page_title: Cable-stayed bridge
section_title: Comparison with suspension bridge
hierarchical_section_title: Cable-stayed bridge / Comparison with suspension bridge
context_page_description: A cable-stayed bridge has one or more towers, from which cables support the bridge deck. A distinctive feature are the cables or stays, which run directly from the tower to the deck, normally forming a fan-like pattern or a series of parallel lines. This is in contrast to the modern suspension bridge, where the cables supporting the deck are suspended vertically from the main cable, anchored at both ends of the bridge and running between the towers. The cable-stayed bridge is optimal for spans longer than cantilever bridges and shorter than suspension bridges. This is the range within which cantilever bridges would rapidly grow heavier, and suspension bridge cabling would be more costly.
  Cable-stayed bridges have been known since the 16th century and used widely since the 19th. Early examples often combined features from both the cable-stayed and suspension designs, including the Brooklyn Bridge. The design fell from favor through the 20th century as larger gaps were bridged using pure suspension designs, and shorter ones using various systems built of reinforced concrete.
context_section_description: Cable-stayed bridges may appear to be similar to suspension bridges, but in fact, they are quite different in principle and in their construction.
  In suspension bridges, large main cables (normally two) hang between the towers and are anchored at each end to the ground. This can be difficult to implement when ground conditions are poor. The main cables, which are free to move on bearings in the towers, bear the load of the bridge deck. Before the deck is installed, the cables are under tension from their own weight. Along the main cables smaller cables or rods connect to the bridge deck, which is lifted in sections. As this is done, the tension in the cables increases, as it does with the live load of traffic crossing the bridge. The tension on the main cables is transferred to the ground at the anchorages and by downwards compression on the towers.
  In cable-stayed bridges, the towers are the primary load-bearing structures that transmit the bridge loads to the ground. A cantilever approach is often used to support the bridge deck near the towers, but lengths further from them are supported by cables running directly to the towers. That has the disadvantage, unlike for the suspension bridge, that the cables pull to the sides as opposed to directly up, which requires the bridge deck to be stronger to resist the resulting horizontal compression loads, but it has the advantage of not requiring firm anchorages to resist the horizontal pull of the main cables of the suspension bridge. By design, all static horizontal forces of the cable-stayed bridge are balanced so that the supporting towers do not tend to tilt or slide and so must only resist horizontal forces from the live loads.
  The following are key advantages of the cable-stayed form:
  much greater stiffness than the suspension bridge, so that deformations of the deck under live loads are reduced
  can be constructed by cantilevering out from the tower – the cables act both as temporary and permanent supports to the bridge deck
  for a symmetrical bridge (in which the spans on either side of the tower are the same), the horizontal forces balance and large ground anchorages are not required
caption: Prins Clausbrug across the Amsterdam-Rhine Canal in Utrecht
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