Progressive Collapse of a Cable Stayed Bridge

Progressive collapse is a persistent spread and enlargement of initial local failure of structures characterized by a discrepancy between the initial failure and its resulting extensive collapse. Although great efforts have been contributed to the progressive collapse of building structures, comparably small attention has been paid to the bridge structures, especially the cable-stayed bridges. This study demonstrates modelling and analysis of a typical cable stayed bridge through a nonlinear dynamic procedure. Furthermore, the response of the structural model is discussed for multiple types of critical cable loss cases. The results indicated a decrease in the possibility of failure progression of the cable stayed model when the location of the failed cables was closer to the pylon. A definite progressive collapse pattern was also identified along this procedure.