-

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CABLE ERECTION TEST A T PYLON SADDLE FOR

SPATIAL SUSPENSION BRIDGE

By Heungbae GiI,l Member, ASCE, an<LYopngjae Choi2

ABSTRACT: :rhis paper presents the results of mock-up cable erection tests for the Yong long Grand Bridge,
¡nchoo, Korea. The Grand Bridge iocIudes the world's firsLself-anchored spatial suspension bridge whose maio
cable planes are inclined io tbe transversedirectioo. Cable erection problems were ex~ted to occur at -the
pylon saddle and the splay band due to the self-anchored.cable system and the difference between theerection
and completed layout of the maio cable. The mock-up tests were performed prior to actual cable erection.
Through the tests, cable erection problems at the saddle, lateral displacement, and -bending of the wires inside
the saddle were identificd, and measures to deal with the problems were devised and .tested. The tested measures
were successfully implemented for the construction of the bridge.

INTRODUCTION
The Yong long Grand Bridge is located at the west coast
of Korea, and was constructed to connecNhe new international
airport at Yong long Island, Inchon, and the mainland. The
bridge is 4.4 km loóg and is composed of three different bridge
types-asuspension bridge (550 m), a truss bridge (2,250 m),
and ste.elbox bridges. TheGrand-Bric:1ge (Gil and Cho 1998)
has double decks; it \\1mCllrrysix highway lanes 00 the upper
decJe,and four highway lanes and Qual tracks of a railway on
tlie lower deck. The approach trussbri<1ges are double-deck,
Warren truss type bridges. The truss bridges are Utree-spán
cOAtinuouswith a leogth of 125 m for eaoh span. The width
of the truss bridge is 36.1 m. . (thickness of 12 mm). To accommodate inclined cable planes,
The main feature of the Grand Bridge is the three-span con-
tinuous self-anchored suspension bridge. The 550 m long sus-
pension bridge, as shown in Fig. 1, has.a main span of 300 m
and side spans of 125 m. The main cables of the suspension
bridge take a spatial, three-dimensional shape; that is, the main
cable planes are inclined. In the plan view, the distance be-
tweeo the main cables is changing along the bridge axis. The
distance is shortest at the pylon saddles, andois longest at the
center of the main span and the anchorage. When compared
to traditional suspension bridges with a vertical cable plane,
the suspension bridge with spatial cable system (Gimsing
1994) has a strong torsional stiffness but poses a cable erection
problem. The typical earth-anchored suspension bridge has
massive concrete anchorages, which carry reactions from the
main cables to foundations but take quite a lot of timt; 10build.
The self-anchored suspension bridge has the main cable an-
chorage in the stiffening gitder of the-bridge-so that the forces
from the maio cable are transfetred tothe bridge itself. The
self-anchored suspension bridge has been rarely constructed
due to constructional difticulties (Ochsendorf and Billington
1999). Konohana Bridge in Osaka, lapan, pedestrian bridges
in Germany, and the recentIy proposed OakIand Bay Bridge
are a few examples of self-anchored su!!pensionbridges in the
world.In the suspension bridge of the Grand Bridge, the hor-
izontal component of the cable force iscarried by the stiff-
ening tnlss, and the vertical component is resisted by a link
'Chf. Res., Inchon Aitport E¡c;prcssway Constr. Ofc., Korea Hwy.
Corp., 531--7, Kyeongseo-dong, Seo-ku, lnchon, Korea, 404-170. E-mail:
h_fl@hanmai1.net
Asst. Mgr., Samsung Corp., 531-7, Kyeongseo-dong, Seo-ku, Inchon.
Korea, 404-170.
Note. Discussion open until November 1,2001. To extend the closing
date one month, a written rcquest must be filed with the ASCE.Manager
