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Construction stages of cable-stayed bridges with composite deck

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DOI: 10.3233/BRS-120044

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Bridge Structures 8 (2012) 93–106 93
DOI:10.3233/BRS-120044
IOS Press

Construction stages of cable-stayed bridges

with composite deck
M.F. Granataa,∗ , P. Margiottaa , M. Aricia and A. Recuperob
a Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile, Ambientale, Aerospaziale e dei Materiali, Università di Palermo, Palermo, Italy
b Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile, Università di Messina, Messina, Italy

Abstract. A cable-stayed bridge is built by following a construction sequence of different subsequent stages that imply changes
of the geometric configuration, restraints and consequently stress and strain patterns. A study is presented about stay stressing
sequences in cable-stayed bridges with composite deck for the case of construction made by the cantilever method. Initial cable
forces are found through partial elastic schemes of construction stages. Different stay stressing procedures are implemented
and a comparison between them is proposed in order to evaluate the differences in terms of deformed shape and internal force
distribution of the deck and the pylon. Results can be useful to give practical suggestions to designers, when they have to deal
with stay stressing sequences of composite cable-stayed bridges.

Keywords: Cable-stayed bridge, composite section, stays, stressing sequence, pretension

1. Introduction operation leads to a fundamental difference between

The deck of cable-stayed bridges can be of three dif-
ferent typologies: prestressed concrete girders or boxes,
steel-concrete composite cross sections and fully steel
sections. This variability is mainly due to the wide range
of span lengths covered by these bridges, from 100
meters to 1000 meters, as well as to the costs of the
different solutions adopted among these typologies.
Prestressed concrete decks can be advantageous for
the smallest spans, while composite sections are com-
mon for medium spans and orthotropic steel plates for
the longest spans [11, 19]. When the bridge is built
by the cantilever method, the deck typology can have
different consequences in term of stress and strain pat-
terns and over all in the determination of initial cable
forces and stay stressing sequence. The steel-concrete
composite deck is built in two steps: first the steel ele-
ments are assembled by cantilevering to the previous
segment already built and then the concrete slab is cast
over them and the stay attached and tensioned. This
∗ Corresponding author. M.F. Granata, Dipartimento di Ingegne-
ria Civile, Ambientale, Aerospaziale e dei Materiali, Università di
Palermo, Palermo, Italy. E-mail: michelefabio.granata@unipa.it.
concrete and composite decks. In concrete deck dead
load is applied at once and the stay is stressed by refer-
ring directly to the entire value of the self-weight, both
for the cast in situ technique and for the prefabricated
segments. In composite structures instead dead load
is applied in two subsequent times at each phase of
construction. So the cross section, related to the new
segment built, changes; in fact it is made only of steel
in a first time and it becomes composite in a second time.
As a consequence the evaluation of initial cable forces
and the following stressing sequence of stays are dif-
ferent for concrete and composite decks. Moreover, in
concrete cable-stayed bridges, the determination of ini-
tial cable forces is mainly related to the aim of obtaining
the desired geometric profile of deck and pylon, by tak-
ing into account the fundamental role of time-dependent
phenomena in concrete such as creep and shrinkage. In
the case of composite decks, the main aim is to obtain
a convenient bending diagram for the dead load config-
uration, associated to the required deck shape, in order
to minimize stresses into the steel elements and the
concrete slab, avoiding over dimensioning of structural
elements and concrete cracking.

