E3S Web of Conferences 283, 01031 (2021) https://doi.org/10.

1051/e3sconf/202128301031
ICCAUE 2021

Internal force calculation of long span suspension bridge under

vertical load based on elastic foundation beam algorithm
Ma Yurong1,2, Han Qianwen1*, Wang Feng1,2, Li Haixia1
1 School of Urban Construction, Anhui Xinhua University, Hefei 230088, China
2 Key Laboratory of Building Structure of Anhui Higher Education Institutes, Anhui Xinhua University, Hefei 230088, China

Abstract. The calculation of suspension bridge under vertical load is the most important content of
suspension bridge design calculation and the most important basis of main component design. Combined
with the knowledge of structural mechanics, this paper puts forward the elastic foundation beam algorithm,
and deduces the important formulas for the cross-section design and strength comparison of sling, cable and
stiffening beam. In use, as long as the parameters are brought into the formula, it is more convenient and
fast compared with the complex software modeling. The method proposed in this paper is used to check the
strength of the completed Japanese Guanmen bridge, and the results are accurate enough. It is fast and
reliable to use this method in the preliminary design and rapid safety assessment of suspension bridge.

1 Introduction analysis software, and calculated and analyzed the static

performance of suspension bridge under permanent load,
Nowadays, the calculations of long span suspension Analysis of the influence of loading length different
bridge are completed by bridge structure analysis from train load on the force and deformation of
software such as Dr. bridge, Midas and ANSYS. The suspension bridge structure system under dynamic action
numerical accuracy calculated by these software is very [2]. Liu Yi et al studied the calculation method of cable
high, but it is highly professional, and it needs shape and internal force of suspension bridge under dead
professionals to complete. Moreover, using bridge load. First, the approximate position of main cable is
software calculation, it needs very complex modelling given by using catenary formula. Then, through the
work, and the workload is very large. In the early stage analysis process of structure splitting and combination,
of engineering project planning, the workload of the calculation steps of cable shape and internal force are
software modelling analysis is relatively too large. In given [3].
this paper, an elastic foundation beam algorithm is In this paper, the mechanical model of suspension
proposed, which only calculates the internal force used bridge is established, and the calculation formula of
in the section design of suspension bridge sling, cable internal force of sling, cable and stiffening beam is
and stiffening beam by hand without the help of bridge derived, which is verified by an example. At present, this
software. With this method, the internal force of each kind of method is rarely mentioned in the literature.
sling, each section of cable and stiffening beam of long
span suspension bridge can be calculated within 2
working days. Through the calculation of the completed 2 Calculation principle and formula
bridge, the data is very accurate. Using this method, the
The structural diagram of suspension bridge is shown in
pre evaluation stage calculation of the project can be
Figure 1.
carried out more quickly, and the software calculation
results can be checked, which reduces a lot of complex
modeling work for designers.
Huang Wenli et al. Used MIDAS/Civil modelling to
put forward a form finding and internal force calculation
method for decorative cables of suspension bridges [1].
Based on the design of a super long span steel box girder
suspension bridge, Pi Fuyan and others carried out Fig. 1. structural diagram of suspension bridge.
comparative analysis on the main design parameters
such as the ratio of vertical span of main cable and the The calculation structure of this paper is shown in
ratio of side to middle span of stiffening beam, Figure 2.
established the calculation model of spatial structure of
suspension bridge by using the general finite element

* Corresponding author: 1027453860@qq.com

© The Authors, published by EDP Sciences. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution
License 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
E3S Web of Conferences 283, 01031 (2021) https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/202128301031
ICCAUE 2021

