Structural Analysis I (Lecture Notes) Cables: Introduction

The Golden Gate Bridge is an iconic structure that utilizes cables to carry loads (see Figure 1). Such
cables are routinely used in bridges and other types of structures for load transfer. This lecture series deals
with an introduction to the analysis of cables.

Figure 1: The Golden Gate Bridge

The Golden Gate Bridge shown in the figure above is a suspension bridge. Its deck is suspended from a
pair of main cables using a series of vertical hangers. This arrangement allows most of the bridge load to
be transferred to the main cables, which in turn transfer the load to the towers located at the ends of the
bridge. In a scenario like this, given the close proximity of the hangers, we can assume that the main
cables are being subjected to a distributed load. Furthermore, since the weight of each cable is
insignificant compared to the load it must carry, we can neglect the cable’s own weight when we are
analyzing the system. A line drawing illustrating one of the main cables of the bridge is shown in Figure
2.

Figure 2: A line drawing characterization of a main cable in a suspension bridge

Let’s now consider the pedestrian bridge shown in Figure 3. Note how the surface of the bridge deck
follows the geometric shape of the cable. In this case, we can conceptualize the entire system as a cable
that is hanging freely from its ends, carrying its own weight.

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Structural Analysis I (Lecture Notes) Shear and Moment Equations

Figure 3: Charles Kuonen Bridge and its line drawing characterization

The behavior of the cable shown in the figure above is similar to the behavior of a powerline hanging
from two supporting transmission towers (see Figure 4).

Figure 4: A powerline and its line drawing characterization as a cable hanging freely under its own
weight
Before we go further, we should make a distinction between a weightless cable that supports a linear load
and a cable that carries its own weight only. The two cables just described differ in their shapes. When a
cable carries a linear load distributed along the horizontal axis (e.g., the main cables in the Golden Gate
Bridge) its shape can be defined using a parabola. On the other hand, when a cable is hanging freely
under its own weight (e.g., the Charles Kuonen Bridge), it takes the shape of a catenary.
Let’s examine this difference more closely. Consider the cable shown in Figure 5. It is suspended from its
two ends. This configuration resembles that of the Golden Gate Bridge. For this cable, we are assuming
that the bridge deck is exerting a uniformly distributed load of w on the cable along the x-axis as shown in
Figure 5.

Figure 5: A cable subjected to a uniformly distributed load

If we place the origin of the coordinate system at the lowest point of the cable, we can draw the free-body
diagram of the segment just to the right of the origin. This free-body diagram is shown in Figure 6.

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Structural Analysis I (Lecture Notes) Shear and Moment Equations

Figure 6: The free-body diagram of a segment of a cable subjected to a uniformly distributed load

In the above diagram, T0 is the tension force in the cable at its lowest point, T is the tension force at the
right end of the segment, and α denotes the angle that the cable makes with the horizontal axis at its right
end.
Since the segment has to remain in equilibrium, the sum of the forces in the horizontal and vertical
directions must be zero. Therefore, we can write two equilibrium equations, as shown below.

 Fx = 0  Tcosα = T0 [1]
 Fy = 0  Tsinα = w x [2]

Dividing Equation [2] by Equation [1], we get the following:

T sin α w x w
=  tan α = x [3]
T cos α T0 T0

Since tan α can be expressed as the change in y with respect to the change in x (i.e., dy/dx ), Equation
[3] can be rewritten as follows:

dy w
= x [4]
dx T0

This first order differential equation can be easily solved for y. Let’s rewrite Equation [4] as shown
below.

w
dy = x dx [5]
T0

Applying the integral operator to both sides of Equation [5], we get the following:

w w 2
 dy =  x dx  y = x +C [6]
T0 2T0

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The integration constant (C) in Equation [6] can be determined using a boundary condition. In this case,
we know that at the origin, where x = 0, y is also zero. Substituting zero for x and y in the above equation,
we can determine C.

w 2 w
y= x + C  0 = (0)2 + C  C = 0 [7]
2T0 2T0

Therefore, Equation [6] can be written as follows:

w 2
y= x [8]
2T0

Equation [8] is a parabolic function that describes the shape of the cable shown in Figure 5.
Now let's examine the case in which the cable hangs freely under its own weight. Consider the cable
shown in Figure 7.