1573-2487/12/$27.50 © 2012 – IOS Press and the authors. All rights reserved
94 M.F. Granata et al. / Construction stages of cable-stayed bridges
Fig. 1. Non-satisfactory geometric profile of a cable-stayed bridge.
Nevertheless the correct and desired geometric pro-
file of the deck is a hard target to be achieved; some
cable-stayed bridges present a non-satisfactory shape
of the deck (Fig. 1) just in the early phases of service
life, due to the stressing sequence adopted during con-
struction; after many years the problem can grow due to
the effects of creep and shrinkage. A study of different
stressing sequences, as the one presented here, can help
the designer to avoid the bad consequences of a wrong
methodology in terms of deck geometry and internal
forces distribution.
Another important aspect to be considered in
steel-concrete cable-stayed bridges is the increased
importance of cable sag nonlinear effect with respect to
concrete bridges. It depends on the span range covered
by composite bridges and the related length of stays, for
which the geometric non linearity has to be considered
in many cases as well as the second order effects on the
deck and the pylon [2]. A steel bridge emphasizes these
two aspects: the optimization of bending moment dia-
gram in construction stages and in the final dead load
configuration and the effects of geometric non linearity
[13, 24], often influenced by cables lateral motion [26].
Some related topics were underlined by Schlaich [25],
giving useful indications to designers about the con-
struction of cable-stayed bridges with composite decks
and prefabricated slabs.
In this study a methodology is proposed for the evalu-
ation of initial cable forces in composite bridges, based
on simple partial elastic schemes of construction stages.
This methodology has been already applied by the
authors to concrete cable-stayed bridges [3] and to arch
bridges built by suspended cantilevers [15] or by lattice
cantilevers [16]; it is developed here for the specific case
of composite decks, for which the construction stages
imply a different stressing sequence from those of con-
crete bridges. This study reports a comparison between
different stay stressing sequences in order to evaluate
the consequences of each one to the state of stress and
to the final geometry of deck and pylon. The main target
is to detect the weakness and strong points of each con-
struction methodology and to give useful indications
to designers in choosing the most convenient method
of initial cable force evaluation and stressing sequence.
The analysis aims to obtain a predetermined geometric
profile of deck and pylon at the end of construction with
acceptable values of bending moments. The chosen ref-
erence configuration for the deck is that of an equivalent
continuous beam on rigid supports, which is approxi-
mated not only in the final configuration but also in the
intermediate ones during construction, by performing a
convenient stay stressing sequence. Different hypothe-
ses were considered for assembling steel elements and
concrete slab in the cantilever configuration, in order to
compare the results obtained by the analyses.
About time-dependent phenomena in concrete, creep
and shrinkage play an important role in cable-stayed
bridge construction by modifying the state of stress
and strain in time. For concrete bridges a minimiza-
tion of creep effects can be achieved by performing a
particular stay stressing sequence and by choosing an
opportune value of initial cable forces approaching the
 M.F. Granata et al. / Construction stages of cable-stayed bridges
behaviour of a continuous beam on rigid supports [3,
7]. In composite bridges time-dependent phenomena
have two main effects: the first one is the axial short-
ening of concrete pylons and deck slabs; consequently
an increasing downward displacement of the deck with
time and a danger of slab cracking occur. The sec-
ond one is the variation of the composite cross section
centroid, as expected by the creep-transformed section
theory [10], now inserted in final documents of ACI
209 Committee [1]. It implies a change of the state of
stress in time, particularly of the bending moment dia-
gram, with a redistribution of stresses between steel and
concrete elements in the section [8]. It is a fundamen-
tal aspect that cannot be denied because it leads to a
significant modification of internal forces.
In the following, after a brief analysis of stay
stressing sequences and a literature survey, a com-
parison between three methodologies of stay stressing
is explained and discussed, with the determination of
initial cable forces based on elastic schemes of con-
struction stages. Two numerical examples of composite
cable-stayed bridges are presented in order to make
clear the followed methodology and to underline the
consequences of each procedure in terms of internal
forces and deformations.
2. Stay stressing sequences in cable-stayed
bridges
Literature about stay stressing and initial cable forces
determination in cable-stayed bridges is very complex
and wide, because this topic has been considered by
many authors and by different point of views. About
cantilever construction the most frequent methodology
to find the initial cable forces is the so-called back-
ward analysis, which is a deconstruction analysis of the
bridge. It starts from the desired final stage and then
the bridge is ideally dismantled stage by stage [6, 14].
In this methodology initial cable forces are found as
