Cable-stayed bridges - Computational Analysis and Design of Bridge Structures - page 362

Figures 11.26 and 11.29 show pylon dimensions and the elevation of an
alternative plan of Sutong Bridge, respectively. The main girder is a steel box
girder as shown in Figure 11.10, with a total width of 37 m (121′) or eight
traffic lanes. The design live load is super Qi-20, which allows one heavy vehi-
cle and many normal vehicles in each traffic lane. The total axle weight of the
heavy vehicle is 55 tons whereas the normal vehicle is 20 tons. The minimum
distance between normal and heavy vehicles is 10 m (33′) and 15 m (49′)
between normal vehicles. The analyses focus on dead loads and live loads and
ideal state and static wind stability. Three typical stages (1) before reaching
the first auxiliary pier in the side span, (2) before closure, and (3) in-service
are selected to investigate the nonlinear effects such as sag, initial stress, and
large displacements.
The bridge in the service stage is modeled as 1032 elements and 1035
nodes in total. Figure 11.30 shows the perspective view of half of the bridge.
Figure 11.31 shows one of the preferred ideal states obtained by automatic
cable tuning. Figure 11.32 shows the live load stress envelope. Table 11.2
compares the extreme live load displacements with and without geometric

244 m

244 m

478 m 1088 m 478 m

Figure 11.29 The elevation of an alternative plan of Sutong Bridge.

Figure 11.30 Perspective view of the 3D FEA model of Sutong Bridge.