Figure 7: A cable hanging freely from its ends and subjected to its own weight
Note that the weight of the cable is not distributed along the x-axis. Rather, it is distributed along the arc
length of the cable. Let’s place our origin at the lowest point of the cable just like we did before. The free-
body diagram for the segment of the cable to the right of the origin is shown in Figure 8.

Figure 8: The free-body diagram of a cable subjected to its own weight

Note that the arc length of the segment in the figure above is denoted by s. We can write two equilibrium
equations for the free-body diagram shown in Figure 8 as follows:

 Fx = 0  Tcosα = T0 [9]
 Fy = 0  Tsinα = ws [10]

Dividing Equation [10] by Equation [9], we obtain Equation [11].

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Structural Analysis I (Lecture Notes) Shear and Moment Equations

T sin α w s w dy w
=  tan α = s  = s [11]
T cos α T0 T0 dx T0

In order to solve the above differential equation, we need to replace s with x and y. We can do this by
using the Pythagorean theorem. Note that ds can be viewed as the hypotenuse of a right triangle with
height dy and base dx. Therefore, we can write the following:

ds 2 = dx 2 + dy2  ds = dx 2 + dy2 [12]

If we take the derivative of both sides of Equation [11] with respect to x, the following equation results:

d dy d w d 2y w ds
( ) = ( s)  2 = [13]
dx dx dx T0 d x T0 dx

Substituting Equation [12] into Equation [13], we get the following second order differential equation.

d 2y w dx 2 + dy2 w dy
= = 1 + ( )2 [14]
d 2 x T0 dx T0 dx

When solved, this second-order differential equation yields the following:

T0 w T
y= cosh( x) − 0 [15]
w T0 w

The above equation is that of a catenary. It is used to describe the shape of a cable hanging freely under
its own weight.
To summarize, depending on the source and nature of the loads, different mathematical functions may be
needed to describe the shape of each cable when analyzing cable systems subject to distributed loads.
This lecture series deals with the analysis of such cable systems.
Let’s start with a simple example. Consider a weightless cable spanning a distance of 10 meters between
two poles. Attached to the cable are two traffic lights. The traffic lights cause the cable to settle, forming
three straight segments (see Figure 9). Each traffic light weighs 400 Newtons.

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Figure 9: Two equidistant traffic lights hanging from a cable between two poles

The two lights divide the span of the road into three equal distances. Due to the symmetrical placement of
the lights and the position of the cable, we know that points B and C displace downward the same amount.
When measured, the vertical distance from the top of each pole to points B and C is 0.6 meter.

We want to determine the tension force in each segment of the cable.

Figure 10: Free-body diagram for a cable system under symmetrical loading
The solution for this problem is rather straightforward. Let’s start by drawing the free-body diagram of
the cable. As depicted in Figure 10, there are two support reactions at each end of the cable. Therefore,
the three static equilibrium equations can be written as follows:

 Fx = 0  D x − A x = 0 [16]
 Fy = 0  Ay + Dy − 400 − 400 = 0 [17]
 M@A = 0  10Dy − 400(3.33) − 400(6.66) = 0 [18]

Using Equations [17] and [18], we can solve for the vertical support reactions (i.e., A y and D y ). However,
the horizontal reactions (i.e., A x and D x ) cannot be determined from Equation [16] since it has too many
unknowns.

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For this problem, however, we can determine the unknown forces without resorting to Equations [16]
through [18]. Let’s cut the cable in segment BC and draw the free-body diagram for the left side of the
cable system as shown in Figure 11.

Figure 11: Free-body diagram for left side of cable system

Since only three unknown forces appear on this free-body diagram, we can calculate them using the static
equilibrium equations. If we sum the moments about point A, we get the following:

 M@A = 0  0.6TBC − 400(3.33) = 0 [19]

If we solve the above equation for TBC , we find that the tension in segment BC is TBC = 2220 N .

