cable layout significantly influences the axial compression and moments in deck as well as pylon. In fan type of arrangement, the cables converge at the top of the pylon with the cables having the maximum angle of inclination to the bridge girders. As the cables in fan layout are in an optimum position to support the gravity dead and live loads and simultaneously produce a smaller compressive force in deck than that in case of other layouts. The harp system with cables connections distributed throughout the height of pylon results in an efficient pylon design compared to the fan system, which has all the cables attached to the top of pylon. For fan arrangement, the concentrated load at the top of the pylon produces large shears and moments along the entire height of the pylon, thus increasing the cost. Also it adds difficulties in anchoring the cables to the pylon. The semi-harp arrangement represents a compromise between the extremes of the harp and fan systems and is specially useful when it becomes difficult to accommodate all the cables at the top of the pylon. 2.4 STAY CABLE TYPES The stay cables of the cable stayed bridges fall into the following categories: 1) Parallel-bar cables 2) Parallel-wire cables 3) Stranded cables 4) Locked-coil cables

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(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

Figure 2.4: Stay cable types: (a) Parallel-bar cables, (b) Parallel-wire cables, (c) Stranded cables, (d) Locked-coil cables.

The choice of one of these types depends on the mechanical properties required (modulus of elasticity, ultimate tensile strength, durability etc.) as well as on structural and economical criteria.

2.5 PYLON The pylons are of many shapes and varieties to accommodate different cable arrangements, bridge site conditions, design requirements, aesthetics and economy, as follows: o Single cantilever to support a single plane arrangement, o Two cantilever towers to support the double plane cable system o Portal frame o A-frame o Modified A-frame o Diamond shaped o Modified diamond

2.5.1 Choice of Bearing at the Base of Pylon The decision to use a fixed or hinged base for the tower either to the pier or the superstructure must be based on knowledge of the magnitude and relationship of the vertical and horizontal forces acting on the tower. A fixed base induces large bending moments at the base of the tower, whereas a hinged base does not and may be preferred. However, the increased rigidity of the total structure resulting from the fixed base of the towers may offset the disadvantage of the

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large bending is that a fixed base may be more practical to erect and may be less costly than inserting a heavy pinned bearing, which requires the tower to be externally supported until the cables are connected. The design engineer and contractor should discuss these considerations early in the design stage of the project in order to arrive at the most economical solution. 2.5.2 Height of Pylon The height of the tower is determined from several considerations, such as the relation of tower height to span length, the type of cable arrangement, and the general aesthetic proportions of all the spans and towers visualized as an entity. 2.5.3 Influence of the Pylon Inertia With the increase of pylon inertia, Maximum bending moment in pylon decreases whereas the effect is opposite in deck. So, this effect is favorable although the designer should not go for very stiff pylon instead it is better to make fuller use of the stays.

2.6 DECK The deck, used synonymously with superstructure, for cable-stayed bridges takes as many forms as there are structural systems. Basically, however, two types of deck girders have been used most frequently: the stiffening truss and the solid web types. Past experience with the two systems indicates that the stiffening truss type is seldom used in current designs. The stiffening trusses require more fabrication, are relatively more difficult to maintain, arc more susceptible to corrosion. An increase in tensional rigidity is achieved by using box type cross sections, [Fig. 2.5c and d]. They may range from the single cell or multicell box with rectangular sides to a similar trapezoidal type with sloping sides. In each of these types the roadway width extends beyond the edges of the single boxed girders. When the roadways require a large number of traffic lanes, the transverse width requires several box-girder systems to support the deck structure, [Fig. 14

2.5e and f]. Twin boxes, either of the rectangular or trapezoidal shapes, have been used to advantage when large deck widths are required.

Figure 2.5: Girder types: (a) twin I-girder, (b) multiple I-girder, (c) rectangular box girder, (d) trapezoidal box girder, (e) twin rectangular box girder, (f) twin trapezoidal box girder.

2.6.1 Influence of Deck Inertia The maximum moments in the deck increase considerably with the increase of deck inertia. So, high inertia of deck system is not favorable as it attracts considerable bending moments without appreciably reducing the forces in pylons and cables. However, designer should take optimum deck inertia taking into account the aerodynamic effect.

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