C-FRP CABLES FOR THE LICATA RAILWAY CABLE STAYED BRIDGE PROPOSAL

Cable-stayed bridges are one of the most aesthetically appealing bridge typology that usually fits in the surrounding terrain. These bridges also show an efficient structural system to overcome from moderate to long crossings. The symbiosis between architecture and engineering has lead the researchers to propose the Licata railway cable-stayed bridge, an attractive suspension layout capable of recalling the shape of a port crane and of the typical fishing boats. The idea is to create a visual recognizable landmark in the Licata city port area. The orthotropic steel deck is constrained to a V shaped central pillar sized proportionally to the environments. Such a bridge layout gives an undeniable aesthetic elegance. The towers are set as pendulums with different inclinations in respect to the vertical axes. The bridge deck is orthotropic steel deck torsional restrained by means of roller bearings. In the paper, the performance of C-FRP stay-cables is compared to more conventional steel cables. When span gets larger and larger this solution offers better structural response due to the lower weight of C-FRP in respect to the steel ones. Thus, CFRP cable system makes the bridge less influenced by the vertical displacements. A preliminary evaluation of the dynamic bridge property has been estimated by means of high fidelity models. The numerical model has been implemented in LUSAS and full geometry cable nonlinearity has been considered in nonlinear dynamic analyses. The advantages of the C-FRP cables are discussed in comparison to the steel ones, lastly. A good structural proposal has been related to the local economic activity and enhanced with new composite elements.