the forces in the stay at each deconstruction stage [4].
Unfortunately it can give to designers only the initial
value of the stay force and for this reason it always has
to be followed by a forward analysis which considers
the actual construction sequence, giving the actual state
of stress and strain of the bridge structural elements.
Even though values of pre-stress to give to all stays are
found by this methodology, the final stress state is gen-
erally different from the expected one because a unique
stay stressing operation, based on the value found by
this methodology, doesn’t permit to obtain the desired
95
result. It is due to the high grade of redundancy of
cable-stayed bridges (mutual effect of stays), to the real
sequence of load application and stay pre-stressing and
finally to the influence of time-dependent phenomena.
Moreover when the backward methodology is applied,
during the operation of bridge dismantling the stress
evaluation is made on a configuration that is not in a
zero-stress state because it has been already loaded,
while in the actual sequence every segment and every
stay to be added is in a zero-stress state before they are
assembled. As a consequence it is difficult, especially
for cable-stayed bridges that are not completely self-
anchored or unsymmetrical [18], to obtain the required
geometric configuration with a single stay stressing but
it is necessary to adjust the value of axial forces for all
or several stays. It implies a technological problem and
a related cost, because for each adjustment of the stay
force, the stressing equipment has to be shifted in the
position of the right stay. Moreover the result of many
adjustments can be a reduction of the safety degree
against fatigue because for every stressing operation
the cone of anchorages engraves the stay in different
points, damaging steel wires and reducing the fatigue
strength [21]. For this reason the aim is to reduce adjust-
ment operations by making only the essential ones and
by engraving the steel wires in new areas (i.e. limiting
the operations of stay release), in order to maintain the
required fatigue strength of stays.
In order to take into account all these features, the for-
ward analysis is a useful and wide-used methodology.
It allows designers to consider a number of important
aspects, as the following ones, now implemented in
specialized finite element software packages:
– when a new segment is built by the cantilever
method, by assembling it to the previous one
already completed and by stressing the related
stay, it is necessary to choose the right posi-
tion of the new segment by following the tangent
direction with respect to the tip of the previous
segment, already deformed (Fig. 2). It avoids the
birth of imposed deformations between segments,
minimizing the geometric differences with the the-
oretical deck profile.
– When a stay is attached to a new segment,
correctly positioned and tensioned, the real
length of the stay differs from the theoretical
one, due to the displacement of the anchorage
point in the deformed configuration (Fig. 3). As a
consequence the stay force at the beginning of its
life is different from the expected one, foreseen
96 M.F. Granata et al. / Construction stages of cable-stayed bridges
Fig. 2. Tangent position of the new segment assembled.
Fig. 3. Different stay length with respect to the theoretical one due
to the segment deformation.
in the undeformed analysis model. So a force
variation needs to bring the anchorage point in the
correct position (lack-of-fit force).
– The stay is not a rectilinear cable between the
anchorage points of deck and pylon, so a sag effect
has to be considered which implies a geometric
non linear behaviour [14]. This effect can be
neglected for short stays; generally under 300
meters, the differences between linear and non
linear theories are not significant but it can be
important for longer stays [28, 29].
– Forward analysis is the only one that can take into
account the time-dependent phenomena of con-
crete (shrinkage and creep) on the base of the pre-
diction models given by codes and specialized lit-
erature (fib Model Code 2010, ACI209-92, Bažant
B3 model, GL2000 model). It follows the actual
sequence and time of concrete casting related to
the construction stages by considering the stays as
elastic restraints in a non-homogeneous structure
[20] with a variable structural system [9].
– If the cross section is a steel-concrete one, then it is
composed of different elements assembled in dif-
ferent times. When the new cantilever segment is
attached to the previous one, the first operation is to
Fig. 4. Lock-in curvature. a) Cantilever construction of the whole
composite section. b) Steel cantilevering and stay pre-tensioning
before slab casting.
assemble the steel girders. In this phase the stay can
be tensioned or not (Fig. 4). The casting of concrete
is then made on the steel beams already deformed
and the stay is tensioned at the design value. Dur-
ing this last phase an internal curvature remains
locked into the deformed steel element (lock-in
curvature): it implies a variation in the distribution
and value of bending moments due to the change
of the deck cross section, which is made only of
steel in a first phase and then becomes composite.
The most known and used procedures to obtain the
initial cable forces, both in the cases of backward and
forward analyses are the following ones:
1) the deflections of stay anchorage points in the
deck and the horizontal displacements of the
