EFFECT OF INITIAL IMPERFECTIONS OF TOWERS ON SAFETY FACTORS OF MAIN CABLES, HANGERS AND TOWERS IN A SUPER LONG-SPAN SUSPENSION BRIDGE

This paper describes the load carrying capacity of the suspension bridge by considering the initial imperfection of the towers under various combinations of the safety factor of the main cable, hanger and tower. Rational combination of safety factors has to be established by considering both of the initial yielding state of each component and the ultimate state of the bridge. From results of this study, it is presented that the effect of initial imperfection is small, and we propose the combination values of γT=1.5, γH=2.2, and γC=1.8 as the rational safety factor.