of Journals. The manuscript fur this paper was submitted for review and
possible publication on March 10, 2000; rcvised August 22, 2000. This
. paper is part of the Joumal o/ Bridge Engineering, Vol. 6, No. 3, Mayl
June, 2001. CASCE, ISSN 1084-070210110003-0183-0188/$8.00 + $.50
per page. Paper No. 22205.
shoe and dead load of the neighboring truss bridges. Tbe self-
anchored suspension brióge typically has limited space fer the
main cable anchorage, which is located at the stiffening truss,
so the air -spinning method, which can contain more wires per
strand than the parallel wire strand method, is employed to
erect the main cables.
The main cables of the sl\spension bridge have 14 strands,
which are arranged in a hexagonal form at the 'pylon saddle,
as shown in Fig. 2. Each strand is composed of 480 galvanized
parallel wires. The diameter and tensile strength of the wires
. are 5.1 mm and 1,570 N/mm2 (160 kgf/mm2), respectively.
The pylon saddles as shown in Fig. 2 have five channels to '
aouse strands, and each channel is separated by a spacer
saddles as shown in Fig. 3 areplaced with an angle of 12.59°
in Úle transverse direction.
In the construction of the typical eartb-anch9red suspension.
bridge, the stiffening truss is constrocted after the erection of
the main cables and hangers (suspenders). On the contrary, the
stiffening truss of the self-anchored suspension bridge is
erected on pylons and temporary supports before the spinning
of the main cables. In fue Grand Bridge, the stiffening truss
was divided into eight blocks and erected using a 3,000 ton
floating crane. As the hangers tbat link the máin cables and
the stiffening truss are attached,the main cables of the Grand
Bridge wiU be transformed into a three-dimensional shape. Af-
ter the attachment of the hangers, the "temporary supports for
the stiffening truss are removed.
Mock-up tests -..verecarried out to identify the expected ca-
ble erection problems associated withthe spatial suspension
bridge. In addition, methods to effectively arrange the wires
duriag cable erection at the pyion saddles and the splay bands
were devised and tried. The workability at the splay bands and
the pylon saddles will dictate the workability of the entire
cable erection process. A real scale mock-up specimen of the
saddle and the splay band was fabricated and used at the tests.
This paper presents the results of the mock-up cable erection
test at the pylon saddle. The results of the mock-up at the splay
band will be presented later.
Problem Descriptions
Erection problems, which -llave not been observed in typical
two-dimensional suspension bridges, are expected to arise at
the pylon saddle and the splay bands due to the spatial cable
layout and the main cable anchorage. As shown in Fig. 4, the
main cable layout during erection is signifioantly different
from the final layout. Main cab1es in the maiR span are parallel
to each other in a horizontal plane during the cable spinning.
phase 1 shown in Fig. 4, but those will beJ:ome parabolic,
phase 2, as the hangers are attached. So, during the cable spin-
ning, the wires .at the saddle toward the main .span will unduly
JOURNALOF BRIDGEENGINEERING/ MAY/JUNE2001/183
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FIG. 1.
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7"
Genera! View of Suspension Bridge
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170mm move into the side of the channel and are piled up. Thus, the
Filler arrangement of the wires at the saddle is almost impossible
unless special means ar'e devised to keep the erected wires in
position. Fig. 5 shows the disarranged wires at a mock-up i
saddle channel during the test.