pylon points are nullified by the so-called zero-
displacement method [27];
2) A convenient and pre-determined distribution of
bending moments in the deck and the pylon
is obtained by applying the force-equilibrium
method or the unit load method [5, 17];
3) An opportune energetic function is minimized
[30].
Recupero [23] proposed a mixed method for cable-
stayed bridges with steel deck which considers a
pre-determined geometric configuration and a contem-
porary optimization of the bending moment diagram.
 M.F. Granata et al. / Construction stages of cable-stayed bridges
In the following paragraphs different stay stressing
procedures are applied to composite bridges and com-
pared in order to establish which is the most convenient
sequence. Numeric examples are also presented and
discussed.
3. Partial elastic schemes of construction stages
in the evaluation of initial cable forces
In this study only the forward analysis of cable-
stayed bridges built by the cantilever method is taken
into account. Initial cable forces determination is done
by partial elastic schemes of the structure, one for each
construction phase, i.e. for each segment assembled by
cantilevering and for each stay attached and tensioned.
When steel elements and slab casting are built in two
following times, different partial elastic schemes of the
two subsequent assembling phases have to be consid-
ered for each stage.
The three approaches here investigated are:
A) steel girders are assembled and attached as a can-
tilever segment to the previous one completed
and suspended by the related stay; the new stay
is attached to the girder of the new segment and
its length is not modified. Then concrete slab is
cast in situ and/or built by prefabricated elements;
at the same time the new stay is tensioned in a
single operation at the design value, which corre-
sponds to the zero displacement of the anchorage
point. The pretension value to be given to the
new stay attached is found through the partial
elastic scheme, by making null the vertical dis-
placements due to the initial deformation of steel
elements added to those due to the slab casting
(Fig. 5). The problem of cable force determina-
tion in every partial elastic scheme is solved by
the commonly used procedure of the influence
matrix of displacements [15, 23].
B) Steel elements of the cantilever segment are
assembled and the new stay is tensioned a first
time to a value that recovers the vertical displace-
ment of the steel cantilever. The concrete slab is
then cast and the stay is newly stressed to the
definitive value which recovers all displacements
(Fig. 6). In this case a double stressing operation
is done for the last stay attached; this method-
ology can be helpful to minimize the lock-in
curvature of steel elements. The value of ini-
tial cable force Fi and that of adjustment
Fi
after slab casting, are found on the partial elastic
97
scheme, by separately evaluating the cable force
needed to recover displacement δI of the steel
elements and that needed to recover displace-
ment δ I due to the concrete cast. The superscript
B of forces points out that initial cable forces
and adjustments are different in every approach
followed.
C) Steel elements of the cantilever segment are
assembled and the new stay is attached without
modifying its length, as in the first approach. The
slab is cast and then the stay is stressed to the
desired value by recovering both displacements
δI and δ I . At the same time the previous stay,
already stressed in the previous stage, is adjusted
in order to compensate the displacements δI-1 and
δ I-1 of the related anchorage point, due to the
actual construction stage (Fig. 7).
The latter two-phase stressing operation is proposed
because it permits a more precise compensation of
displacements due to construction loads, achieving a
configuration near to that of a continuous beam on
rigid restraints in every phase of construction. It was
already proposed for concrete cable-stayed bridges to
compensate creep effects in service life [3]. The disad-
vantage is that each stay is stressed two times because
it implies the stressing equipment is shifted from one
stay to another at each adjustment or that two equip-
ments have to be employed. The evaluation of initial
cable forces is done on the elastic scheme of the related
stage, by considering contemporarily the displacements
of the last segment and those of the previous one
(Fig. 8).
In all the three approaches investigated a final reg-
ulation of all stays is convenient in order to take into
account the displacements due to construction errors,
superimposed dead loads (pavement, guardrails, foot-
steps, etc . . . ) and creep effects in construction stages
[22]. Moreover the effects of shrinkage and creep till
construction end can be partially compensated by a final
adjustment of all stays. In fact the axial shortening due
to concrete shrinkage, especially in the tower, implies
an increased vertical displacement of the deck with
respect to the result of theoretical analyses. In order
to compensate the pylon axial shortening, it is possible
to build concrete elements of an increased length [25].
About the flexural effects of creep and shrinkage, it
has to be considered the behaviour of composite beams
that are non-homogeneous elements with respect to
creep. In fact these elements show an internal redistri-
bution of stresses between concrete and steel members
98 M.F. Granata et al. / Construction stages of cable-stayed bridges

