Simple model for dynamic analysis of cable supported structures

Y.M. Desai *, S. Punde

Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Powai, Mumbai 400 076, India

Abstract A simple, nine degrees-of-freedom model has been presented to describe vibrations of an inclined cable by using a generalised nite element approach. All three translations of a vibrating cable and of the support points have been included in the model for its use over a wide range of cable supported structures. The model has been validated for free as well as forced responses of inclined cables by comparing the results with analytical solutions. Some illustrative examples are considered to demonstrate the applicability of the model for analysing vibrating cables and guyed towers subjected to gusty wind. It has been demonstrated that the model can be utilised to expeditiously predict the dynamic response of cable supported structures.

Keywords: Cable dynamics; Generalised nite element model; Dynamics of cable supported structures

1. Introduction Steel-alloy cables are used extensively to support long span roofs, communication towers, suspension bridges, offshore structures, etc. Such structures are often more economical than conventional ones, because of the high efciency of steel in simple tension. Various approaches to the analysis of the behaviour of cable supported structures have been previously reviewed extensively [14]. Analytical methods [57] have been employed in the past mainly for quite simple cable structures. Dean [8], Davenport and Steel [9], and Veletsos and Darbre [10], for example, have presented theoretical formulae for computing equivalent spring constants for uniformly loaded cables. However, all the resulting spring constants invariably assume that one end of a cable is xed. Consequently, the spring constants cannot be used for all types of cable supported structures. Most numerical schemes [3,1115], on the other hand, are based on discretisation of the equilibrium expression followed by a solution of algebraic equations. Naturally, many degrees-of-freedom would be required in formulating such discrete models for a reasonable esti-

mate of the dynamic response and thus, such schemes are usually computationally intensive. It is often necessary, especially in the initial design stage where different strategies are contemplated, to perform expeditious analysis for the dynamic loads imposed on cable supported structures. Thus, it is advantageous to have a computational model which can represent the key structural aspects realistically by using a few degrees-of-freedom. Of course, the number of primary unknowns can be reduced by using techniques like substructuring for static analysis [16], and Guyan reduction [17] for a dynamic analysis. However, it is always desirable to formulate the basic model itself in such a way that the response can be obtained accurately with a few degrees-of-freedom. A simple cable model can be formulated by using the transfer matrix method (e.g. Cheng and Perkins [18]) or by formulating a dynamic stiffness matrix [19]. Alternatively, a generalised displacement based model can also be expeditiously used [20] by employing analytical mode shapes for the undamped free vibration of cables (like those presented by Irvine [7] and Triantafyllous and Grinfogel [21]) to obtain accurate results even with a few degrees-of-freedom. Such a model can be easily incorporated into any displacement based nite element formulation to represent, say, a supporting cable in a multi-level guyed tower or a suspension bridge. Thus, components like a mast or bridge girder can be analysed

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Nomenclature
A Area of cross section of cable E Modulus of elasticity H Horizontal component of tension in cable h Component of tension in cable along its chord l Span of a cable in the horizontal direction L Chord length of a cable Le Length of a cable along its centre line r Mass of a cable per unit volume s Intrinsic co-ordinate along cable axis T Pretension in the cable ux, uy, uz Total local displacements along the inclined x, y and z directions, respectively u, v, w Displacements of a point on the axis of a cable in the inclined x, y and z directions, respectively x, y, z Co-ordinates along the inclined cable axes X, Y, Z Co-ordinates along the global axes q Inclination of the chord with respect to the horizontal {F} Force vector for a cable [C] Damping matrix for a cable [K] Stiffness matrix for a cable [M] Mass matrix for a cable

