Structural Behavior of Cable-stayed Bridges under Damage

The paper is aimed to investigate the influence of localized or distributed structural weakening on the stability, post-critical and collapse behavior of cable-stayed bridges. The structural behavior of this kind of bridges is strongly influenced by non linear geometrical effects. These effects are studied through a numerical model, suitable to deal with large strains and large displacements. Comparative studies highlight the influence of the most typical damage causes (section reduction or break of one or more hangers or cables, lost of serviceability of a part of the deck, among others) for different cable layouts and/or for different geometrical, topological and stiffness characteristics.