Fig. 5. Approach A. Single stay stressing.

Fig. 6. Approach B. Two-times stressing of the last stay attached.

Fig. 7. Approach C. Two-phase stressing of the last and the previous stay attached.

and the change of the centroid position of the so-called
creep-transformed section, which is the homogenized
section modified by the creep coefficient (Fig. 9).
In a first phase, during the cantilever construction, the
cross section centroid coincides with that of the steel
element, while after the slab casting, the homogenized
section has the centroid in a new position. It implies
an upward shifting of cross section centroid and as a
consequence, positive bending moments appear in the
deck due to the eccentricity between the two centroid
positions (before and after concrete casting). In ser-
vice life instead creep implies that the centroid shifts
down (toward the steel member); so negative bending
moments appear in the deck [8]. As a consequence of
this variation of girder characteristics, internal forces
and deck deformations vary with the time, even though
the behaviour of a continuous beam on rigid supports
was achieved at every construction stage.
Another consideration has to be done about the
anchorage point of the stay to the deck; when it is set
at the upper fibre of the deck section or in an eccen-
tric position with respect to the cross section centroid,
a concentrated value of bending moment is generated at
each anchor point, which can be significant (Fig. 10). In
this case a different distribution of moments has to be
expected with respect to the continuous beam on rigid
 M.F. Granata et al. / Construction stages of cable-stayed bridges
Fig. 8. Elastic schemes for approach C. a) self-anchored stage; b) partially earth-anchored stage.
Fig. 9. Change of the centroid position due to construction stages
and creep. a) Steel element. b) Homogeneized section. c) Creep-
transformed section.
supports; this fact is generally amplified by the effects
of time-dependent phenomena in concrete.
4. Numerical applications
Two examples of cable-stayed bridges are presented
here, with the aim to show the numerical results of the
three procedures applied to the analyses of actual cases,
and to compare these results. Two different configura-
tions of the bridges have been chosen: the first one is a
symmetrical cable-stayed bridge with two pylons and
two plans of stays attached at the borders of the compos-
ite deck. The second one is an asymmetric cable-stayed
bridge with a unique diamond pylon and one plan of
stay attached at the centre of the deck.
99
4.1. Cable-stayed bridge with two pylons
A cable-stayed bridge with two pylons is presented
with a central span of 210 m and two lateral spans of
60 m. Stays are arranged on two plans with a mixed
harp-fan configuration; it is a partially anchored bridge:
for half bridge there are 21 stays and the last five
backstays are anchored to rigid piers. The bridge is
longitudinally and transversely symmetric (Fig. 11).
Distance between stay anchorages is of 10 m on the
deck and 2 m on the pylon. Self-weight of the deck
is qd,s = 100 kN/m for steel elements and qd,c = 150
kN/m for concrete slab. Superimposed dead load is
qs = 60 kN/m. Cross section of the deck is a steel box
with an upper concrete slab rigidly connected to the
box. Transverse stiffen diaphragms are located every
five meters. Wideness of the deck is 20 m while its
depth is 1.20 + 0.30 m. Geometric data are: A = 1.27
m2 , J = 0.397 m4 , yG = 0.465 m (centroid position of
homogenized section). Stays have an equivalent steel
diameter of φs = 0.12 m, while earth-anchored back-
stays have diameter φb s = 0.18 m. The mean section
of the pylon has At = 10.5 m2 and Jt = 10.8 m4 . The
requested geometric profile of the deck is a 2nd order
parabola with a maximum height at the midspan of
1.60 m with respect to deck ends. Concrete elastic mod-
ulus is Ec = 30 GPa, while the deck steel modulus is
Es = 200 GPa and the stay high-strength steel modulus
is Esa = 190 GPa.
The three approaches considered in this study, have
been applied to a finite element model of the bridge with
221 joints, 136 beam elements and 84 truss elements.
Initial cable forces were found by the partial elastic
100 M.F. Granata et al. / Construction stages of cable-stayed bridges

Fig. 10. Eccentricity between the cross section centroid and the stay anchorage.

