The construction control of cable-stayed bridges is a complex and error prone work. The complexity mainly results from the task of ensuring the attainment of specific internal forces and reference geometric configurations for a flexible, nonlinear and highly redundant structure. The primary objective of construction control can be concluded as to guarantee the attainment of the reference structure geometry and the designed optimal internal force distribution at the time of the completion of the bridge. The second objective is to provide a reference for the erection process and ensure the safety margin of the structure against failure throughout the construction process....[ Read more ]

The construction control of cable-stayed bridges is a complex and error prone work. The complexity mainly results from the task of ensuring the attainment of specific internal forces and reference geometric configurations for a flexible, nonlinear and highly redundant structure. The primary objective of construction control can be concluded as to guarantee the attainment of the reference structure geometry and the designed optimal internal force distribution at the time of the completion of the bridge. The second objective is to provide a reference for the erection process and ensure the safety margin of the structure against failure throughout the construction process.

According to the design theory of the cable-stayed bridges and the feature of cantilever construction, a construction control system based on the theory of system identification (SI) is proposed which is composed of three subsystems: the Optimal State Calculation Subsystem, the Error Factor Analysis Subsystem and the Cable Tension Adjustment Subsystem. The identification is carried out to identify the true values of critical system parameters. Cable tension adjustment is also incorporated to eliminate the residual errors after error factor identification.

Two numerical examples are used to illustrate the implementation and functioning of the system. The results from the example of Pan Yu cable-stayed bridge and the example of a single tower cable-stayed bridge both show very good agreement with the theory, which in turn illustrates the soundness and practical value of the proposed method.