B ending of Stay C ables

A rm and Fiirst

Sulnnlarl?

Dr
FtirstLaffranchiBatlingenieure G I
AAL
')H
NN
''
b lfwil.Su'
itzerland

Thebendingstressesinstal'cablessubjectedtovaryingaxialforcesandimposed

PartnerofFiirstLaffranchiBauingenieure
G mbl-lin Wblfwil-Switzerland.Armand
FtirstwasResearch A ssociate oflhe lnstituteofStructuralEngineering atthe Swiss
FederallnstituteofTechnology Zurich.

end rotationsare investigated.ltisshou'

n thatthese stressescan be effecti'
elq'
reduced by a suitable rotation ofthe anchoragesNvilh respecttk)thechord lines
and by guiding the cablesattheirend. providinga sufficiently'stiffsupport at84
certain distance from the anchorage.Recommendations forappropriate gtlide
lungthsand stiffnessesaregiven.
.

wherehttcompleted adoctoraldisserta-

lntl-oduction

tion on the behaNr

iourofprestressed concrete tension chordsand theirapplication
in bridge construction.

The varying sag ofa stay cable under stressdue to dead and livetoads.ltcan

Peters'
larti
Prof.
SwissFederallnstituteofTechnology
Zurich.Switzerland

ProfessorofStructuralEngineering atthe
SwissFktdcralInstitute ofTechnology
Zurich since 1990.PeterM artichairsthe

SwisscodesprojectoftheSu'issStructural
ConcretttCode Comm ittee SIA 162. as

wellasfib(InternationalFederation for
StructuralConcrete)Colnnzission4
'-

slodelling ofStructuralBehaNriourand
Design-'.He wasChiefTechnicalO fficer
ofthe VSL G roup.

1= cross-sectionalarea-ok= axialstress
due to dead load.and cr-ty = axial
wz

liveloads.cableN'ibrationsand relative
rotationsbetween cableandsupported
structure correspond to a certain angularchange At
p atthe cable end. see

beseen t11atl
'orlong cablesand typical
N'
aluesofcr.cv ,y-E and g.
'A the bend,
-

1ng stress rangesaccording to iilq.(l)

areofthesameorderastheaxialstress
range cv-t/-ctr.For exam ple.for 1) =
Fig.l (a).Depending on the end con- 2(
r= 540 NIPa.o'
krt
y= 72()5'
1Pa.
ditions this results in bending of the )0 m .ct
E
=
200
G
Pa
and
gc
os
t
?
t
w
/
/
z
4
=
9
(
)
k
N
m'
cable and the associated stressesm ay
w'
e
get
.
A
(
p
,
4
)
=
1
00
M
PC
I
and
t
hus
.
at
t
he
affectthe fatigueresistance.
anchorage.the stress range cj
..t
y-ck.of
According to Gimsing g11thebending l8()N1Palsincreased to 280 54Pa.
stressrange due to varying axialstl-esl'
he bending stresses can be reduced
sesatthe anchorage ofa fixed-ended '
by
rotating the anchorage by an angle
cable vith a circular cross section can
(
p
(
)
wi
th respectto the chord inclination
beapproximated by
-

(.
0(..seeFig.I(b).and.in particular.by

guiding the cable atitsend.providing

astlfficiently stiffsupportata distance
.4
kc !'; c $,- t/
a from the anchorage.see Fig.l (c).
The presentpaperins'
estigates the efwhere g = cable weightper unitchord fectofthesem easures.leadingtosom e
length-/7 = chord length.(: = chord recomm endations for practicalappliinclination. E rm odulus of elasticity. cations.

AC7j)(.)= k
%-l?cos(?o-j'
A
-'
ct--!
.t
y,j
g-.-I-hI(l)

HansRudolfGanz
Dr
'
VSL N'
litnagenzent

St-ouentinYN'
elines.France
ChiefTechnicalOfficero1
-thc VSL Group
since 1990.HansR udolfG anzchairsfib

(lnternationalFedercltionforStructural
Concrete)Com nlission 9 --lkeinforcing and
Prestressing s'
laterialsand S),stems-'.
D rGanzpossessesextttnsiv'e experience in
structuraldesign.aswellasin lhe dcN'elopmentofpost-tensioning and cable systems.