Fig. 11. Geometry of the bridge.

Table 1
Results at the construction end for the three approaches
Approach A Approach B Approach C
max M min M δvert δhoriz max M min M δvert δhoriz max M min M δvert
[kNm] [kNm] [cm] [cm] [kNm] [kNm] [cm] [cm] [kNm] [kNm] [cm] [cm]
16050 −9270 −11.94 −0.37 18200 −14900 −8.36 6.01 4350 −5420 3.54 −0.50

scheme method. The related stay stressing sequences
were implemented. A staged construction analysis is
performed by following the forward procedure. The
construction sequence is divided into 11 stages, each
one composed of two phases (one for the steel ele-
ments of the cross section and the other one for the
slab casting). Geometric nonlinearity due to the cable
sag is neglected, for the limited length of stays.
Table 1 gives the results in terms of maximum
and minimum values of bending moments at the final
construction stage, as well as deck deflections and hor-
izontal displacements of the pylon.
Figure 12 shows the comparison between bending
moment diagrams in the final dead load configuration,
for the three methodologies considered. Effects of time-
dependent phenomena in concrete are not included here
because the aim is to underline the differences between
the three stressing sequences analysed, even though
a forward analysis performed by specialized software
packages allows designer to take into account shrinkage
and creep effects.
In the approaches A and B only the last stay is
stressed at each construction stage: they result less
advantageous with respect to the third approach C, in
which a two-phase stressing sequence is performed.
With this methodology the final bending moment dia-
gram approximates that of a continuous beam on rigid
restraints and this behaviour is achieved not only in the
final stage but also in every intermediate stage during
construction. It is a great advantage because bending
moments have similar values in all the different steps
of the sequence. However it has to be considered that in
composite bridges the bending diagram of a cantilever
phase (in which only the steel members are assem-
bled) has often the same significance of that related
to the phase in which the stay is tensioned, but with
a different sign: negative moments in the cantilever
phase and positive ones in tensioning phases. The sig-
 M.F. Granata et al. / Construction stages of cable-stayed bridges
Fig. 12. Bending moment diagram at the construction end for the three approaches [kNm].
nificance of this aspect will be underlined in the next
example.
Figure 13 shows instead a comparison between
deformed configurations for the three approaches fol-
lowed. It is very difficult to obtain the requested profile
with a small tolerance; approach C gives always the best
result.
A significant difference can be seen between
approaches A (stay stressing at once) and B (double
stressing of the last stay attached). The second approach
permits to limit the lock-in curvature in the segment
but it is effective for self-anchored bridges and much
less for earth-anchored ones. In fact, if backstays are
rigidly anchored on one side, the deformation of the
segments on the other side (in the central span) induces
a greater value of curvature when the stay pulls up the
last segment toward the tower. At the end of construc-
tion a downward displacement appears in the deck and
the related deformed shape shows a maximum value
of displacement in an intermediate position between
the pylon and the midspan. Approach A emphasizes
this aspect, in some cases with the consequence of an
upward displacement in the midspan section (Fig. 13).
Moreover approach B shows a high value of the tower
horizontal displacement at the end of construction,
due to the fact that stays in the main span are more
101
tensioned than backstays when the double stressing
operation is implemented at each stage, without the
adjustment of the previous stay. So the final geomet-
ric profile is not correctly achieved in the deck nor in
the tower.
An opposite behaviour can be observed for the
deformed shape obtained by approach C, with the tower
bent out away from the midspan. This behaviour is
due to the adjustments of backstays (that are anchored
to ground), because in approach C, at each stage,
these cables are re-stressed, leading to a higher value
of backstay forces than those of midspan cables. In
fact, in approaches A and B only one backstay is
re-stressed at each stage, while in approach C two back-
stays are adjusted at each construction phase. In this
way, the direction of deformations may be understood.
The midspan deflection is due to the accumulation of
errors in the staged sequence, because of the effect
of prestressing forces given in the theoretical elas-
tic scheme is different from those given in the actual
stage of construction. In the actual sequence in fact,
the reference geometric configuration before each stay
stressing operation is not perfectly adherent to the the-
oretical deck profile. Only when all stays are stressed
in every stages, a complete compensation of deflec-
tions could be achieved. Nevertheless, it can be noted
102 M.F. Granata et al. / Construction stages of cable-stayed bridges

Fig. 13. Deformed shape at the construction end for the three approaches [cm].

