Thermal effects on statical behaviour of elastic cables for cable-stayed structures

This paper deals with the statical behaviour of elastic cables used in cable-stayed structures, focusing on thermal effects. Starting from a catenary-based approach, the Dischinger and Ernst equivalent modulus formulations are generalized to include inelastic thermal distorsions. In detail, cable's length variation with respect to reference configuration is evaluated by superimposing a uniform distribution of temperature to standard elastic contributions. Accordingly, generalized Dischinger-type secant and tangent equivalent elastic moduli are deduced, and the quasi-secant theory recently proposed is refined in order to include thermal effects. The influence of temperature variations on the mechanical behaviour of elastic stays is highlighted through several numerical applications, confirming the soundness and the effectiveness of the proposed approach.