Peer-revieu'edbyinternationalexpertsandacceptedforpublication
byIABSE PublicationsComm ittee
Pa17erreccised:August11.2()()()

Paper:1cccpted:Octobkl1'?t).2000

Science andTechnology

StructuralEngineering lnternational 1/21,01

Theol3'
Fixed-ended Cable

Considerafixed-endedcablestlbiected toitsownweightg
anda tensile forceALseeFig.2.A ssuminga constantbending stiffness E1 and a uniform ly distributed Nveightg the
cable deflection It'with respect to the chord line z
4'C is
governed b)'thediftkrentialeqtlation
4

-5

t/ '
k:' t'
/ J.
- EI+
A +v = 0
t/1.4
/
t
.
2
=t
t'-

w'
ith the soltltion

Fig.2.
'Fixcfl-cllcledcfz:/c.

t(.
r(b-a-)
1!'= ('Ish(
.:)+ ('och(l-t')+ ' r + t'L;
.1.

ay
q.

tt(= t
QCOSI
.
P(

(p

'

and

J2 = '1
9
.
El
Fora-= ()we have It'= ()and dbb'
,
.
Mx = (
p()+f
p,
..whertl(
?,
.= in'
tposed relaliverotation bt
ttn'een cable and supported slrtlcture:furtherm ore.t/ls.
zz
t/vr= 0forA-= bj'2,.H ence
r
(?()+ f
.
?,. k
4.t./?
t'l
t'J::77
- ' r . (% =:- (' = - k
2,s/
4 j
.
k
. '2 .
.

Fig.?.
'IL-n?.
sn
r/ct?//'gltided('
t,/)/t
?.

'

;$-t,,(
)
t
%
x1
y/
,

Thttbendingm om ent

which isverywellapproxinlaled by
tt/7
l11t = CI
VE/(f?0+ t
?i')-Q(2t
,k
since generally./7/.
-,
/2 >> l.
A ssunling the cableto be conlposed of/2parallel.n'
lutually
freelyslidingwiresw ith acircularcross-section ofdiam eter
(1w ehavez'
t= 11(11zL'4and 1= lldl7:,
/64.
.

'

'Ikll'
)lf
L
kI.
'z-l/??()//?/(?./Sek'tl.
elilt7f'
iI)1'
(
.
,/?elltiillg sf?e-s
-strs'o';
,fill .
'
/ft?)
d
'
/lt/t
.
'p' (1L,(1(l Ioads f'

aF' ('(l'blL,s It'/?'/7 rigicl jrsfitic 4.$' = .nl.

.
'
fprt
.
p.
'(i= ().16 /?2.t'
(?.
$
'(
p
).t
?.tj'
/'
>l = 9f?kh-l
.
ll-'
2.cS.J= 540 .
j.1Ptl.
-N
. (= (
E = Jpf?GJIg.
.

Thus-the extrenlefibre bendingstresses:

%I,
J,
'(2/)restllting
frolu Eq.(l0)anlountto

f5'/
?= 2(?-t?4)-(?,.(EG
c ./?

d. '(
.

Q = DA7
'7i?J.
?/t
?2.
.z
'
t
l/.F1t
'
.
b1I.
l1of'p??t
7.
'
t
-l
'
??11111:/n(z.
llf/f
'
?lt.
r.h-ft'csses/'t?/Tc(a.$'Acl,(11?.b,IIhf)
/i?/'L.
(Il)Ic.
b
't'
/'
;/?l'
igid glfi(lt
?(.
%= czl..
N'
(?f(
-.
*61= 0.l6 111.c'
t/y(
f)t= 0.9e/.zt= 9()/
,
:.
N'???-'.c= 540 .
3.
1Pa.c7%.
,-1,
= 720 51P(l.E = 200 (,'Pil.
CJ
S
.
,

structuralEngineering lnternational 172001

Science and Technoltlgh' 43

denotestheangularchangeat.>tforaneqt
livalentpin-connectedcablesubiected
to g and A= cz'
1.Notethatcf
)isindependentofn and (l. i.e..the bendingstress- (R,= th(l't?)
esarethe sam e.regardlcssofthe cablesize and regardlessofwhetherthe cable
)isgi'cnb),'Eq.(7).
isconsidered to actmonolithically orasa bundle ofindividualwiresorstrands. andf
H oweven iYIdecreasesexponentially with increasing.r.dependingon thecharac- The bending mom ents at the anchor-

teristiclength lIk.cf.Eqs.(3)and(8).andthus.thedecityoftheassociatedbend- agezl(.

v= -?)and attheguide G(.
t'= ())

ingstressesisdirectly linkud to thecable sizc and behar

iour. The bending stress
range atthe anchorage ctlrresponding to the axialstress o'
v-t
y-qvrange follows

from Eq.(11)and (12).i.e.

arC

'

u'
here

(22)
respectiq'ely.and theguideforceisequal
to

/? .1
.
/ -31c .
TI'
(,,-.
(j= r
ttLl+3 .#. ! ?-.y,
I
(
?
,
.
#
.
(
,
,
+
c.
.
p)
,
k (
,(
.