Fig. 14. Stay forces evolution in the staged construction analysis. Approach C.

that the final horizontal displacement of the tower
found by approach C is limited, even though bending
moments appear in the tower due to the adjustments of
pretensions.
Figure 14 shows the stay forces sequence in form of
a graph which gives the values of stay forces along the
entire process of bridge construction, stage by stage.
It can be seen that the third approach (two-step stress-
ing) gives also good results in terms of stress variation
into stays during construction, maintaining the value of
cable forces almost constant after the adjustment. It is
a good consequence of initial cable forces found by the
partial elastic scheme method, experienced also in other
applications [15]. Moreover in the early phases, when
the stay is stressed and adjusted, the value of forces
increases sweetly without sudden variations, contrarily
to what occurs with a one-step stressing sequence.
The final adjustment given to all stays permits to
compensate not only the additional loads but also the
errors accumulated in the actual erection sequence.
 M.F. Granata et al. / Construction stages of cable-stayed bridges 103

Fig. 15. FE model of the bridge. a) Symmetrical stage of construction. b) The completed bridge.

Fig. 16. Bending moment at a generic stage. a) Steel elements cantilever phase. b) Tensioning phase.

After this final adjustment, cables can be grouted. While
the amount of the final prestressing forces is computed
in the design phase regarding the results obtained by the
theoretical staged sequence, in the actual construction
stage a measurement of cable force and displacement
variations has to be done by monitoring the sequence.
So a live model in the working phases has to be imple-
mented on the FE software to account for modifications
with respect to the prestressing values obtained by the
theoretical design. These variations are due to the actual
values of temperature on working site, additional or
not expected loads and equipment tolerances in jacking
phases and to the accumulation of deflections for the
not perfect compensation of anchorage point displace-
ments. The magnitude of final adjustments given in this
numerical example varies from about 5 to 20% of the
initial cable forces. A statistical assessment of the pos-
sible errors on working site can be performed in order
to establish how much different the actual result will
be from the expected theoretical one, especially for the
values of stay forces. Further developments about this
topic will be carried on.
4.2. Cable-stayed bridge with a unique pylon
A second application on an unsymmetric cable-
stayed bridge with one pylon is presented. The bridge
has two spans, the main one of 200 m while the side
one of 170 m with three earth-anchored backstays. The
configuration is with a unique mixed fan-harp plan of
stays, anchored at the centre of the deck cross section
and attached to a diamond pylon. The deck is 22 m wide
and it is composed of a box steel section with depth
1.50 m and an upper slab 30 cm thick. Self-weight
of the deck is qd,s = 85 kN/m for steel elements and
qd,c = 157 kN/m for concrete slab. Superimposed dead
load is qs = 70 kN/m. Geometric data are: A = 1.71
m2 , J = 0.976 m4 , yG = 0.417 m (centroid position of
the homogenized section). Stays have an equivalent
steel diameter of φs = 0.13 m, while earth-anchored
104 M.F. Granata et al. / Construction stages of cable-stayed bridges
Fig. 17. Bending moment diagram at the construction end.
Fig. 18. Bending moment diagram at t = 10000 days.
backstays have diameter φbs = 0.18 m. The section of
the highest part of the pylon has At = 15.7 m2 and
Jt = 16.1 m4 . Figure 15 shows a view of the finite
element model of an intermediate stage of construction
and the one of the completed bridge. Bridge restraints
in the main span, at its end, are simple supports made
by conventional longitudinally sliding bearings.
In this case only the third approach has been per-
formed. Figure 16 shows the bending moment diagram
of an intermediate construction stage. When the steel
elements are assembled by cantilevering, negative
moments appear with upper fibres in tension (Fig. 16a)
while, after concrete slab is cast and the related stay
stressed, positive moments are prevalent with the lower
fibres in tension (Fig. 16b).
This change of the bending moment sign has to be
considered with particular attention because it happens
at every stage; the proposed stay stressing sequence
shows a balancing of bending moments, giving similar
values for positive and negative diagrams. Through the
staged construction analysis it can be seen that values
of maximum negative and positive moments result of
the same order of magnitude, stage by stage. Moreover
