Influence of Crossed Hangers on Aerostatic Stability of Suspension Bridge during Constructing

In order to evaluate the aerostatic safety of super-large span suspension bridges, the 3D nonlinear finite element method was used to analyze the aerostatic stability of a super-large span suspension bridge with 3 500 m long main span and carbon fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP) cables, and the influence of three kinds of crossed hangers on the aerostatic performance and deformation shape of the suspension bridge during its construction were studied. The results show that as the stiffening girder is constructed step by step, the aerostatic stability becomes worse and worse, and finally reaches its minimum value when all of girder segments are erected but not rigidly connected. Only the horizontal crossed hanger has little effect on the aerostatic stability of suspension bridge during construction phase, but both the vertical crossed hanger and the composite crossed hanger made up of vertical and horizontal crossed hangers can improve the aerostatic stability significantly during construction. While the percentage of erected stiffening girders during construction is between 9.8% and 60.6%, the composite crossed hanger is more effective than other types of hangers in enhancing the aerostatic stability; however, using vertical crossed hangers alone is effective enough in other construction stages.