Closure to "Suspension Cable Design of the New San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge" by John Sun, Rafael Manzanarez, and Marwan Nader

• Published in: Journal of bridge engineering 2005-05, Vol.10 (3), p.365-366
• Main Authors: Sun, John, Manzanarez, Rafael, Nader, Marwan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1084-0702
• DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)1084-0702(2004)9:1(101)

Both conventional hexagon cable and octagon strand layout would have to face the same problem of the "natural tendency of circular objects to merge in triangular patterns." The writers believe that it's the lesser of the problems, in comparison with potential strand twist when simply applying the conventional singleaxis symmetrical hexagon cable strand layout, due to the threedimensional geometry of the main suspension cable and unique orientation of tower saddles and deviation saddles, as stated in the paper. So the primary goal of biaxis symmetrical octagon strand layout is to alleviate this potential twist, and it works quit effectively for the purpose. Due to the space limitation and the nature of this designfocused paper, the original article did not present the detail design of strand separators in the saddles and detail procedures of cablestrand erection. However, the authors would like to add the following information for the purpose of clarification: The separator plates are all placed normal to the curved bottom surfaces of saddle troughs in the final design of the project, and it is anticipated a strand would be placed into the slots of the deviation saddles with assistance of small strand jacks at the marked location of a strand or other means preferred by a contractor.