Now, we can write the other two equilibrium equations as follows:

 Fx = 0  2220 − A x = 0 [20]
 Fy = 0  Ay − 400 = 0 [21]

Equations [20] and [21] yield: A x = 2220 N and Ay = 400 N.

To determine the tension force in segment AB, let’s draw the free-body diagram for point A (see Figure
12).

Figure 12: Free-body diagram for point A

Since the sum of the forces at point A must be zero, the algebraic sum of the reaction forces must be equal
to the tension force in the cable. Therefore, we can write the following equation:

 Fx = 0  TAB = 2220 + 400

2 2 2
[22]

We find that the tension force in segment AB is TAB = 2255.75 N .

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Because the cable system is symmetrical (see Figure 9), we know that the tension force in segment CD is
equal to the tension force in segment AB. Therefore, TCD = 2255.75 N . Figure 13 shows the results of the
analysis, the tension force in each segment of cable is written next to the segment.

Figure 13: Results of analysis for tension in cables with two equidistant lights
To reinforce the process of analyzing cables subjected to concentrated loads, let’s consider a related
example. Suppose the right traffic light is positioned 1.8 meters from the right pole, which makes the
loading on the cable asymmetrical (see Figure 14).

Figure 14: Cables with an asymmetrical load present

What are the tension forces in the cable? We start by drawing the free-body diagram of the entire system
(see Figure 15).

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Structural Analysis I (Lecture Notes) Shear and Moment Equations

Figure 15: Free-body diagram of cables with asymmetrical loading

Although we cannot determine all four support reactions, we can calculate the vertical reactions at A and D
using two equilibrium equations.

By summing the moments about point A, we can determine D y , as shown in Equation [23].

 M@A = 0 10Dy − 400(8.2) − 400(4.1) = 0 D y = 492 N [23]

Furthermore, by summing the forces in the y-direction, we can calculate Ay as shown in Equation [24].

 Fy = 0  Ay + Dy − 400 − 400 = 0  Ay = 308 N [24]

To determine the tension force in segment BC, similar to the previous example, we can draw the free-body
diagram for the left segment of the system, as depicted in Figure 16.

Figure 16: Free-body diagram for the left segment of the system of cables with asymmetrical loading

The above diagram embodies four unknowns. There are two unknown forces ( A x and TBC ), one unknown
angle ( α ), and one unknown distance ( h1 ). To solve the problem, we need to know one of these
unknowns. Let’s assume that the vertical distance from point A to point B is 0.45 meters. That is,
h1 = 0.45 m.

Now, if we sum the moments about point B, we can determine A x as shown in Equation [25].

 M@B = 0 0.45A x − 308(4.1) = 0  A x = 2806 N [25]

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Then, summing the forces in the x and y directions, we can determine the x- and y-components of TBC , as
follows:

 Fx = TBC cosα − 2806 = 0  TBC cosα = 2806 N [26]

 Fy = TBC sinα + 308 − 400 = 0  TBC sinα = 92 N [27]

Knowing the x- and y-components of TBC , we can determine the tension in segment BC (see Equation
[28]).

TBC2 =(TBC cosα)2 + (TBC sinα)2 = 2806 2 + 92 2  TBC = 2807 N [28]

Similar to the previous example, to determine the tension force in segment AB, we can use the free-body
diagram of point A (see Figure 17).

Figure 17: Free-body diagram of point A

The sum of the support reactions at A must be equal to TAB . Knowing this fact, we can write the
following:

TAB2 = 3082 + 2806 2  TAB = 2823 N [29]

To determine the tension force in segment CD, let’s draw the free-body diagram for point D.

Figure 18: Free-body diagram for point D

Since the sum of the forces at D must be zero, we can write the following:

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TCD2 = 492 2 + 2806 2  TCD = 2849 N [30]

The calculated tension forces in the cable are written next to each segment in Figure 19.

Figure 19: Results of analysis for cables with asymmetrical loading present
We will continue our discussion on cables in the next lecture. For now, see if you can solve the following
problems:

Problem A: Determine heights h1 and h2 in the cable system shown below.

Problem B: Given that tension in segment AB is 130 N, determine weight w.

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