Dynamic characteristics and vibration control of a cable system with substructural interactions

Free and forced vibration analyses of a cable system, which consists of two identical sagged cables in parallel connected by another sagged cross cable, are conducted using a modal synthesis method with substructural formulation. The analyses are carried out in order to investigate the system behavior, while paying attention to the substructural interaction. It is shown that the secondary cable contribution in the system modal damping can be dominant and can cause greater damping in the case of coupled motion of main and secondary cables. The importance of the secondary cable in transferring the energy from one substructure to another through the substructural interaction is also discussed for the passive control of harmonically forced vibration in the main cable.