Cables as Axial Elements

The axial stiffness of a horizontal cable

l / 2 l l / 2

H + H H H H + H
d + d

d
After deformation

Before deformation
Figure 1. A horizontal cable under axial loading

Consider a cable (Figure 1) in which the ends are at the same level, which has a span l, a
weight per unit length of mg and a sag d that is a small fraction of the span. To a very good
order of approximation, such flat-sag suspended cables have the following well known
properties.

Their profiles are parabolic with the horizontal component of cable tension, H, being given by

mgl 2
H
8d

and the actual length of the cable L, is given approximately by

 8  d 2 
 
L  l 1  (mgl / H ) / 24  l 1    
2

 3  l  

If we consider a movement in which the ends of the cable are further separated by a small
amount l , while the cable length remains at L (i.e. the cable is inextensible), we have the
following relationship.

Firstly, the change in the horizontal component of tension is related to the change in span (and
the consequent change in sag) by

mgl 2  2l d 
H    
8d  l d 

Secondly, the relative change in span is related to the relative change in sag by

l 8  d  2d
2

  
l 3 l  d

As the ratio d/l is small (e.g. 0.1), small changes in span give rise to quite large changes in sag.
Therefore

1
 H 3 1 l
  
H 16 d l  l
2

or

12 H
H  l
l mgl H 
2

The axial stiffness for this type of response is gravitational in origin because the centre of
gravity of the cable has risen in sympathy with the increase in span.

The cable element may be assumed to consist of two springs in series, with an effective axial
stiffness, ka, given by

k g kh
ka 
k g  kh

which consists of the gravitational stiffness kg = 12H/[l(mgl/H)2] and the Hookean stiffness kh
= EA/l. This may be written as

EA / l
ka 

1  2 / 12 
in which 2 is the characteristic independent dimensionless parameter of cable behaviour,
given by

2
 mgl  EA
 
2
 
 H  H

When 2 is small (as when the ratio of sag to span is small), ka is little different from EA/l.
When the ratio of sag to span is more appreciable, ka takes on a value that can be quite low,
namely, the gravitational stiffness of 12H/[l(mgl/H)2]. We are here making the tacit
assumption that the cables in question are metal so that strains are low (i.e. H/EA is low). If
we were talking of Kevlar rope, for example, larger strains are possible and self-weight is
much lower. All this combines to imply that 2 will often be quite small for synthetic ropes
in structural service.

It is important that one is careful in understanding the nature of springs in series: when the
axial stiffness is largely Hookean, the Hookean component is significantly smaller than the
gravitational component. Similarly, when the axial stiffness is largely gravitational, the
gravitational component is significantly smaller than the Hookean component.

The stiffness of this cable for movements perpendicular to the axis of the member is H/l. This
is the geometric stiffness, which can be denoted by kp. Thus the 2×2 stiffness matrix for a
horizontal cable is k 0 a
0 k p 


2
Example 1

Consider a bridge strand of gross diameter 64 mm, with an area of metal 65% of that based on
the gross diameter, and a modulus of elasticity of E = 150000 MPa. The lower value of E
reflects the twisted nature of the strand. The density of steel is 7.7 t/m3. The bridge strand
has an ultimate tensile stress of approximately 1600 MPa. Take the stress factor of safety as
2.5. Initially, the strand spans 100 m with a sag of 8 m. The sag is then progressively pulled
out. Investigate the axial load - axial displacement behaviour.

(a) Initial characteristics

mgl 2 0.65    0.064 2 7.7  9.81  100 2

H  
8d 4 88
H = 24.7 kN

The length is cable at this stage is

 8  d 2   8  8 2 
L  l 1      1001     
 3  l    3  100  
L  101.71 m

Cable stretch accounts for an amount given by Hl/EA approximately

24.7 100  4
 0.01 m
1.5 108  0.65    0.0642

which is negligible. Cable stresses are about 11.8 MPa, which is very low.

The axial stiffness of this hawser (when d/l = 0.08) is almost solely gravitational at
12H/[l(mgl/H)2] or 7.2 kN/m. The geometric stiffness is H/l = 0.25 kN/m which is typically
very low.

