Impact of Cross-Tie Material Nonlinearity on the Dynamic Behavior of Shallow Flexible Cable Networks

Cross-ties have proven their efficacy in mitigating vibrations in bridge stay cables. Several factors, such as cross-tie malfunctions due to slackening or snapping, as well as the utilization of high-energy dissipative materials, can introduce nonlinear restoring forces in the cross-ties. While previous studies have investigated the influence of the former on cable network dynamics, the evaluation of the impact of nonlinear cross-tie materials remains unexplored. In this current research, an existing analytical model of a two-shallow-flexible-cable network has been extended to incorporate the cross-tie material nonlinearity in the formulation. The harmonic balance method (HBM) is employed to determine the equivalent linear stiffness of the cross-ties. The dynamic response of a cable network containing nonlinear cross-ties is approximated by comparing it to an equivalent linear system. Additionally, the study delves into the effects of the cable vibration amplitude, cross-tie material properties, installation location, and the length ratio between constituent cables on both the fundamental frequency of the cable network and the equivalent linear stiffness of the cross-ties. The findings reveal that the presence of cross-tie nonlinearity significantly influences the in-plane modal response of the cable network. Not only the frequencies of all the modes are reduced, but the formation of local modes is delayed to a high order. In contrast to an earlier finding based on a linear cross-tie assumption, with nonlinearity present, moving a cross-tie towards the mid-span of a cable would not enhance the in-plane stiffness of the network. Moreover, the impact of the length ratio on the network in-plane stiffness and frequency is contingent on its combined effect on the cross-tie axial stiffness and the lateral stiffness of neighboring cables.