Effects of Cable Dynamics in the Modeling of Cable-Stayed Bridges Under Seismic Excitation

New longer and bigger cable-stayed bridges are planned for the future, increasing the necessity of improving the way bridge models are used, especially when the models are used for dynamic behavior. This paper studies how the dynamic behavior of the deck and towers of a particular structure are affected when the cables are modeled with three different cable models. A finite element model of the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge is used to compare the different methodologies. Three cable models are used in this study including the equivalent Young's modulus, the elastic catenary and the elastic isoparametric formulation. Results show that in the case of the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge the tower behaves differently depending on the cable model used while the deck has a similar behavior independent on the cable model used.