more comprehensively with relatively fewer degrees-offreedom. Development of such simple cable models is the focus of the present work. Yu et al. [20] have developed a simple but efcient model for describing motion of a vibrating cable used in a transmission line. The model has been formulated for a cable with end points at the same elevation, and by neglecting inertia in the longitudinal direction. Because the movements of the end points have been restricted, the model cannot be applied to the analysis of cable supported structures. A simple cable model has been formulated in the present work, which can be used effectively to analyse a variety of cable supported structures like guyed towers, suspension bridges, cable stayed bridges etc. The dynamic response of an entire cable used in a structure has been represented with the help of merely 9 degreesof-freedom, viz. three translations at each end and three generalised co-ordinates for representing motion of an intermediate point on a cable. Because the movements of the end points are considered in the model, it can be easily used with any displacement based, nite element formulation. The accuracy of the new formulation has been demonstrated by comparing the free and the forced responses of cables with available analytical data. Further, guyed masts have also been analysed for the free and the forced responses, to demonstrate applicability of the cable model to cable-supported structures.

2. Formulation of the model for an inclined cable The model for an inclined cable is presented in Fig. 1. In the gure, the global horizontal and vertical axes are denoted by X and Y, respectively, whereas the axes along the chord of a cable and perpendicular to the chord, are labelled x and y, respectively. The static prole between the end points 1 and 2 has been shown by a dotted curve. The local co-ordinates (x, y, z) of a point at rest are dened as xX sec qY sin q yY cos q zZ lL sec q hH sec q (1) (2) (3) (4) (5)

Here, L, H and q are, respectively, the chord length, the horizontal component of tension, and the inclination of the chord with respect to the horizontal. The time dependent movement of the left and right support is denoted by subscripts 1 and 2, respectively for the cable model shown in Fig. 1. Thus, the dynamic displacement at any point(s) along the curved length of a cable, measured from the static conguration, can be described by ux(s,t)u1f1(s)u2f2(s)u(s,t) (6)

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Fig. 1.

Inclined cable model.

uy(s,t)v1f1(s)v2f2(s)v(s,t) uz(s,t)w1f1(s)w2f2(s)w(s,t)

(7) (8)

g2 1 1 gms gm mL tan 1 f3m 2 f1 f4m l Le 2 gm Le 2

gms gms cos sin Le Le
f4m1tan

Here, ux, uy and uz are the total displacements in the local direction of the associated sufx whereas f1(s)=1 s/Le and f2(s)=s/Le. Further, s represents the intrinsic coordinate that indicates the distance of a reference cross section from the left end of the cable model measured along the centre of the cable line, Le is the total length of the cable, and u, v and w are the generalised displacements of the axis of the cable in the x, y and z directions, respectively. The displacements of the axis of the cable u, v and w can be expressed as u(s,t) v(s,t)

(12)

gm gms gms sin cos 2 Le Le

(13)

for m=1, 3, 5, or the symmetrical modes and f3m 1

2s 2 mps f4m 1cos Le mp Le

(14)
(15)

w(s,t)

m m m

um(t)f3m(s)

(9) (10) (11)

m ps f4msin Le

vm(t)f4m(s) wm(t)f5m(s)

for m=2, 4, 6, or the anti-symmetrical modes. The remaining mode shape f5m is assumed to be mps f5msin Le
for m=1, 2, 3,. Further, gm g m 4 g m tan 2 2 2 l 2
LL

(16)

where um, vm and wm are the generalised co-ordinates, and the f3m, f4m and f5m are the associated mode shapes. The m is a positive integer that indicates the number of vibration loops per span of a cable. The analytical mode shapes f3m, and f4m are given by [7]

(17)

s 3 py cos q Le Le 8 h

s s 2 4 s 2 Le Le 3 Le

(18)

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l 2 l

AE py cosql hLe h

(19)

Here {e} and {s} are the strain and stress vectors, respectively. These vectors are dened by {e}{es}

where l represents the horizontal distance between supports along the chord and h represents the component of the static tension T along the chord. On the other hand, py is the vertical load per unit length of the cable, and A and E are the cables cross sectional area and Youngs modulus of elasticity, respectively. The non-dimensional parameter l2 accounts for the geometric and elastic effects and has been observed by Irvine [7] to be of fundamental importance in the static as well as dynamic response of the suspended cable. It may be noted from Eqs. (12)(16) that the modal coupling between um and wm has been neglected because, usually py pz, where pz represents the mean static wind load per unit cable length in the z-direction. Thus, the formulation is applicable to situations where in-plane loading is dominant. In the following, only one mode shape is retained in the formulation for each global variable and the generalised stiffness and mass matrices are developed for the selected values of m. The equations of motion are found by applying the variational principle [17]