nX1

Fig. 4. Basic system of force method

Fig. 2. Calculation structure diagram

There is one cable on each side along the length The equation of force method is as follows,
direction of the bridge, and the vertical sling is connect-  11 X 1  1P  0 (8)
ed under the cable. There are 2n  1 slings ( 22n  1 in
total) on each side. Each cable is divided into 2n (1) The coefficient  11 consists of three parts
sections, the horizontal distance of each section is d ,  110 is the vertical displacement of the beam at C
and the length of each section is, points in the middle span of the stiffening beam under
the action of（2n  1） X 1  1 concentrated forces.
li  d 2  yi2 (1)
 11T is the displacement of C points in the middle of
y1  y1  y0 ,… y n  y n  y n1 (2) the beam span caused by（2n  1）slings under the action
of tension FT  X 1  1 .
Where, y n is the distance from the cable end to the
bridge deck,  11N is the displacement at C in the middle of the
beam span under the action of FNi , FNi is the internal
yn  y0  f (3)
force of each section of cable ( 2n sections ) under the
The cable equation is as follows, action of X 1  1 .
x2  11 =  110 +  11T +  11N (9)
y  y0 (4)
A
There are（2n  1） X 1  1 concentrated forces on the
When the cable axis is a parabola and the distance
'' 1
between slings is d , y is a constant, then the quadratic stiffening beam, which are replaced by q  ( d is
d
difference equation y of y is also a constant.
sling spacing). After calculating the support reaction, the
d2y M 1 equation of the beam is listed as follows,
y ''  (5)
dx 2 11 11 2
M1  lx  x (10)
y  yi1  yi (6) 2d 2d
1 l
l5
 110 
EI 
M 12 dx 
120  d 2 EI
(11)

1
 11T 
E S AS 2 y (12)

Where y is the length of each sling.

Fig. 3. Force diagram at node.
1 1 1 2
It can be seen from Fig. 3 that,  11N 
E S AS 1  F l  E A
N
2

S S1
(
y
)  l 3
(13)
y
Y  0 , F Ti  FVi1  FVi 
d
FH (7)
l  d 2  yi2 (14)
y is a constant, then FTi is also a constant. Where l is the length of each cable, E S is the elastic
Therefore, in the structure shown in Fig. 2, under the modulus of the cable and sling, AS 2 is the cross-sectional
action of Fkp , q k (there is no external load on the cable
area of the sling, AS 1 is the cross-sectional area of the
and sling), the tension generated by each sling is the cable.
same. The system shown in Figure 2 is One Degree of
(2) Constant  1 p
indeterminate when the force method is used. The basic
system of force method is shown in Figure 4. As the dead weight of cable and sling has little effect
on  1 p , it is not included in the calculation of 1 p . 1 p

2
E3S Web of Conferences 283, 01031 (2021) https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/202128301031
ICCAUE 2021

is caused by the load acting on the beam and the dead

weight of the beam.
① q1 p under dead load q k ( q k  q kp  dead weight
of half side beam)
1  l 5 qk
q1 p 
EI  M 1 M Pq dx 
120dEI
(15)
(a) Force diagram of stiffening beam

② p1 p under the action of live load Fkp

1 l4
p1 p 
EI  M 1 M pp dx 
24dEI
(  2 3   4 ) Fkp (16)

Where l is the action position of Fkp on the beam.

(15)+ (16) is as follows,
(b) M diagram of stiffening beam
l4  qk l Fkp 
1 p     
q
1P
p
1p     2 3   4   (17) Fig. 5. Force diagram and M diagram of stiffening beam
dEI  120 24 
In the fig.5,
According to the formula (8), it can be concluded l
that, M max

  (1   )(2 Fkp  ql ) (23)
2
 1P
X1   (18) FRB2
 11 M max

 (24)
2q1
According to the result of formula (18), it can be
concluded that, FRB
Location x0  (25)
① Sling tension q1

FT  X 1 (19) ④ l take different values, calculate the correspond-

ing M max

, draw the envelope diagram of M max 
, as
② Cable
Horizontal component, shown in Figure 6. When the external force on the
stiffening beam is only q kp  10.5kN / m , Fkp  360kN
d
FH  X1 (20) (or q kp  7.875kN / m , Fkp  270kN ), M max
absolute
is located
y
near l or 4l .
The tension of section i , 5 5

l i l
FNi  FH  i X 1 (21)
d y

Cable end tension,

l max
FN  FN max  X1 (22)
y Fig. 6. Envelope diagram of M 
max

X1 When the dead weight of the stiffening beam is

③ If X 1 is changed into uniform load ( ), and
d added to the dead load qk , the M max
absolute
position is
there is q k original uniform load on the beam, then l l 3l
X l  ~ 0.3l , and in most cases, it is (or ),and
q1  1  q k is the distributed load acting on the stiffen- 4 4 4
d the formula (23) is as follows,
ing beam (upward).Under the action of q1 and Fkp , the
6l
load diagram on the beam is shown in Figure 5a , and M max

