Free and Forced Vibration of Large-Diameter Sagged Cables Taking into Account Bending Stiffness

Publisher Summary This chapter presents a new finite element formulation for free and forced vibration of cables. This formulation takes into account the combined effects of all important parameters involved, such as sag extensibility, bending stiffness, end conditions, cable inclination, and lumped stiffness, and mass. The numerical simulations show that the cable bending stiffness contributes a considerable effect on the natural frequencies when the tension force is relatively small, and affects higher modes more significantly than lower modes. The proposed method will be used to provide the training data required for developing a multilayer neural network for identifying the cable tension from measured multimode frequencies. By interchanging the input and output roles in the training of the network, a functional mapping for the inverse relation can be directly established using the neural network, which then serves as a tension force identifier. The modal behavior and dynamic response of the main cables of the Tsing Ma Bridge in free cable stage are also predicted and compared with the measurement results.