A special-purpose computer program for the design and analysis of cable supported bridges

Structural analysis of bridges supported by cables, i.e. of cable-stayed and suspension bridges, is, in principle, straightforward. However, mainly due to the need both of taking into account several construction stages with a variety of loading cases and of closely controlling the bridge geometry during erection, the use of general-purpose finite element or frame analysis programs has, in many cases, proved to be cumbersome. Such programs also do not provide any automatic design capabilites. The goal of the project, which was started in 1999, is to develop a computer program specifically tailored to the structural analysis and design of any kind of cable-supported bridges.

Based on a well-known and widely accepted theoretical background, the project is expected to result into a computer program used by structural engineers specialised in the design and construction of different kinds of cable-supported bridges ranging from the very-long-span bridges being planned today (e.g. based on a combination of the cable-stayed and the cable-suspended approach) all the way down to lightweight pedestrian bridges. The main goal is to provide these engineers with the user-friendliness of state-of-the-art graphical-interactive application software not found in today's bridge design programs.

Staff

Prof. Dr. Edoardo Anderheggen (Guidance)
Dr. Pietro Pedrozzi

Support

Dr. Michael Schlaich, SBP, Stuttgart