Experimental study of the nonlinear dynamic characteristics of suspended taut steel cables using a 3-D motion analysis system

This paper presents an experimental study of the nonlinear dynamic characteristics of taut steel cables using a 3-D motion analysis system. In the experiment, the taut cables have one end fixed and the other end subject to harmonic vertical excitation. The 3-D motion analysis system can simultaneously record (with high resolution) the instant 3-D coordinates of the multiple markers fixed on a vibrating cable; this distinguishes it from other experimental systems used in vibration studies, in which the vibration of only one single point can be recorded during each individual testing. With the 3-D motion analysis system, this experimental study presents a distinctive interpretation of the dynamic characteristics of taut cables in spatial domain (based on the mode-shape information of the entire cable), in addition to one in time domain (based on real-time traces of one single point). This paper introduces the 3-D motion analysis system and experimental setup, discusses practical experimental procedures, and presents a detailed analysis of three sets of experimental vibration data of three taut steel cables with different small sags. The frequency response curves were obtained for three cables. For one of the three taut cables, more informative vibration data were recorded; this cable was studied in greater detail via modal analysis using a modal decomposition technique and nonlinear time-series analysis.