 (2 Fkp  q1l ) (26)
32
the drawing of stiffening beam M diagram is shown in
Figure 5b . The corresponding formula (12) is as follows,
l4  qk l 19 
1 p    Fkp  (27)
dEI  120 2048 
When Fkp placed at position 0.3l , the formula (23) is
as follows,

3
E3S Web of Conferences 283, 01031 (2021) https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/202128301031
ICCAUE 2021

M max

 0.21l (2 Fkp  q1l ) (28)

The corresponding formula (12) is as follows,

 l 4  qk l 2541 
1 p    Fkp  (29)
dEI  120 240000 
Fig. 7. Schematic diagram of Guanmen bridge in Japan
Through the above calculation, the section design
and strength check of the stiffening beam are based on The bridge was built in 1973, with a total span of
1068M (178 + 712 + 178). It is a three span steel truss
the size of M max

.
suspension bridge.The main cable span is 712M, the side
⑤ The section design and strength check of sling and span is 178M, the tower height is 133.8M, the stiffening
cable is to place Fkp in C (   1 ). In this case, the beam is 702M, the side span is 167.2M, the beam height
2
is 9M, the width is 28.5M, I z  2.916m 4 , the main cable
formula (12) is as follows,
sag is 64M, the side span cable sag is 3.909M, the main
 l 4  qk l 5  cable AS 1  0.599m 2 ( 2  154  91 5.04mm ),
1 p    Fkp  (30)
dEI  120 384  E  2  10 5 Mpa , the distance between the two trusses is
 1P 29M, and the truss section is 10.35M long, When the
X1   , so the tension of the longest sling is, main girder is designed, the dead load is 120.86kN/m ,
 11
the wind load is 18.85kN/m , and the seismic load is
FT max  X 1  G  9.81 (31) 4.57 kN/m . When the main cable is designed, the dead
load is 25.66kN/m , the wind load is 3.02kN/m , and the
Here G is the weight of the sling itself. seismic load is 1.23kN/m .
The maximum tension FN max of the cable occurs at
For the suspension bridges built on the coastal rivers
the end of the cable, near the the tower, the length of this and harbors, the safety factor is too large in design
cable is l max  d 2  y max
2
.The parts produced by because of typhoon.The safety factor of the sling is
FT max are as follows, K  4 , cable is K  2.5 and stiffening beam is K  3
(because the diameter of the sling is much smaller than
l max that of the cable, the sling is prone to flutter under the
FN' max  FT max (32) action of wind and rain, so the safety factor is greater
y
than that of the cable).Because Japan is located in the sea
The self weight of the cable is produced by the and earthquake prone area, the design of suspension
following parts, bridge should consider not only the self weight but also
the wind load and earthquake load.Wind load and
1 l 2 l earthquake load are considered in the design of Japan's
FN'' max  q   max (33)
8 f d Guanmen bridge.
This example is of great reference value for the
G  2 S design of suspension bridges in earthquake areas.Based
q  DN  7.85  9.81 (34)
l 4 l on the above data, the elastic foundation beam algorithm
proposed by the author is used for calculation.The
Where q is the uniformly distributed load due to the calculation is as follows,
dead weight of the cable, G is the total weight of the Take the distance between the slings as d  8.9m , 79
cable. slings under each cable, and the cable is made of  60
FN max  FN' max  FN'' max (35) high strength steel cable. The tensile force of each sling
is 4524kN( AS 2  1600Mpa ) , and E s As 2  EI is used
FT max and FN max here are the basis for the section 500
design and strength check of sling and cable. for calculation ; one cable can bear the tensile force of
447200kN ( AS 1  1600Mpa ) ,and E s As1  EI is used
5.2
3 Examples for calculation, the truss beam is welded with 16
manganese steel, and each truss can bear the bending
Japan's Guanmen bridge[4], as shown in Figure 7 (this moment of 220320kN  m .The cable is l  712 M ，
example is characterized by a suspension bridge with
side spans, including wind load and seismic load). f  64 m, then f  1 and the cable equation is
l 11.125
4x 2
y  4 .From this equation, it can be calculated
7921
that,
y  0.08
y  64.84m ( x  39d )
max

