Design Method of a Hanger System for Long-Span Suspension Bridge

Abstract

A parallel wire strand (PWS) rope instead of a strand rope of the center fit rope core type was used as the hanger rope in the world's longest suspension bridge, the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge, one of the Honshu-Shikoku Bridges in Japan. The strand ropes of the center fit rope core type are inconvenient and uneconomical to maintain as 100–200 m-long hanger ropes. This paper presents the design method for the PWS hanger system in long-span suspension bridges. The structural characteristics, structural analysis, stress calculation, and the examination of fatigue against random wind load of the PWS hanger system were also investigated.