Bending of Wires toward Main Span

The saddles are installed with the vertical angle of 12.59° ~
and the wires of the side spans are erected with the angle of
7.96° in a horizontal planeo As a result, the angular difference
'. between the cables of the main span and the side span is about
FlG. 2. Strand Árrangement at the Pylon Saddle
4.63°, and severe bending of the side span wires near the sad-
dIe is not expected. However, the wires of the main span are f
expected to show undue bending and localized damage, even ,
though the edges of the saddle and the vertical spacers be-
tween the strands are rounded.

Wire Coating Damage

After the completion of cable spinning, the cables in the
Cable Direction at Completed Stale
Cable Direction During Cable Spinning
main span are transversely transferred as they are linked to the
stiffening truss by hangers. During the transfer, the bottom-
FIG. 3. Inclined Saddle Placement layer wires may lose a zinc coating due to friction with the
sadd1e base.
. ADchorage

~ \
7.96' TEST SETUP ANO PROCEOURE
The mock-up te~t was performed using the full-scale model
~ r to fully understand the nature of the erection problerns. The
test setup shown in Fig. 6 is composed of a mock-up strand
shoe on the left. a tower with the mock-up saddle channel in
10.74' 9.66'

~
~
(b)
=G.:" .\1ain Cable Layout: (a) Erection State (Phase 1); (b) Con ,.
=.: ~ (Phase 2)

:-.:=:-..;
1 .:ertain degree and laterally move due to the angular
-'-~--es. During the layout change from parallel to para-
:-.::.:.:.:=iction between the saddle base and the wires is ex-
~ :o occur. Detailed descriptions of the erection problems
= ;:"~ below.
70: ::isplacements
::-ur:ng cable erection, the angular difference at the saddle
~ ~ the wires and the main span and the ones of the side
~:s about 7.96° in a horizontal planeo As discussed earlier,
~ ~ ion saddles are also installed with the angle of 12.59°
= - .~cal planeoDue to these two factors, the wires tend to FIG. 5. Disarranged Wires at the Saddle

--;;:;. .CURNAL OF BRIDGE ENGINEERING I MAY/JUNE 2001

--
Moc:k.U
Siñiid
SIDE EUW ATION
~}96'~
PLAN VIEW
FIG. 6. TestSetup
\.SM I.5M
O.41MI I IO.47M
SIDE ELEVATlON
FlG. 7. Mock-up Saddle ChanneJ
the middle, and wire anchorage on the right. The height oí.the
tower and the mock-up saddle, and the length .of the wires
were detennined to simulate the cable layoutofthc-realbridge.
As shown in Fig. 6, the main cables have vertíéal angles of
41.0° and 39.00, respectively, at the pylon topoDuring the cree.
tion of the bridge. the wites at the side spans. are sp~. with a
horizontal angle of 7.96°. To simulate the cablC"Jayoutat'tbc!'
side spans. the mock-up strand shoes at the left of the tow.er
were placed with an angle of 7.96°.
In the test, only one mock-up saddle c~1 was fabricated
and used because the inclined angle of the pylon saddles and
the bend angle of all of the strands are the same. ibe. pylon
saddle for the mock-up tests has the spape of the curved chan-
nel (in a vertical plane), as shown in Fig. 7. The vertical angle
of the mock-up saddle channel can be adjusted usÍllg two tum-
bucldes. Initially. the saddle .channel was set 8112:59°.
Each strand is composed of 480 wires, but only 100 wires
(20 wires per layer times five layers) were erected during the
~
moc}e..uptests. The wires were looped around the mock-up
strand shoe and the ends of the wire were anchored to the
anchor plate in the anchorage. Thus, two wires were laid on
the saddle channel at<atime when one wire was erected. ¡\fter
the wire was tensioned to 441.5 N (45 kgf) corresponding to
the wire tension of the main cable during cable spinning. it
was anchored to the anchor plate using a wedge.
In the mock-up test, the degree oí lateral displacements and
bending of the wires was first evaluated' After that, altemative
'proposals to arrange the wites were devised and tried. Finally,
the loss of zinc coating due to friction was evaluated using a
uniformity test (Korean standard).
TEST RESULTS
Measurement of Wlre Displacements
Thé displacements of the first-Iayer and second-Iayer wires
at the saddle channel were measured. During the cable erec-
tion, the spinning wheel carries the wires from anchorage to
anchorage. The lower wires of the spinning wheel. which are
linked to.the strand shoe, are called dead 'Yires. while the
upper wires of fue spinning wheel, which are 'unreeled from a
wire recl. are called live wires. The wires in the channel saddle
are arranged inlive-dead-live-dead wire groups as shown in
Fig. 8. and each group contains five wires. The numbers in
the circle in Fig. 8 represent the erection order of the wires.
During the test. two wires, one dead wire and one live wire,
werelaid in the saddle channel at a time. In the first layer. six
wires. three live wires and three dead wIres. were erected. and
the vertical and horizontal displacements were measured. After
the first-layer wires were forcefully arranged inside the saddle
~Dino:IiaG
f.Il.IL
, Liw Ya I DoId WinI I Do8it.Ya I LiwY... I
FIG. 8. W'&nILayout ud Displacemeat DircctiOD
JOUANAL OF BRIDGE ENGINEERING / MAY/JUNE 2001/185
 .. TABLE 2. Wire Displacement: Second Layer (mm)
c1 AlTanged

