A STUDY ON THE CATENARY-SEGMENT METHOD FOR THE ANALYSIS OF FLEXIBLE SUSPENDING CABLES

This paper presents a general view of a nonlinear calculating method for the analysis of flexible suspending cables, which is based on the concept of the Catenary-Segment and suitable for the design of cableway with no limitation on deflections. The nonlinear equations of cables with different level of supports and subjected to uniform and/or single concentrated loads are derived and corresponding numerical examples are presented. The comparisons of the theoretical results computed by this method with others show that the calculating exactitude of it is higher than the parabolic theory and can correctly predict the real deformational and loading states of flexible cables.