Cable Force Identification of Two Bending Cable Networks with Arbitrary Boundary Conditions

The determination of existing cable forces is essential for evaluating the performance of bridges. The vibration technique is preferred among available practical methods because it is simple, fast, and economical. To apply this method, many researchers introduced analytical and empirical formulas considering bending rigidity, cable length, and boundary conditions. Nevertheless, most existing procedures to determine cable forces are for single cables, which are unsuitable for cable networks. To measure the cable forces of the cable networks, engineers should remove any cross-ties before conducting field tests. However, the removal of cross-ties separates the cable network into two independent cables, which does not reflect the actual behavior of the cable network. Hence, to save time and improve accuracy, this paper introduces a method to directly identify the cable tensions of a two-cable network without removing any cross-ties. This technique can precisely estimate the cable forces of the two-bending cable networks with arbitrary boundary conditions with an error of less than 1.0 percent.