Nonlinear analysis of cable vibration of a multispan cable-stayed bridge under transverse excitation

The nonlinear vibrations of cable in a multispan cable-stayed bridge subjected to transverse excitation are investigated. The MECS (multielements cable system) model, where multielements per cable stay are used, is built up and used to analyze the model properties of the multispan cable-stayed bridges. Then, a simplified two-degrees-of-freedom (2-DOFs) model, where the tower or the deck is reduced to a beam, is proposed to analyze the nonlinear dynamic behaviors of the beam and cable. The results of MECS model analysis show that the main tower in the multispan cable-stayed bridge is prone to the transverse vibration, and the local vibration of cables only has a little impact on the frequency values of the global modes. The results of simplified model analysis show that the energy can be transformed between the modes of the beam and cable when the nature frequencies of them are very close. On the other hand, with the transverse excitation changing, the cable can exhibit richer quasi-periodic or chaotic motions due to the nonlinear terms caused by the coupled mode between the beam and cable.