Stiffness Analysis of Cable-Stayed Bridges

A general procedure for analysis of cable-stayed bridges by the stiffness method is presented. The bridge system is considered as a structure made up of rigid bars and cables. Stiffness matrices are developed for fixed as well as movable cables, by taking into account both their flexibility and catenary action. The nonlinear analysis is performed by successive iteration of linear computations. In each step of the iterations, stiffness matrices and stability functions assembled on the basis of data determined in the previous step, are employed. The external loads applied in each iteration are obtained by subtracting the internal joint stress resultants of the previous step from the corresponding joint loads.