maximum tensile stress in the concrete slab is about 1.0
MPa while maximum tensile stress in the lower steel
fibre is about 70 MPa.
At the final construction stage the desired shape
was achieved with a maximum vertical displacement
in the deck of 3.27 cm and a maximum horizontal dis-
placement in the pylon of 0.9 cm. Figure 17 shows the
final bending moment diagram at the construction end,
before applying superimposed dead loads.
Fig. 19. Deformed shape of the bridge at the construction end.
The behaviour of a continuous beam on rigid
supports is not completely achieved but only approx-
imated because the two-phase construction (cantilever
steel elements and successive slab casting) implies an
upward shifting of cross section centroid as shown in
Fig. 9a–b. The consequence is that positive moments
grow with respect to the continuous beam, by using the
zero-displacement method. But this phase can be con-
sidered a transient one, because the effect of creep in the
non-homogeneous composite section is in the opposite
verse and negative moments grow, after the cross sec-
tion centroid shifts toward the steel member as shown
in Fig. 9c.
By considering the fib Model Code 2010 [12],
with a value of concrete strength fck = 30 MPa,
the relative humidity RH = 70% and the parameter
2Ac /u = 300 mm (fictitious depth), the creep coefficient
is ϕ(10000,14) = 2.018; results of calculation in terms
of internal forces redistribution are shown in Fig. 18.
The bending moment diagram at t = 10000 days shows
a very significant growth of negative moments. These
values of dead load bending moment have to be added
to those due to service life loads, with danger of slab
cracking in the elements built in the first construction
stages (near the pylon).
Figure 19 shows the deformed shape of the bridge
after completion. The desired profile has been reached.
Nevertheless, the effects of time-dependent phenomena
can be significant also in modifying the deformations,
normally by increasing the values of deck deflection.
They can be recovered, at least for what concerns the
effects of creep on construction displacements, through
the final adjustment of all the stays after the superim-
posed dead load is applied.
The maximum cable stress achieved in the con-
struction stage is 500 MPa, for which an increment
has to be considered due to service loads; the total
value is always lower then the maximum suggested
tensile stress (about 900–1000 MPa). Fatigue strength
of stays has been preserved by operating, in all stages,
 M.F. Granata et al. / Construction stages of cable-stayed bridges
by stressing operations in which axial force increases,
without relaxing any cable.
5. Conclusions
A study about the cantilever construction of
cable-stayed bridges with composite deck has been pre-
sented. The performed analyses follow three different
approaches to the problem of stay tensioning sequence.
The determination of initial cable forces is based on
the application of the partial elastic scheme method, by
considering the cantilever phase of steel elements and
the successive slab concrete casting.
The conclusions of this study are:
1) a forward analysis based on partial elastic schemes,
in order to find the initial cable forces, is capable
to achieve the two principal targets of reaching the
desired geometric profile of deck and pylon and a
convenient bending moment diagram.
2) Particularly a two-phase stressing, in which the
last stay is stressed and the previous one adjusted,
gives the best results, approaching the convenient
behaviour of the continuous beam on rigid supports.
3) The variations of the internal force diagrams and
the deformation state, due to the double phase of
construction (steel elements by cantilevering and
concrete slab casting) and to the non-homogeneous
steel-concrete section, can be very significant both
during construction and in service life, when time-
dependent phenomena of concrete are taken into
account.
4) Although a two-phase stressing methodology can
imply technological complications due to the equip-
ment shifting to the stays to be tensioned, a reduced
number of stress adjustments gives always the best
results in terms of internal forces and deformations,
both for symmetrical and unsymmetrical geometric
schemes of the bridge. This is true for self-anchored
bridges as well as for partially earth-anchored ones,
even though the anchorages of backstays play a
decisive role in establishing the bridge structural
behaviour in construction stages and service life.
Numerical results presented on two different kind
of cable-stayed bridges can be useful for designers
approaching the problem of choosing a methodology
of the cable initial force determination and the stay
stressing sequence in composite bridges.
105
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