Main cable safety factors assessment of long-span suspension bridges based on inverse reliability method

Main cable safety factors assessment of long-span suspension bridges was presented based on inverse reliability method. This method which considered the influence of uncertainty factors among structure parameters and satisfied the prescribed main cable reliability level was used to get inverse main cable safety factors through target reliability indexes. Main cable safety factors of suspension bridges with main span ranging from 2000 m to 5000 m were estimated using this method. The results show that parameter uncertainty has a major effect on main cable safety factor of suspension bridges. Ignoring parameters uncertainty will produce overestimation of main cable safety factors.