Tension Force Estimation of Cables with Two Intermediate Supports

The presence of intermediate supports usually imposes difficulties in identifying the tension force of stayed cables in cable-stayed bridges or hanger cables in arch bridges. This paper establishes the partial differential equations of motion of the cable and derives two numerical models with (Model 1) and without (Model 2) considering the flexural rigidity. The effects of two intermediate supports on the identification accuracy of the cable tension force are further studied analytically and experimentally. The effects of several non-dimensional parameters (e.g. damper location, support stiffness, flexural rigidity, and mode order of the cable) on the identification accuracy of the models are also investigated. It is theoretically concluded that the simplified Model 2 provides acceptable accuracy on tension force identification when the non-dimensional parameter [Formula: see text] is greater than 90 (slender cables), whereas the accurate Model 1 can be applied for tension force identification at any scenarios. The feasibility of two models is further verified by three numerical examples and field tests on two real-world arch bridges.