~ ~SideWall
SaddleBase
Wire
number a
Coordinate
b
Shifted Coordinate
a b
S-R-6D 51.0 7.0 23.0 12.8
FIG. 9. Wire Displacement S-R-6L 5.1 7.0 2.6 12.8

channel, two wires, one live wire and one dead wire, were
Side Wall Detail A
erected for the second layer, and the displacements of those
wires were measured. The designations of the tested wires are ~ First Layer

.::F -.r::= ~ ... \ treS

illustrated in Fig. 8. F-L-1L represents the first layer-left side-
first live wire, and S-R-6D represents the second layer-right
side-sixth dead wire.
The arranged and shifted positions of the wires were mea-
sured by fue distance from the center of the wire to the side-
sOmm 1= ~~e

~ @ DetaiIA

wall of the channel, a, and to the saddle base, b, as shown in FIG. 10. Wire Bending Test
Fig. 9. The measured coordinates (a, b) of the arranged (orig-
inal) position and shifted position are compared in Tables 1
and 2. lt shows that almost all of the wires moved horizontally Wood
to a side and some of the wires mol'ed verticaUy to the above Wedge
layers. It was concluded that the lateral displacement of the
wires was so severe that a special means would be needed to
arrange the wires ¡nside the pylon saddle.

Wlre Bendlng FIG. 11. Wood Wedge

As discussed earlier, the pylon saddles are installed inclined
to account for the spatial cable layout, while the wires of the
main span are spun parallel to each other (two-dimensional
cable layout). This causes bending of th~ wires at the pylon
sadd1e'.In the mock-up test, the actual bending angle of the
wires was decided to determine whether this bending caused
any damage to the wires. The possibility of tangling with
neighboring strands was a1soconsidered during the test.
The bend angle shown in Fig. 10 was measUred as 6.340 at
the end of the spacer. The spacer (sidewall in the mock-up
saddle channel) that divides the strands does not extend to the
full length of the saddle, as shown in Fig. lO, and its edge
was rounded to prevent damage of the wires. Due to the
rounded edges of the spacer and the small bending angle, the
wires did not show severe damage.
If the distance, D, between the strand and the exterior of
the mock-up saddle channel shown in Fig. 10 is not large
enough, the strand will interfere with the neighboring strands.
The thickness of the mock-up saddle channel sidewall is 50
rom, while the thickness of the actual saddle spacer is 12 mm.
Therefore, if the distance is larger than 38 mm (50 mm minus
Proposal 1- Wood Wedge Employment
The simplest way to keep the desired distance between the
wires and prevent shifting (displacements) of ihe wires would
be the employment of wedges. The wedges made of wood had
a certain width as shown in Fig. 11 and were inserted between
the wires. The widths of the wood wedges were changed from
40.8 rom, which is equal to the distance between the first live
wire and the OOt dead wire, to 10.2 mm, which is equal 10 !
the distance between the fourth live wire and the fourth dead
wire.
The wedges initially enables the arrangement of wires by
keeping the desired distance between the wires. However,
when several wires were erected and shifted together, the shift-
ing force of the wires was so big that it was hard to hold the
i
i
wedges at a fixed position and arrange the wires. Furthermore, !
the insertion of the wedges between the wires was almost im- !
possible due to the lateral shifting force. Thus, it was con-
cluded that the use of wood wedges was not an effective
means to arrange the wires at the pylon saddle. .

