• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.32 no.5A
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• pp.255-266
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• 2012

Main cable of a suspension bridge is the important member which shows the overall structure integrity at bridge completion. Configuration of main cable is a free hanging state at cable erection completion and is different from that at bridge completion supporting the dead loads such as hanger, girder, and so on. Accordingly, the configuration control under cable erection is considerably significant because the configuration at cable erection completion has direct influence on that at bridge completion. That is performed by sag adjustments at center, side span and tension adjustments at anchor span. The former needs the sag sensitivity which represents the control quantity of strand length corresponding to that of sag. The latter requires the tension sensitivity which shows the change of strand tension according to that of strand temperature. In this study, the fundamental equations of cable were derived with the assumption of either catenary or parabola shape, the differential-related equations using chain rule on horizontal tension were drawn from those and finally the estimation methods of the sag / tension sensitivity were proposed from both those. The nonlinear numerical analysis flow charts of sag sensitivity based on the catenary equations were proposed and the sag sensitivities grounded on the differential-related equations were compared with the results using them for various parameters of sag change. Also, considering the combinations of sag change parameters, the calculation method of the final variation for the cable sag was suggested. For the real suspension bridge under construction with PPWS method, the sag/tension sensitivity were estimated considering the construction conditions like the change of PPWS length, PPWS temperature, bridge span, etc.. We hope that this study will be a systematic guideline for the configuration control under main cable erection and improved highly by field verification in the real bridge site.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.31 no.6A
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• pp.435-447
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• 2011

This paper discusses the problems in application of a parallel wire strand with high performance steel wires, which have the tensile strength of 1960 MPa grade, as a major component of the main cables in suspension bridges. Construction methods of main cables in suspension bridges are briefly reviewed by comparing the pros and cons of available methods. Required items for performance and quality of parallel wire strands are described based on the established references. Ultimate tensile strength tests are carried out for seven specimens in order to analyze the behavior of high-performance parallel wire strands. The test results demonstrate that the properties of test specimens are satisfied with performance indexes specified in this paper. The high-performance parallel wire strands are acceptable for application in main cables of suspension bridges.