(b) Final characteristics

The allowable tensile stress is 1600 / 2.5 or 640 MPa. We assume that the span is increased
to give the stress. The total length of the cable is now about

   640 
101.7  1    101.7  1  
 E  150000 
 102.1 m

In this situation, the sag is quite low being given by

mgl 2 7.7  9.81 102.12

d 
8H 8  640  1000
 0.15m

3
The span is assumed to be the same as the total length of the cable, which is very close to the
truth.

At this final stage the characteristic parameter 2 has a value of

 8  0.15  150000
2

2      0.03
 102.1  640

which means that the bridge strand is behaving as a straight elastic member. When this cable
is (almost) straight, its axial stiffness is approximately 3070 kN/m. This may be compared to
that at the initial stage when the sag was 8 m, namely

 8  8  150000
2

 
2
   5200
 100  11.8

and the axial stiffness is then about a factor 430 less than the value when the cable is almost
straight.

Figure 2 illustrates the dramatic change in axial stiffness that occurs as one moves to pull the
sag out of a suspended cable. The curve depicts the results of a monotonic gradual increase in
the span of the cable. At every point in the process, the stiffness is well approximated (for
small axial movements around a particular value of sag/span) by a line tangential to the curve.
Clearly, the relationship between axial load and axial displacement is highly non-linear if one
traverses the whole load-deflection curve. The non-linearity stems from the non-linear
relationship between cable span and sag. For example, an increase in span of 2% leads to a
reduction in sag of 98%.

Note also that at the allowable stress of 640 MPa, the Hookean component of the axial
stiffness is 3.07×103 kN/m and the gravitational component is 1.14  106 kN/m, while the
transverse stiffness is only 13.1 kN/m.

H/l EA cos/l
B
3
2
h
1
Coordinate axes
 l
A
Figure 2. Behaviour of a horizontal cable Figure 3. An inclined stay

The stiffness of an inclined cable

Consider a perfectly straight stay inclined to the horizontal at an angle as shown in Figure 3.
The self-weight is ignored for the time being. The horizontal component of the stay force is

4
H. The tension in the member is H sec. The axial stiffness of the member is EA/(l2+h2)1/2.
The stiffnesses in the two directions perpendicular to the member axis are both

H sec θ H
or
l 2
h 2
 l

These properties can be transformed so that they refer to the global axes (x1, x2, x3) by using
the transformation matrix

 cos  0 sin  
R   0 1 0 
 sin  0 cos 

The stiffness matrix referring to the global axes becomes

cos θ 0  sin θ   EA l  h

2 2
 0 
0   cos θ 0 sin θ 

K   0 1 0   0 H l 0   0 1 0 
 sin θ 0 cos θ   0 0 H l   sin θ 0 cos θ 
 
cos θ 0  sin θ   EA cos θ l  h

2 2

0 
EA sin θ l 2  h 2 

 
K   0 1 0   0 H l 0 
 sin θ 0 cos θ    H sin θ l 0 H cos θ l 
 
 EA cos 2  H EA sin  cos  H 
 2  sin 2  0 sin  cos  

 l h 2 l   l h
2 2

l 
 H 
K 0 
l
 
 EA sin  H
2

sym.  cos 2 

 l 2  h2 l  


That is the member stiffness matrix for a taut straight guy, as referred to axes (x1, x2, x3). The
matrix is symmetric and, provided displacements are small, the problem is linearly elastic.
These matrix coefficients may be obtained from the general (non-linear) case by making the
strained length of the cable very similar to the length of the chord.

Figure 4 shows a guy-wire stretched between point A x

A
and a point B some distance below A. We are 
interested in obtaining an approximate solution for the x tan
profile of this cable when it hugs closely to the chord
AB, which is inclined at angle  to the horizontal, h
z
where 0     2 .
l
B
Figure 4. An inclined stay with
self-weight

5
If z denotes the dip of the profile below the chord, vertical equilibrium is satisfied by

2
d 2z  dz 
H   mg 1   tan   
dx 2
 dx 

where H is the horizontal component of tension in the guy and tan = h/l.

If dz/dx is considered sufficiently small for its square to be ignored, the equation reduces to

d 2Z dZ
  1
dX 2
dX

where Z = z/(mgsec l2/H), X = x/l and = mglsin/H. The parameter  is small because mgl
must be a small fraction of H for the cable to lie close to the chord.

The linear second-order ordinary differential equation can be integrated directly to give a
first-order equation, and a solution may then be found using the theory of linear first-order
equation. However there is no point in this because we are neglecting powers of dz/dx higher
than the first power. On the other hand, if we let

Z  Z 0   Z1  

substitute this in the differential equation, and collect like terms, we obtain

d 2Z0
 1 and
dX 2
d 2 Z1 dZ
 0
dX 2
dX

whose solutions are required to satisfy the zero displacements at A and B.

