Ultimate behavior of steel cable-stayed bridges - II. Parametric study -

This paper presents the characteristics of the ultimate behavior of steel cable-stayed bridges through considering various geometric parameters. Steel cable-stayed bridges show complex ultimate behavior, because of their geometric characteristics and various nonlinearities. In this study, the patterns of the ultimate behavior of steel-cable stayed bridges under the critical live load case are classified. In addition, the effects of various geometric parameters on the ultimate behavior, such as cable-arrangement type, height of the girder and mast, and area of the stay cables, are studied. For rational analytical research, the analysis method suggested in the previous paper, Ultimate behavior of steel cable-stayed bridges-I. Rational ultimate analysis method (Kim et al., 2016), is mainly used. Using the analysis method, the main geometric and material nonlinearities, such as the cable sag effect, beam-column effect of the girder and mast, large-displacement effect, girder-mast-cable interaction, and gradual yield effect of steel members, are reflected and considered in the analytical research. After the analytical study, the characteristics of the change of ultimate mode and load carrying capacity are investigated, with respect to the change of various geometric parameters.