The analysis of the behaviour of an innovative pedestrian steel bridge

Abstract

The article dwells on a new structural solution for pedestrian steel suspension bridges. This new structural system of pedestrian stress-ribbon bridges includes suspension members with bending stiffness and a pre-stressed tie. The article looks into the behaviour of such suspension bridge under symmetrical and asymmetrical loads; it also presents analytical expressions for displacements, thrust forces and bending moments of such stiff suspension members. Then the article explains the effect of the cable's bending stiffness and the tie's axial stiffness on the bridge's stresses as well as the effect of the tie's pre-stressing on horizontal and vertical displacements of the bridge structure. The article then proceeds to comparative analysis, which considers the new structure and a traditional pedestrian suspension bridge. Numerical experiment determines the accuracy of the new engineering method developed for the analysis of stress-ribbon bridges. The efficiency of steel stress-ribbon bridge displacement stabilization through the bending stiffness is being discussed.