Three-dimensional parabolic cable element for cable-supported structures

Abstract

This paper presents a three-dimensional parabolic cable element for cable structures. The formulas of the diagonal and off-diagonal terms in the stiffness matrix are derived by using the assumption that the derivative of the total length of the cable is equal to that of the elastic elongation and the relationship between the nodal forces. Then, the proposed element is verified by using finite element analysis for several numerical examples. Since the verification results show that the proposed element offers a high degree of accuracy and computational efficiency relative to the catenary element, the proposed element is expected to be used not only in research but also for the practical design of cable-supported structures such as suspension bridges and cable-stayed bridges.