Finite Segment Method for Shear Lag Analysis of Cable-Stayed Bridges

Using the principle of minimum potential energy, this paper established the governing differential equations for shear lag in cable-stayed bridges under combined axial and lateral loads. Then the homogeneous solutions of the differential equation for the shear lag are taken as the displacement patterns of the finite segment and applied to calculate the shear lag effect in cable-stayed bridges. The model tests of a box girder are conducted and numerical analysis of the model by the finite strip method are made for comparison purposes. These results verify the accuracy of the present method. The advantage of this approach, compared with the finite element and finite strip methods, is that it can simplify a three-dimensional structure as a one-dimensional structure such as a beam and therefore reduce computational efforts significantly.