{s}[E]{e}

T A

(25)
(26)

where s is the Lagrangian strain along s such that x ux y uy z uz 1 es s s s s s s 2

uz s
2 Le

ux 2 uy s s

(27)

By substituting Eqs. (25)(27) into Eq. (24), dVe can be shown to be dVe [AEesdesTdes]ds
0

(28)

t2 t1

d(TkinVe)dt dWncdt0
t1

t2

(20)

If the displacement derivatives up to quadratic order are retained and Eqs. (6)(16), as well as Eqs. (25)(27) are substituted into Eq. (28), the dVe from the static conguration takes the form dVe{dq}T[K]{q} (29)

where Tkin and Ve are the total kinetic and strain energies, Wnc is the work done by the non-conservative forces, and d indicates the rst variation. Tkin is obtained from
Le

1 Tkin 2

0 A

r(u 2 2 2 x u y u z )dA ds

(21)

The r(y,z) in the above equation indicates the mass density per unit volume of the cables material, and an overdot indicates differentiation with respect to time, t. By substituting Eqs. (6)(16) into Eq. (21), and performing the variation, following equation can be obtained. dTkin{dq}T[M]{q } Here, {q}T{u1u2uv1v2vw1w2w} (23) (22)

Elements of the resulting 99 stiffness matrix, [K], are presented in Appendix A. The non-conservative forces are associated with the distributed loads imposed on a cable (e.g. wind loads) and the viscous damping. If wx, wy and wz are the intensities of the imposed loads per unit length in the direction of the chord, perpendicular to the chord and perpendicular to the plane of the cable, respectively, the corresponding variation, dWnc, takes the form
Le

dWnc (wxduxwyduywzduz)ds{dq}T[C]{q }
0

(30)

where [C] is the Rayleigh damping matrix. By considering the variation, and by substituting Eqs. (6)(19) into Eq. (30), it can be shown that dWnc{dq}T{F}{dq}T[C]{q } (31)

Elements of [M] are given more conveniently in Appendix A. The rst variation in the strain energy, dVe, required in Eq. (20), is obtained from
Le

dVe

0 A

{de}T{s}dAds

(24)

The elements of the force vector {F} are presented in Appendix A. By substituting Eqs. (22), (29) and (31) into Eqn. (20), the equations of motion are obtained in the local directions for a cable as [M]{q }[C]{q }[K]{q}{F} (32)

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These equations can be directly utilised to analyse a single cable. On the other hand, the standard co-ordinate transformation can be applied to Eq. (32) and the results can be assembled, along with the matrices stemming from other structural elements of a cable supported structure, to formulate the global equations.

3. Numerical examples The formulation presented in the previous section has been coded in FORTRAN 77 and implemented on a personal computer for ready use. The code can be used to analyse free as well as forced response analyses. A conventional eigenvalue solver has been utilised to compute natural frequencies and the associated mode shapes whereas the fourth order RungeKutta algorithm has been employed to integrate ensuing equations of motion. The code has been successfully applied to analyse vibration of cables. The results are compared with the available analytical and numerical results. Free vibrations of a guyed tower are also analysed to demonstrate the applicability of the cable model to a variety of cable supported structures. The applicability of the simplied model is further illustrated by analysing a three-dimensional guyed mast with guys at different elevations for a gusty wind. 3.1. Example 1. Free vibrations of an inclined cable The cable model is employed to compute natural frequencies of an inclined cable in this example. The displacements at the end points are restrained for comparing the results with available analytical expressions by Irvine [7]. The data tabulated under the second column of Table 1 have been used in the computation. The following additional data have been considered. Horizontal distance between end = 21.0 m points of the cable (l) Difference in elevation between the = 36.0 m end points
Table 1 Cable properties utilised in the illustrative examples
Property
Cross sectional area, A (m2) Modulus of elasticity, E (MPa) Pretension, T (kN) Mass per unit length, rA (kg/m)

