New Concept for Main Cable of Suspension Bridge

Aerial Spinning (AS) method and Prefabricated Parallel Wire Strand (PWS) method have been used for a parallel wire cable of a suspension bridge. These two methods to be adopted have been selected by the conditions and situations of the project. This paper discusses the actual facts on these two methods based on the experiences of the author, and proposes the improvements of the system and the erection methodology of a suspension bridge cable.

The author recommends to apply the PWS method with further improvement rather than the AS method, since the PWS method is basically superior to the AS method from the viewpoint of the quality of installed cable and the capability for improvement. The new concepts on the improvement of PWS herein proposed are (i) to assemble wires as a PWS at construction site, (ii) to make partial bend unlike the conventional straight PWS and (iii) to use the separate reference strand for sag adjustment.