The risk of corrosion, loosening of anchors and vibration increases with the large cable-stay

length. Short cable stay bridges (span less than 80 m) generally involve no risk, and provision
for dampers on short cable stays is not proposed.

For long cable stays (more than 80 m in length), dampers must be installed to resist high
vibration. The cable stays are checked for the corrosion effects and their protection measures
during design and construction. To ensure that users feel safe, the amplitude of cable-stay
vibration is limited to 100 mm.

General causes of failure and their probable solutions are given as under:

Deck Vibration: Due to the low stiffness, light weight, and long spans of cable bridges, the lateral and
torsional stiffness of these bridges are low in comparison with regular non-cable bridges.

Effect of High Wind Speed: The speed of the wind through bridges varies rapidly. If the wind speed
variations follow a regular pattern, then the time difference between two adjacent peeks of wind speed
graph can be called as period of the wind loads. Usually wind loads have long periods.

This oscillation can continue to increase up to the point of damage or collapse. Figure 1 shows general
failures of cable stayed bridges.

(a) (b) (c)

Figure 1 Earlier Failure of Cable stayed bridges

Solutions: Because of high stiffness and short natural vibration period of the regular bridges or non-cable
bridges, wind resonance usually cannot happen to them as compared to cable stayed bridges. There may
be two major solutions for fluttering problems of cable bridges (Miyata, 2003, P1403-5) (2).

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(a) Modification of Deck: The shape and configuration of the bridge deck may be modified to create a
more stiff deck (with respect to the length of the span). In addition, the shape of the deck can be modified
to a more aerodynamic shape resulting in less wind load on deck.

(b) Use of Dampers: By use of dampers, the induced energy to the deck and cables can be damped. In
addition, dampers limit deformation of the deck and by this means keep the deck away from large
deformation.

Tendon System Problems: By regular control and maintenance of the cables, we can prevent
failures of tendons. One of these failures is rain/wind-induced vibration of cables. If some of the cables
become loose or if the pre-tension loads in the cables be non-compatible with the dead load distribution,
then under the combination of light wind and rain loads, they begin to vibrate like strings (FHWA, 2007,
P13-14) (5).

Solution: There may be three solutions for this type of failure (FHWA, 2007, P14-36)(5):

a) Special surface shape: Specially roughened surface of the cables ducts efficiently increases
aerodynamic stability of the cables. In Figure 3 different common shapes of the ducts are depicted.

b) Use of Dampers: By use of dampers, the movement of the cables become limited and the vibration
energy of the cables are damped. Usually, these dampers are installed between deck and cables
(perpendicular to the cables direction). (Figure 4 (a), (b), and (c)).

c) Tie of the cables together: By installing the cross-tie on the cables, internal restraints for the cables
become established, and as a result, transverse stiffness of the cables increases. In Figure 5, a sample
cross-tie is shown.

Figure 3: Common types of Figure 4 (a) Figure 4 (b)

cable duct surface in Figure 4 : Dampers on Bridge cables
cable stayed bridges
(Credit by: FHWA)

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 Figure 4 (c)

Figure 4: Dampers on Bridge cables Figure 5: Cross-tie on Cables

(Credit by: FHWA)

Cable and Anchorage Failure: Another type of failure in the cable systems is cable and anchorage
failure. Transfer and distribution of concentrated load in the cables are two main duties of cable
anchorages. Due to the changes in the magnitude of the cable load, fatigue can easily happens in
anchorages.

Solution: Both Parallel strand system (PSS) and New Parallel Wire System (NPWS) cables are prone to
rain/wind induced vibrations and mitigating countermeasures must be taken. As per IRC Draft
Guidelines, the preferred and proven treatments may be either a system of helical fillets running along
the cable or a system of indentations or dimples in the surface.(6)

The countermeasures are similar for both types namely surface treatment to the outer HDPE tube.
Therefore, a regular inspection is necessary to avoid fracture in the anchorages. In Figure 6, tearing out of
one of the Bridge anchorages is shown (Wiss, 2012, P35) (7).

Figure 6: Fracture in anchorage

(WJE Associates Inc.)

As per IRC Draft (6) on Cable stayed Bridge, although passing a two-million-cycle fatigue test is a
prerequisite for a cable-stay system to be acceptable, it does not completely qualify the wear resistance of
the system. Appropriate technical provisions for protecting the stay against wear are indispensable.

CONCLUSION

Construction of cable bridges is very expensive in certain cases, and due to dimensions of the structure,
failure of them can endanger too many people's lives.

Mainly the failures of the cable bridges are due to lack of regular inspection and maintenance; therefore,
by doing of more study on existing bridges, we can learn more about the characteristics of the cable
bridges and prevent failures of the under-study bridges.

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References and Bibliography

1. Issa J.Ramaji,, Cable Stay & Suspension Bridges Failures Penn State University, 2013, ramaji@psu.edu.

2. Miyata, Toshio. (December, 2003). "Historical view of long-span bridge aerodynamics." Journal of Wind
Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics, Volume 91, Pages 1393–1410. http:// www. sciencedirect.
com/science /article/pii/ S0167610503001211.

3. 3. Svensson, Holger. (March, 2009). “Protection of bridge piers against ship collision.” Steel Construction,
Vol.2, No.1, pp.21-32.<
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002
/stco. 200910004/pdf.

4. Satander Kumar, SS Nahar Paper No 620 Cable Stayed and Suspension Bridge- A way Forward Journal of
Indian Roads Congress July Sep 2014, IRC, New Delhi.

5. Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). (August, 2007). "Wind-Induced Vibration of Stay Cables.".
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/ research/infrastructure/ bridge/ 05083/05083.pdf.

6. Guidelines on Cable Supported Bridges (Part A: Cable Stayed including Extra dosed Bridges) (Draft) IRC
(May 2014).

7. Wiss, Janney. (June 28, 2012). “MARTIN OLAV SABO PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE, Cable Diaphragm Plate
Fracture Investigation.” WJE, Report No. 2012.0901 http://www. scribd.com/ doc/98690035/Sabo-Bridge-.

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