CABLE-SUSPENDED BRIDGES 15.

97

A. M. Abdel-Ghaffar, and L. I. Rubin, ‘‘Vertical Seismic Behavior of Suspension

Bridges,’’ The International Journal of Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics,
vol. 11, January–February, 1983.
A. M. Abdel-Ghaffar, and L. I. Rubin, ‘‘Lateral Earthquake Response of Suspension
Bridges,’’ Journal of the Structural Division, ASCE, vol. 109, no ST3, March, 1983.
A. M. Abdel-Ghaffar, and J. D. Rood, ‘‘Simplified Earthquake Analysis of Suspension
Bridge Towers,’’ Journal of the Engineering Mechanics Division, ASCE, vol. 108, no.
EM2, April, 1982.)

15.23 ERECTION OF CABLE-SUSPENDED BRIDGES

The ease of erection of suspension bridges is a major factor in their use for long spans. Once
the main cables are in position, they furnish a stable working base or platform from which
the deck and stiffening truss sections can be raised from floating barges or other equipment
below, without the need for auxiliary falsework. For the Severn Bridge, for example, 60-ft
box-girder deck sections were floated to the site and lifted by equipment supported on the
cables.
Until the 1960s, the field process of laying the main cables had been by spinning (Art.
15.12.3). (this term is actually a misnomer, for the wires are neither twisted nor braided, but
are laid parallel to and against each other.) The procedure (Fig. 15.68) starts with the hanging
of a catwalk at each cable location for use in construction of the bridge. An overhead
cableway is then installed above each catwalk. Loops of wire (two or four at a time) are
carried over the span on a set of grooved spinning wheels. These are hung from an endless
hauling rope of the cableway until arrival at the far anchorage. There, the loops are pulled
off the spinning wheels manually and placed around a semicircular strand shoe, which con-
nects them by an eyebar or bolt linkage to the anchorage (Fig. 15.33). The wheels then start
back to the originating anchorage. At the same time, another set of wheels carrying wires
starts out from that anchorage. The loops of wire on the latter set of wheels are also placed
manually around a strand shoe at their anchorage destination. Spinning proceeds as the
wheels shuttle back and forth across the span. A system of counterweights keeps the wires
under continuous tension as they are spun.
The wires that come off the bottom of the wheels (called dead wires) and that are held
back by the originating anchorage are laid on the catwalk in the spinning process. The wires
passing over the wheels from the unreelers and moving at twice the speed of the wheels,
are called live wires.
As the wheels pass each group of wire handlers on the catwalks, the dead wires are
temporarily clipped down. The live wires pass through small sheaves to keep them in correct
order. Each wire is adjusted for level in the main and side spans with come-along winches,
to ensure that all wires will have the same sag.
The cable is made of many strands, usually with hundreds of wires per strand (Art. 15.12).
All wires from one strand are connected to the same shoe at each anchorage. Thus, there
are as many anchorage shoes as strands. At saddles and anchorages, the strands maintain
their identity, but throughout the rest of their length, the wires are compacted together by
special machines. The cable usually is forced into a circular cross section of tightly bunched
parallel wires.
The usual order of erection of suspension bridges is substructure, pylons and anchorages,
catwalks, cables, suspenders, stiffening trusses, floor system, cable wrapping, and paving.
Cables are usually coated with a protective compound. The main cables are wrapped with
wire by special machines, which apply tension, pack the turns tightly against one another,
and at the same time advance along the cable. Several coats of protective material, such as
paint, are then applied For alternative wrapping, see Art. 15.14.