Measurement of Cable Stays Tension Forces by Ambient Vibration Testing and Lift-Off Method

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Department of Civil Engineering, Kulliyyah of Engineering, International Islamic University Malaysia

Abstract

Cable-stayed bridges have become one of the important parts of today’s construction style as they are preferred over their aesthetics as well as their way of construction. Over longer distances, cable-stayed bridges have proven to be one of the best types to withstand any kind of loading. Cable-stay bridges have gained popularity nowadays, but the construction and maintenance of these bridges require extra effort. For this reason, monitoring bridges is a must for the betterment and safety of the public. A usual method that is being used by the engineers is the ‘vibration method, which measures tension during the construction of the cable system stiffened with inclined cables. A basic formula is applied here, which provides the tension force among the cables, depending upon the cable sag and vertical angle effects. This project puts forward the analysis of cables that measure the tension of steel in a cable-stayed bridge using appropriate methods, such as the Ambient Vibration Test, which provides the best possible outcome. The analysis of the bridge was done on a cable-stayed bridge, which was constructed in 2008 with an overall span length of 1708m. The results obtained from the analysis done by testing companies A and B were compared with the as-built results, which were obtained by the Lift-off Method, which showed an error of 0.18 and 0.23, respectively, which are within the range of the Lift-Off data set. This study concludes that Ambient Vibration Testing using the Taut String Formula can be used to calculate cable forces due to its higher precision with Lift-Off data.

Keywords

References

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Interdisciplinary Journal of Civil Engineering
Volume 1, Issue 4 - Serial Number 4
October 2025
Pages 378-391

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