Dynamic responses of cable-stayed bridges to vehicular loading including the effects of the local vibration of cables

Stay cables, the primary load carrying components of cable-stayed bridges (CSBs), are characterised by high flexibility which increases with the span of the bridge. This makes stay cables vulnerable to local vibrations which may have significant effects on the dynamic responses of long-span CSBs. Hence, it is essential to account for these effects in the assessment of the dynamics CSBs. In this paper, the dynamic responses of CSBs under vehicular loads are studied using the finite element method (FEM), while the local vibration of stay cables is analyzed using the substructure method. A case study of a cable-stayed steel bridge with a center span of 448 m demonstrates that stay cables undergo large displacements in the primary mode of the whole bridge although, in general, a cable’s local vibrations are not obvious. The road surface roughness has significant effects on the interaction force between the deck and vehicle but little effect on the global response of the bridge. Load impact factors of the main girder and tower are small, and the impact factors of the tension of cables are larger than those of the displacements of girders and towers.