Results for the rst ve natural frequencies are compared with the analytical solutions in Table 2 for the free vibrations in the vertical y-direction and the lateral (outof-plane) z-direction. It can be seen that the frequencies are in close agreement with the analytical solutions. Also, excellent agreement with the analytical results was obtained for the free vibrations of horizontal cables (q=0) over a wide range of parameters. (These results, however, have not been produced here for brevity.) Hence, the cable model can be used effectively for free vibration response of not only horizontal but also inclined cables. 3.2. Example 2. Free vibrations of a guyed tower The cable model is applied in this example to compute the free response of a guyed tower as shown in Fig. 2(a). The tower is supported by four clusters of guys, each cluster consisting of three guys radiating out symmetrically in plan. The mast is modelled by using a conventional two-node space frame element, with 12 degreesof-freedom. Data pertaining to the guys have been presented under the third column of Table 1 whereas the mast properties are tabulated under the second column of Table 3. A total of four mast elements has been used for modelling the behaviour of the mast. On the other hand, the cable model has been applied to each of the guys in the structure by considering single loop oscillation (m=1). Eq. (32) has been applied to each guy in its local co-ordinate system and the co-ordinate transformation has been applied. The resulting expressions have been assembled along with the contribution from the mast members to form the global equations. Results have been presented for the rst three predominantly mast modes. The time periods obtained from the free response analysis are compared with those obtained by Irvine [7] in Table 4, whereas the mode shapes for the mast are shown in Fig. 3. (The guy movements are not shown in the gure for clarity.) It can be observed that the results are in close agreement with those presented by Irvine [7], who employed an analytical solution to each cluster of guys and analysed the tower and the guys separately, and obtained the solution for the guyed tower by enforcing the compatibility conditions in an iterative manner. No such iterations are required in the displacement based formulation as the compatibility conditions are satised automatically. Thus, it can be tentatively concluded that the natural frequencies of the guyed mast can be expeditiously estimated, with fair accuracy, by using the simple model for each guy (assuming single loop vibration, i.e. m=1). Higher values of m (up to 4) were also used in the separate anlyses. However, the natural frequencies of the rst three predominatly mast modes were found to be insensitive to the assumed number of vibration loops per guy. Such observations have also been reported by Irvine [7].

Example 1
9.025105 1.65105 30.00 0.795

Example 2
2.000104 1.50105 30.00 2.548

Example 3
9.025105 1.65105 18.15 0.795

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Table 2 The normalised natural frequencies (w/p) in the y and z-direction

Direction m =1
Irvine [7]
y z 1.018 1.000

m=2
Present study
1.017 0.999

m=3
Present study
1.997 1.997

m=4
Present study
3.000 2.996

m=5
Present study
3.994 3.994

Irvine [7]
2.000 2.000

Irvine [7]
3.000 3.000

Irvine [7]
4.000 4.000

Irvine [7]
5.000 5.000

Present study
5.000 4.992

Fig. 2. Table 3 Mast properties utilised in the illustrative examples

Property
Area, A (m2) Modulus of elasticity, E (MPa) Moment of inertia, Iyy (m4) Moment of inertia, Izz (m4) Mass per unit length (kg/m)

The guyed mast in Examples 2 and 3.

Table 4 Time periods for the rst three modes of the guyed mast of Example 2

Example 2
1.800103 2.1105 1.500103 1.500103 61.162

Example 3
1.893103 2.1105 1.190104 1.134104 35.481

Mode 1
Irvine [7]
0.43 s

Mode 2
Present study
0.43 s

Mode 3
Present study
0.34 s

Irvine [7]
0.34 s

Irvine [7]
0.22 s

Present study
0.21 s

Thus, for investigating free vibrations of the main structural components, it is indeed expeditious to represent the cables by a simple model . 3.3. Example 3. Response of a guyed tower subjected to wind in the x-direction The guyed tower shown in Fig. 2(b) is analysed in this example for the effects of gusty wind. The tower

has been previously analysed by Iannuzzi and Spinelli [22]. The cable and the mast data have been respectively presented under columns 4 and 3 of Tables 1 and 3. The following additional data have been used. 3.3.1. Mast Shear modulus (G) Face area exposed to wind (AD) = = 8.001010 N/m2 0.1869 m2/m

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Fig. 3. The rst three fundamental modes of the mast in Example 2.