(/

..

(1 ,,

D iscussion
General
Knovvingf?,/?.g-.
q E1and (fy the deflecElastically GIz/#e# Cable
tion I'c and thecoefficientsc'(through
A sstlm ingan elasticspring stiffnessj'the detlection ,%'
(,1lttheguideIocation G of ('
- can be found frol'
n Eqs.(l,
%) and
the cableshosvn in Fig.-?correspondsto a transverse force
(19)forany .
V-(
f)t)and 4,..Hence.the
detlection function I'
k'(.
-) antlits tleri((
7= sI'(;
s'atiNrescanbeestablished according to
.

'

Eqs.(3) and (l7). I11 partictllar-the

bending n'
ltllnents i
jl folloq' t'roln

Eq. (8) and the associated cxtreme

fibre bending stresses :t/t/,
r(2/)can be
'
cklluputed.

Generally- the anchorage should be

placed such that(f)t)=(?u. lf(.:)=(
,
7t
.the
It'= -fI((()1J+(
p,
.)and (lb'
,
''
(lx = Qtj-l
-k?,
.:Similarlh'
-l'= Jt'(
Jfor-t-= 0 and t/ls'azz'
t/t-= ()101- bending stresses corrktsponding to o'v
.r = /
7,/
2:finalll'
.tlb$'
.,
'(Ix and (lb3'
/(1x2m ustbe continousat-t'= 0.Fron'
lthese con- are negligible.H ow exv
er.cable N'ibraditionsNvefind t11e deflection
tions and relative rotations bctNr
een
cable and supported structure u'illa1waysresultin certain N'
alues(
?,
.which.
in addition t(n inevitable placing inaccuracies.u'
'i11cause certain bending
and the coefficients
stresses.Therefore.(
?,.should be treated asan independentvariable- sin)ila1(.j= .-.(..0j
to A.
L

t'a= t'ash(/..
':/)+ t.j;ch(k(l)
t'3 11 Ib'(;--('2
t''.;
.=

1/
A'
-t?f,+ t
p,
.)+ .
5''t'c.,/
.
vq
kg

z(
.t
7+aj

'
k'
()+ .ttt.(1-z'(-7.N'
-)+ (')(L-LI- sh(ktl))
'

tL;

/?4.

ch(ka)- 1
t'6= (f
.
?()+ QF.)- t'
.)l('
rr= -((?()+ (
p?.)t/- t':
F

f-/zpiting Cases
lfboth a and 1,
'
% tend tosvards zert)the
solution for the guided cable redtlces
to that of the fixed-e1ded cctbIe.On
theotherhand.ifs'tendstowardszerothe solution for the guided cable reducesto thatofa fixed-ended cal
7le of
length /7+2t/.anchored ata'= -tl
'

For finite (1 and 1,

'.% lending tou'
ards
zero thew ell-knovN'
n 11pproxilnation o1'
the naon'
le11ts 31..:and .1.
/(fcorrespklnd-

ingto:).rigidly'guidedcable(2.3jis(
.
)btained from Eqs.(2l)and (22).i.e,

ynCl
.0ZCC ZIXu
.j-(
=CCjj13o((.;g,.
.

StruduralEngineering International 1/2001

()n -Ao'F
).N ote thatfor (
ofh-(
?,= (
.
?rand
(
p(J
+(?,.= 0 the stress ranges Ac/nare
related to the A'alues :
lc,,,t,and n-.
cnkl.

respectively.cf.Eqs.(l)and (15).
For typical arrangennents using neoprene ringscontined by a steelring at

theguide(4
'1.therelatis'esupportstiffness.
T.
'(E(l4liesbelu'
eenabout10'
=and

l()'.ltcan be seen fr0m Figs.4 and .

$'
thatJom pared to arigidly guidedcable
(s = z.)there is :4considerable intlu-

enceofA-,
'(Ed)on bothc.
,and Ac/
)-particularly at-4 .