These solutions are Z0 = X(1-X)/2 and Z1 = X(1-X)(1-2X)/12. Consequently

1   
Z X (1  X ) 1  (1  2 X )
2  6 

and this perturbation solution is accurate to the first power of , which is all that is claimed of
the differential equation that generated it.

The correction is often small and can be ignored when the slope of the chord is small. Of
course, the correction disappears when the supports are horizontal. Then  is zero and the
profile is the well known parabola. In any event, an approximate expression for the sags of
such a cable is d = mgsecl2/8H and we note that in this case a total load of mglsec has been
distributed uniformly over a “span” of l, the horizontal projection of the cable.

6
We may now turn to the allowance for sag in the 3×3 member stiffness matrix. Recall from
our work with horizontal cable that, within the confines of an engineering theory for flat-sag
cables, the axial stiffness was

2
EA l  mgl   EA 
where  
2
  
(1  2 / 12)  H   H 

The axial straight member stiffness here is EA/l. For the inclined cable, the horizontal
component of the straight member’s axial stiffness is

EA cos 2  EA cos3 

l 2  h2 l

with the other stiffness coefficients involving the Hookean stiffness terms as given in the
matrix previously presented.

The length of the inclined member when allowance is made for sag is approximately


L  l sec 1  (mgl / H ) 2 cos 2  / 24 
The expression may be used to find the 2×2 matrix stiffness coefficients when sag is being
pulled out of the stay, while its length remains constant. In other words, we derive the
gravitational stiffness matrix for displacements in the plane of the cable, namely

dH  12 H  1 tan    dl 
   tan   
 dV  l (mgl / H )
2
 tan 2   dh

where dH and dV refer to changes in the horizontal and vertical components of the reaction at
the upper end, due to change in the position of the upper end dl and dh. Note that mg is the
weight of the cable per unit length (of the chord).

Hence the full 3×3 stiffness matrix for inclined members in which the profile hugs closely to
the chord is

 EA* H EA* H 
 cos3   sin 2  0 sin  cos 2   sin  cos 
 Q1   l l l l   u1 
   H  u2 
Q2   0 0
Q   * l  
 3   EA H EA* 2 H  u3 
 l sin  cos   l sin  cos  sin  cos   cos 2  
2
0
 l l 

where as before

2
EA  mgl  EA
EA 
*
and  
2

  cos 2  
2
 H  H
1  
 12 

7
If a change to global coordinates is required, we use the expressions given earlier with kij as
given by the above matrix. We obtain the gravitational stiffness in the limit when 2 is large.

Summary

Horizontal Stay Cable

T w = weight per unit length T
E
Ernst modulus Eeq  L=l
1  ( wL) AE 12T 3
2

Figure 5. A horizontal stay cable

E eq A T
Stiffness =
l
l
Inclined Stay Cable

Ernst modulus
 w cos
E
Eeq  w
1  ( w cos   l ) 2 AE 12T 3 T
L
E
Eeq 
1  ( wL) AE 12T 3
2
Figure 6. An inclined stay cable

For stressing from Ti to Tf, note that

Tf
1 1 dT T f  Ti
T 3

T f  Ti  T 3  2 Ti 2 T f2
Ti

and hence

E
Eeq 

1  ( wL) (Ti  T f ) AE 24Ti T f2
2 2


8
Example 2: Horizontal Cable
T T = 1000 kN
w = 0.2 kN/m
A = 0.0021 m2 L = l = 150 m
E = 150000 MPa Figure 7. A horizontal stay cable
Ernst modulus
E 150 106
Eeq  
( wL) 2 AE (0.2 150) 2 (0.0021)(150 106 )
1 1 
12T 3 (12)(1000)3
 146.5 106 kN/m 2
T = 1000 kN
E A (146.5  106 )(0.0021)
Stiffness = eq   2051 kN/m
l 150
150 m
Example 3: Inclined Cable

90 m
l = 150 m
L = 120 m
w = 0.2 kN/m T
A = 0.0021 m2 120 m
E = 150000 MPa
Ernst modulus Figure 8. An inclined stay cable
E 150 10 6
Eeq  
( wL) AE
2
(0.2 120) 2 (0.0021)(150 106 )
1 1 
12T 3 (12)(1000)3
 147.8 106 kN/m 2
E A (147.8  106 )(0.0021)
Stiffness = eq   2069 kN/m
l 150