Elastic Analysis of Bridge Cable Wires Under Static Loading

Abstract

This article deals with comparison between the responses of CFRP and Steel cable wires when subjected to their self-weight and external vertical load considering the elasticity of the cables. The responses of the two wire types, each from the CFRP manufacturers, CFCC (Tokyo Rope Mfg. Co., Ltd.) and NACC Strand (Nippon Steel Chemical Co., Ltd.) and a steel wire, have been compared keeping in mind their elongation. The externally applied load is considered as equally spaced point forces to make the analysis realistic, whereas the self-weight is considered as the uniformly applied load along the cable length. Furthermore, the results of the extensible and the inextensible analysis of the cables have been compared. It is also shown how the theory can be used in the form-finding of the elongated cables under vertical static load and reducing the area of the cables. Numerical methods using MATLAB have been employed to find the various solutions.