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Millau Multi-Span Cable-Stayed Viaduct
Parametric multi-span cable-stayed bridge model with two inverted-Y split pylons H = 75 m, 21 internal box-girder diaphragms, fan stay cables, and MITC4 quad deck.
The Millau Viaduct represents an iconic achievement in multi-span cable-stayed engineering, spanning deep valleys using slender concrete piers, inverted-Y steel split pylons, and an aerodynamic closed trapezoidal steel box girder. This 200 m segment model includes two full pylons (H = 75 m) with 16 stay cable stays each, orthotropic top roadway shell, bottom flange, inclined webs, and 21 transverse internal diaphragms. WebCAE computes static girder sag, pylon head sway under deck wind pressure, vibration mode shapes, and overall structural stability.
1. Geometry & FEA Mesh
- •Deck structure: 200 m long trapezoidal steel box girder (top flange 10 m wide at z = 38 m, bottom flange 6 m wide at z = 35 m, inclined side webs) formed by 162 MITC4 quad elements.
- •Internal stiffening: 21 transverse diaphragms spaced at 10 m along the girder preventing cross-section distortion, reinforced by top and bottom longitudinal tee stiffeners.
- •Pylons & stays: twin inverted-Y pylons (pylon shaft H = 75 m, split legs straddling the box girder) supporting 32 high-strength stay cables arranged in semi-fan formation.
- •Discretization: 156 nodes, 198 beam elements, 162 shell quads, 936 system DOFs with continuous displacement compatibility between box webs and diaphragms.
2. Loads & Boundary Conditions
- •Rigid ground foundation supports (all 6 DOFs) at pier bases (z = 0) and roller/pinned abutment bearings at deck ends (x = ±100 m).
- •Lateral wind pressure (10 kN/node) acting on the exposed deck edge and aerodynamic pylon shafts.
- •Dead weight of structural steel (E = 210 GPa, ρ = 7,850 kg/m³) plus distributed roadway pavement.
3. Simulation Results & Findings
- ✓Maximum mid-span vertical sag |u| = 53.2 mm under combined permanent dead load and lateral wind.
- ✓Fundamental mode frequency f₁ = 1.50 Hz represents symmetric vertical bending of the central cable-stayed span.
- ✓Linear elastic buckling load factor λ₁ = 71.0 demonstrates superior stability reserves in the inverted-Y pylon shafts under stay pre-tension thrust.
WebCAE streamlines multi-span cable-stayed bridge assessments, allowing infrastructure teams to evaluate box-girder diaphragm spacing, pylon stability, and cable tuning in an agile web environment without multi-gigabyte workstation installations.
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