(1

tl

Figs.4 and 5 1
-)aN'e bee1
'
1 established
for one partictllar paranleter set
((1= ().l6 m -/?= .
?(k)m .cos(
fy = O.9.
g/zl = 90 kN m '. cz = 540 5,1Pa.

c$,
-(p= 72()5'
1Pa-E = 2()()G Pa.).'
Varia-

'VF/(t) +() (
? )(l(LI-Sh(
'I(1))

:
11k= ',..
'

() ? j,

- l,.
,
).) Influenceof GuideLength and
L;;
Supportif
-/kesw
-f
2-$ht
'/.
't7)-2cl'
l(l't/)+L'
(Ie''
Fiz.4 correspondsto Tilbl('1.illustrating the influence ofthe relative guide
length a/ii and the relatiN'e support

:111d
d
'

ctf)
JW (.= k
'
$z
Jjkach(ka)- sh(p
.
r
. ka - sh(lv-(1)

stiffness .
:'
(Ed4 on c,) for the case
(
p(,.
#-(
p,
.= 0.The inddx fin thereference
Note that in deriN'ing Eqs. (24) and value c ;)c refers to the solution for
,
(25)t'
//7?hasbeensetequaltozero and the fixedended cable according to
/3llasbeen setequalto one.Forlarge Eq.(1l).
valuesofka the moments.
$z
/4and %1c;
tend towards -EI((?()
+.f
pr
-(?s),
'(2J) and Fig..F correspondsto 'lhble2-illustrat. .N'
fV((j)$,
+t
?,
.
-c?v)72.and the associated ing the int
luence of il.
,'
(i and .
;,
'(Ed)
.

tion olthese paran-lcters u'

ithin fairly
wide linaits does not result in significant)y different pictures :1nd henceFiyb'
.4 and 5 can be considered to bk?
representative for tl'pical conditions
nnet in practice.ltInal'be concluded
thatin order to effectively reduce cF?
and Acp, for relativell'stiff supports

(.
$'
/'
(E(l4=l0-3)theguide lengtha should
notbe less than about l()#:sim ilarly.

forrelativelysoftsupports(.
%''
(Ed)=l0-4).
(1
/(1should notbl
? lessthan about20.at
leastforlongcables.i-e.largevaluesof/).

extrem efibrebendingstressesanountto

1n/I(
.
f
),,
+0.,
.
-fpgl,'
(4tl) and .cf'l(?(
.)
-(?,
.
--f?vI.
respectively.ltcan beseen thatthe lattervaluecorrespondsto onehalfofthe
valtle for the fixed-ended cable giN'en

by Eq.(11).
Tilble I presents the am ount of the
extrem e fibre bending stresses cj, at

ulcs

zl and G under dead loads (o'v= ,

540
N
'1Pa) for rigidl3 gtlided cablzs with

a,a.
t
-.
sx.
zjp()

N'
ariousvaluesof/?.1)and (?f)+t
?,
..Itcan
be seen thatfor (
?(
)+f
p,.= f
pt
?and finite

t/s,el-).' sn'
la1lbending streskesare obtained:contrarl'to the approximation

prtlN'ided b)'Eqs.(24) and (25). the

bending stresses do not vanish colnpletely according to the generalsolution derived in thispaper.
N ote that1inear interpolation and extrapolation ofc,,, ispossibleforvalues
ofq?(j
-I
-q?,.differingfrom (?vand t).

Xf/?/t,2 correspondsto Ihhl(?l.providF'.()y

ing the amountof the bending stress .n.
Acy
,()'
. .
ranges Ac/
sociated w ith the axial
., as
-r
y= 720 N1Pa).
stressrangeGc-(j-c:r(Gq
..
Itcan be see'
n thatthe m agnitude of
-1cJ
) decreases w ith increasing (1and
decreasing fu
?(,.A gain.linearinterpola(1
(1
tion .and extraool
ation ofAc/
s oos
si'ai
*
ble tor Nalues'of(p()
(
1
(1
+(
p,differing from
.
7?l(.'(, t'?.
fJ
'
tt.5:Ill.
/'
/ldt:
L.
:1/i(l(,ft.
a/z.j?f/2t.
'
?,
/7f/ .
3'
s?/?/pt?/'.
?
's:i.
/.
/'
'
k@t,'
l?:..and ().
i
'
.
f(
.
??!belliiilsv
'
$J/'
(.
J'
k.
hl'tl.
??.jre-s.
'
tc:
'
p;
.(1J
. .
.f'.

iIll('Il()r(lge .4 (111(1tfJt,
rl/l'
t
'
/t
.
zCJ.
'((l)(pr.
-.
-(?,= t
?:
t.(13)j3p,- (
)r
.
.
= P..
Nt.
'
?rt
.
z
.
'(i= ?'
t1* ?.
?C,13= '
34?f?1,
11.
c'
f?.
hq)(= ().V..g,
/
'
x
zl= V()/fh'
lll'
,Cfq.= i'V
'
,f?.j.
1P(l.(7z...$/.= 72().
1.
//11.S = 2(20 (J
-/7t?.

structuralEngineering International 17214t)1

science antl'
rechnoloo .

