Self-Anchored Suspension Bridges

This paper, summarizing the beginnings, analysis, and future of self-anchored suspension bridges, examines the development of this unique bridge form, its uses over the past century, and its advantages and disadvantages. The Konohana Bridge in Osaka, Japan, illustrates this type and provides a case study to compare conventional suspension bridge theory with the results of a finite-element model. The final portion of the paper evaluates the potential for self-anchored suspension bridge design, and provides recommendations for design engineers. The goal here is to describe the structural behavior of self-anchored bridges in general, and of the Konohana Bridge in particular.