4
E3S Web of Conferences 283, 01031 (2021) https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/202128301031
ICCAUE 2021

l max  9.444m 44700

Safety factor: K   3.708
l max 120596
 1.0612
d 1 3
(2) When Fkp  360kN is placed at l (or l ),
 y  y   y  1918m
0 i
check the strength of the stiffening beam:
4 4

 l  61890m
3

 1P 
 702 4 82.73
(  702 
19
 360)
Coefficient, 8.9 EI 120 2408
 1329.73185  1010
702 5  
 EI
 110  120  8.9  1.793598  10
2 10

EI EI  1329.73185
 X1   793.266
500  1.79872
 1918  9.59  10
5
 11T  EI  X
EI  q1  1  82.73  0.3336kN/m()
5.2 1 2  8.9

l 3  5.028563  10
7
 11N  ( )
EI  3  702
EI 0.8  M max  2 

(2  360  702  0.3336)
32
 63945.2kN/m
 11  1.798719  10 EI
10
220320
Safety factor K   3.445 .
63945.2

Constant,
 1 p in the calculation formula (because the  1P 4 Conclusions
caused by the dead weight of cable, wind load and According to the elastic foundation beam algorithm
earthquake load is very small, it is not included in  1P ) proposed in this paper, the strength of the completed
q k  (120.86  18.85  4.57) / 2  10.5  82.72kN/m Japanese Guanmen bridge is checked, which has enough
When Fkp  360kN is placed in the middle of the accuracy. This paper deduces the important formulas for
the section design and strength comparison of sling,
span, check the cable strength, cable and stiffening beam. In use, only the parameters
 702 4 82.73 5 are brought into the formula. Compared with the
 1P  (  702   360)
8.9 EI 120 384 complex software modeling, it is more convenient and
 1333.409  1010 fast. This algorithm can be used for the preliminary
 design of suspension bridge, and can also check the
EI
calculation results of bridge software and rapid safety
1333.409
X1    741.31kN assessment.The following aspects need to be further
1.79872 studied.
① Sling (1) The algorithm can be programmed into a
FT max  X 1  G  741.31  14.04  755.35kN computer program, and the calculation results can be
Here G is the weight of the longest sling. obtained instantly by inputting the design parameters of
the suspension bridge.
4524
Safety factor K   5.99 (2) The algorithm is extended to the calculation and
755.35 design of cable-stayed bridge and arch bridge.
② Cable At present, there are few literatures about this kind of
l 9.444 algorithm, and the research is not mature enough. This
FN' max  max FT max   755.35  89169kN
y 0.08 method needs to be used in practical engineering, and its
practicability can be proved by more engineering data,
q 0  q1 + q 2 + q3  25.66  3.02  1.23  29.91kN so that more people will know this kind of algorithm and
Here q1 is the dead weight of the cable, q 2 is the wind further optimize it. There is still a long way to go for the
load acting on the cable, q3 is the seismic load acting on development of beam algorithm on elastic foundation.
the cable.
1 l 2 l
FN'' max  q 0  max
Acknowledgements
8 f d
This paper is one of the phased achievements of the key
1 712 2 project of Horizontal Topic "Experimental study on the
  29.91  1.0612  31427kN
8 64 basic mechanical properties of reinforced fiber
Here l is the horizontal span of cable. reinforced concrete with high performance ductility"
FN max  FN' max  FN'' max  120596kN (2018cxy006),Natural Science Research in Universities
of Anhui Province "Study on dynamic mechanical
(horizontal pull FH  113641kN ) properties of heterogeneous materials based on extended
finite element method" (KJ2019A0882),Anhui Province

5
E3S Web of Conferences 283, 01031 (2021) https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/202128301031
ICCAUE 2021

Quality Engineering Project "Teaching team of civil

engineering" (2019jxtd118).

References
1. Huang W, Zheng M.W, Xu F, Zhou J.J. (2015) Form
finding and internal force calculation of decorative
cable of landscape suspension bridge. Journal of
Northeast University, 36:143-147.
2. Pi F.Y, Lei J.Q, Lu W.L, Chen J.C. (2021)
Preliminary study on Design of super long span steel
box girder suspension bridge for highway and
railway use. Railway Engineering , 61:1-4.
3. Liu Y, Li A.Q, Guo T. (2007) Calculation method of
cable shape and internal force of suspension bridge
under dead load. Bridge Construction, 03:24-26.
4. Bridge Engineering Bureau of Ministry of Railways,
Institute of bridge science.(1996) suspensionbridge.
Science and Technology Literature Press, Beijing.