Experimental and Theoretical Investigation on Nonlinear Behavior of Cable-Stayed Bridges

This paper deals with experimental study and with understanding via a finite number of degrees of freedom model of the vibrations of an inclined cable linked to a continuous beam. This is a simplified version of deck and cable of a bridge. External excitation is exerted on the beam. The cable attached to the end of the beam is submitted to a vertical sinusoidal solicitation due to the response of the finite stiffness beam. The excitation of the cable though it is more complex looks similar to the excitation used in previous works. A guided device located at the end of the beam ensures the excitation with a variation of the horizontal component of the cable tension that introduces a new parametric excitation. Analysis of preliminary experimental results for main and secondary resonances permits us to consider simple modeling with one degree of freedom systems obtained by projection of the continuous three-dimensional model of the cable on adapted Irvine mode. Analytical treatment of these models involving data from the experimental devices shows a correct qualitative agreement between preliminary experiments and theoretical. Continuation technique are used to highlight the influence of physical parameters.