Drag coefcient (CD) 3.3.2. Guy cables Drag coefcient (CD)

2.80

1.20

The undamped forced response analysis has been performed in the present work by employing three space frame elements to discretise the mast, and the cable model has been used for each guy (with m=1). The effect of gusty wind has been simulated by using the single wind history as per the details given by Iannuzzi and Spinelli [22]. The peak response of the guyed tower is compared with that obtained by Iannuzzi and Spinelli [22], who used multiple time history and a number of nite elements for representing cable behaviour. The response of the structure has been observed to be predominantly in the direction of wind (referred to as the x direction) and has been compared with the available responses from Iannuzzi and Spinelli [22], which are shown by different dashed and dotted lines (IS-1 through IS-4) in Fig. 4. It is observed that that the results obtained by using the simple model developed in the present study compare well with those obtained by performing detailed time consuming nite element analyses. Thus, it can be concluded, on the basis of the results, that the cable model can be used to predict the response of a cable supported structure reasonably well, in an expeditious manner.

4. Conclusions A simple but realistic, 9 degrees-of-freedom model of a vibrating cable has been developed for expeditiously analysing free as well as forced responses of cable supported structures. Analytical mode-shapes are used in the formulation for improved results. The cable model has been validated by comparing free and forced vibration

Fig. 4. The peak response of the guyed mast of Fig. 2(b) in the xdirection for wind along the x-direction.

278

responses with available analytical results. The applicability of the model to cable supported structures has been illustrated successfully by analysing free and forced responses of three-dimensional guyed towers. It has been demonstrated that the model can predict the responses of cable supported structures reasonably well even with fewer degrees-of-freedom, compared to more elaborate analyses, involving nite element discretisation of cables.

Moreover, gi,s =f1,s =f2,s =fp,s gj,s =f1,s =f2,s =fp,s fp,s = for i=1,4,7 for i=2,5,8 for i=3,6,9 for j=1,4,7 for j=2,5,8 for j=3,6,9
(A4)

Acknowledgements The authors gratefully acknowledge the constructive comments made by the reviewers.

fp i , p= +2 for i=3,6,9 s 3
for j=3,6,9.

j = +2 3

Here, e=1 for i=j=3, 6, 9 and e=0 for all other values of i and j. A.3. Force vector {F} The elements of the force vector are obtained as
Le

Appendix A. Elements of [M], [K], and vector {F} for a cable Elements of structural matrices [M], and [K], as well as the load vector {F}, are summarised below for the 9 degrees-of-freedom model of a cable. A.1. Consistent mass matrix [M] The non-zero elements of the symmetrical mass matrix [M] are
Le

Fi wxfids for i1,2,3

0 Le

(A5)

Fi+3 wyfids for i1,2

0 Le

M3(k1)+i,3(k1)+j rA fnfpds, i,j,k1,2,3,

0

(A6)

(A1)

F6 wyf4ds
0 Le

where the indices n and p are n=i p=j for i=1,2 for j=1,2 n=k+2 for i=3 p=k+2 for j=3.

(A7)

Fi+6 wzfids for i1,2

Le

(A8)

F9 wzf5ds

(A9)

A.2. Stiffness matrix [K] The non-zero elements of the symmetrical stiffness matrix [K] are given below.
Le

All the integrations appearing in the above equations have been performed numerically.

Kij AE lilj gi,sgj,sdseh

0

Le

s 2 (f )2ds, x p,s

(A2)

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i,j1,2,9 where li=1 for i=1,2,4,5,7,8 and [l3 l6 l9]

x y z s s s

(A3)

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