12 mm), the interference will n~ happen. D was measured to
be 39 mm. It was conc1uded that the problem of interference
would not occur during the cable spinning at the saddle.
Wire Arrangement
A few proposals to arrange the wires inside the pylon saddle
were devised and tried until the most feasible one was se-
lected. A detailed description of the proposals is given below.
( ~
Proposal 2- Wire Clamp
The rectangular wire clamp shown in Fig. 12 was devised
to help the arrangement of the wires. The wire clamp was
composed oí two bal15at each end and two steel bars with an
attached rubber pad. The upper bar can be moved up and
down, dependiog 00 the height of the erected wires. It was
thought that the wire clamp would oot allow the horizontal

TABLE 1. Wire Displacement:First Layer (mm)

FIRST TEST SECONDTEST THIRD TEST
Arranged Shifted Arranged Shifted Arranged Shifted
Wire Coordinate Coordinate Coordinate Coordinate Coordinate Coordinate
number a b a b a b a b a b a b
F-R-ID 48.5 2.6 2.6 2.6 48.5 2.6 2.6 2.6 48.S 2.6 2.6 2.6
F-R-IL 2.6 2.6 2.6 7.7 2.6 2.6 2.6 7.7 2.6 2.6 2.6 7.7
F-L-lD 53.6 2.6 7.7 2.6 53.6 2.6 7.7 2.6
F-L-IL 99.5 2.6 12.8 2.6 99.5 2.6 28.2 2.6
F-R-2D 43.4 2.6 2.6 7.7
F-R-2L 7.7 2.6 2.6 12.8