Conclusionsand
Recom m endations

strands are free to m ove m utuall' N otations

the cable should be assum ed to act
m onolithically.i.e.J should be set
equalto the equivalentcablediam eter4z:
1/
'z:.Together Bith the assum ption ofa pointsupportatthe guide
location thislieson thesafe side.
6.7-he effective diam eter (1 m ight be
deriN'ed experim entally based on
the general solution presented in
this paper e.g. by m easuring steel
strains atthe anchorage and atthe
gtlide location undervarl'ing -Y and
or4,.

l.'
The generalsolution fer the elasticallq' guided cable derived in this
paper contains 1he well-known ap-

proxilnationsforfixed-ended r1qand
rigidlygtlided cablesg2.31asspecial
cases.

2.ln orderto capture theint

-ltlencesof
varying cable forces and im posed
end rotations A'and 4.,. shotlld l7e
treated asindependentN'ariables.
3.ltisgenerally recom m ended to place
theanchoragessuch that(
?(,= (
?g.lf(
?()
=(
pg the bending stresses c,
, under
dead loads are insignificant. NVhile
the bending stressranges.
Acplm ay be
decreased with sm allervaluesoffp4)it
should be noted thatthe m agnitude
ofthe bending stresses c,,) increases.
4.The bending stress ranges .
1c/, at
the anchoragesm ay beconsiderably
reduced by choosing a sufficiently
long and stiff guide arrangement.
NVhereasforrelatively stiffstlpports

R eferences
'

(l1Ciil
'
nsing.N.J..(''
lll;
'
il?.
f/.
7.
p()/'
/'
t'
t/BridgcsC''t?/?('ty);t???JD esigll.second ef.iiti(.
)11-John 'ssrilej'
&'St)I1s.C-11ichester.li?t?7.47()p.p.

f21'
s'
ellzelH..f'
3I!)lL'5'
/fls'
etlSpt/tx
rtp
.
s.- lii.
bn
lot.b.
plt,sfv/p(ltl(Iz4/.
;y?/?'c'(lr!'t)/?.(Northerll (.
5atc Bo(.'k
C().l-td..1998.414 pp.
f

(%.
'(E(l)=1()')(1J should notbe less

g31(-tpn'
lnlission Inlern'
linist
'riu'lledelaPrctln;.'N''ertrai1-1lc.Ii
l'L.
ot.'o.lztlllvlttltli'
il3?,.
ssltl'FgxlILlltJ.?fl?p.$

sio:1!
)roq'isoil
'e:1t).3.Seryicr
)d'F-.tudesTech- $ubscrij)t:
nique.'
. des Routes ct -Autorkltltcs (SETRA ).

than about10 thisratio should be in- Cen(rtrdes Techniques d'O tlA'rrlges d'Art.Ba- ,'l
creased to about 2() for relatively gneux.France.3ljal
lvr
ie1'2000.l24pp.

softsupports(.
q'
,
?
'(E(l)=10=).

E4JN'
SL.l'SL .
iJI/'C'
tlllle5''
.
$
'rt
>?'2.Brochure.N'SL

5.U nless special considerations are 1n1r.

?rnttional Ltd.. Ll'ssach.Suitzel'lalld.June
m ade or the indiy'idual u'ires or l992.8)713.

= Ctntpllk)r

= guitle
= bcntlillg
= ChtJI't1
= fiskctl-k?11tled

0 ne step ahead

'

$yN#ks
h

I,eq ykulja.%o
;y.N.rXK
Jf
k& < jj. /;
y,
t.,.

b
..
A

i
' j,
j
'J
i
.#'xhK'%c
.j
. .i.
.*yj
y
..

N.

jl

'

'

- '
..

*c
<
-

.
k<
C =: . . .
N
- , ru.:
.
.
,
mx
.k.
.
..a...r,c.r4,.. '..
z':=''
..
jy,
ujtJjFvpp.. '
.-' t'
.,lw.. ,w:.w....
.?
. ',.e- ..
'-.:
.*.'
2'o. .
v
>
J.
'
.
z
.
.
X
'
M
'
'
.
(
w.......i. ...:-....
x.w:yw.'''='A..,..'..,j
C''*Jw.
'J(
.j''
.y.,.. X '
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r
.
.

..

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..

'%
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eub

.'

r' v-

Stcrebl
'
tEastBridge,
Denmark
l
argestswiveljolslJolnt
2000 mm movement

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Telephone(++49)-(89)32394-0 '
Fax(++49)-489)32.
394-306

M A U RER SO H N E
Innovations in steel

StructuralEngineering International 1/2001