1861 JOURNAL OF BRIDGE ENGINEERING 1MAY/JUNE 2001

..
-
BoIt
..
Steel
Bar
. , ..
IOSmm
FIG. 12. Wire Clamp
and vertical movement of fue wires by squeezing them be-
tween steel bars.
During the mock-up tests, two wire clamps were placed at
the outside of the saddle channel. The two wire clamps were
opened (released) and closed in tum; that is, one wire clamp
was released and the wires were arranged at the desired po-
sition while the other clamp was lockedand held the wires in
position.
The two wire clamp system tumed out to be an ineffective
method to deal with the cable erection problerns. It was found
that the clamp enabled the arrangementat the clamp; however,
the wire clamps as well as the erected wires laterally shifted,
and this shift disturbed the wire arrangement outside the wire
clamps.
Proposal 3- ~VireFormer
The "wire forroer," which looks like a comb, is a stec;lbar
with inserted piano wires (diameter of 1.2 rnm) and is shown
in Fig. 13. It was placed at a certain distance from the saddle
end and had 20 slots to house the wires. As explained earlier,
each layer of fue strand has 20 wires. During the test, the wires
were placed at fue specified slot of the wire forroer and 'kept
in position. The wire forroer enabled the arrangement of the
wires inside the pylon saddle by allowing wire eatanglement
llllilUill!
FIG. 13. Wire Former
FIG. 14. Arranged Wires Using the Wire Fonner
"
Wíre Formcr -
r Wir.
.1.
FIG. 15. Wire Fonner Location
to occur beyond the wire forroers. Fig. 14 shows arranged
wires using the wire forroer during the mock-up test. Tests
also showed fuat it could reduce the required time for fue
arrangement of fue wires and the number of workers. In actual
cal:11eerection, the wire former was removed after the erection
of a strand and reinstalied for the next strand.
The placement ,of the wire fonner in the loagitudinal and
transverse direction was determined by tests. In fue transverse
direction, two locations were tried. One 10cationcorresponded
to the erection state, phase 1 shown in Fig. 4, and the other
corresponded to the completed state, phase 2. When the wire
forroer was placed in fue direction of the main cable's final
(completed) S'tate,the horizontal component of a strand force
was so big that fue wire fonner cOlildoot be aachored. It was
decided to place fue wire forroer in the direction corresponding
to the erection state, phase 1, of the main cable, as shown in
Fig. 15.lt reduced the horizontal force, but the arrangement
of the strand was still impossible because live wire number ¡
of me fust layer tended to be dislocated..'The inclined place-
ment of the saddle andthe lateral shifting force of the strand
cómbined with the rounded comers of the channel wall caused
the dislocation and uplift of live wire number 1 inside the
saddle. To -hold the number 1 wire in position, a small clamp
was placed neat the ends of the mock-up saddle channel. This
dislocation phenomenon is expected to arise at strand number
4 (Fig. 2) in the real pylon saddle and will be prevented by a
similar means.
The location of the wire fonner in the longitudinal direction
was decided based on two factors-the wide arrangement in-
side the saddle channel and the size of the scaffolding at the
pylon top. The wires insitte the saddle.shouldbe arranged side
by side without a 'gap betweenthern. However, when the wire
fonner was placed too close to the pylon saddle, the wires
ncar tbe saddle.e~ds were separated too much due !o the piano
wires df the wire forroer, and' they could not be arranged.
When it was placed too far froro the saddle, the \/viresinside
the saddle cb.annel were .easily disarranged. Tbe pylon top
scaffolding to perf0111lwork at the saddle was rather small, so
the fonner needed to be placed close to the saddle. After re-
view and tests, it was decided to place the forroers at a distance
of 350 rnm from the saddle end.
Zinc Coatlng Damage
As the main cables are linked to the stiffening girder by the
hangers, the main cables' geometry of the main span changes
from phasel (during constroction) to phase 2 (as completed),
as shown in Fig. 4. Duringthis change, the wires oear the
saddle end move laterallyas much as 25.6 rnm, and friction
is expected to occur between fue first layer of the strands and
the saddl.e base. This frictiODwould damage the zinc coating
of the wires. lB the rnock-up test, thelateral movement of the
wires was simulated and,the damage level was measured. Tbis
test was performed tbree times.
During the test, the wires in teosion were moved laterally
by rotating the mock-up saddle channel in the transverse di.
rection. The damage fey~t'of-me'zinc éoating was measured
using a uniforroity test (Korean standard) that evaluates the
JOCRNAl OF BRIDGE ENGINEERING 1MAY/JUNE 2001/187
 . ~
. o~
unifonnity and quality of the zinc coating. In the unifonnity
test, the wire specimens are cleaned and then dipped three
times into a standard solution of copper sulfate (temperature
of 115°C)oEach dip lasted 1 min and, after each dip, the spec-
imens were rinsed in clean running water. After the final rins-
ing and wiping, the specimens should not show any adherent
red deposit of metallic copper on the base metal if there is no
problem with the zinc coating. The three damaged specimens
were subjected to the unifonnity tests and did not show any
red deposit until six dipso It was concluded that loss of the
zinc coating was not severe enough to warrant additional mea-
sures to protect the zinc coating of the wires during the phase
shift of the main cables.
CONCLUSION
The cable erection problems at the pylon saddle due to a
spatial, three-dimensional main cable layout were identified
through the mock-up tests The full-scale saddle channel was
o Pour la Construction, Deauvile. France. 489-504.
fabricated and used in the test. Lateral displacement and bend-
ing of the wires at the pylon saddle were first evabiated. It
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1881 JOURNAL OF BRIDGE ENGINEERING 1 MAY/JUNE 2001
was observed that bending of the wires was not severe and
did not cause damage to the wires. Lateral displacements of
the wires inside the saddle channel made the arrangement of
the wires almost impossible. After a few trials. the wire fonner
that looks like a comb was devised and effectively imple-
mented for the wire arrangement. Tests also showed that the
friction between the bottom layer of the strand and the saddle
base did not cause severe damage to the zinc coating of the
wires. The results of these mock-up tests were successful1y
applied to the erection of the main cables of the Yong long
Grand Bridge, the first spatial self-anchored suspension bridge
in the world.
REFERENCES
Gil. H., and Cho. C. (1998). "Yong Jong Grand Suspension Bridge. Ko-
rea." Struct. Engrg. 1m.. Zurich. 8(2). 97-98.
Gimsing. N. J. (1994). "Suspended bridges with very long spans." 1m.
Conf on Cable-Stayed and Suspension Bridges, Association Francaise
Ochsendorf. J. A.. and Billington. D. P. (1999). "Self-anchored suspen-
sion bridges." Jo Bridge Engrg.. ASCE. 4(3). 151-156.