Truss Cable Stressing [TB]

Applies pretension (jacking force) to selected truss cables at a construction stage. Each cable's Pretension Force — set on the Truss Cable object — is applied as an initial-tension load scaled by the stressing percentage, so the cable develops force during staged construction. Because it is an initial-tension load, the final force in the cable equals the applied pretension reduced by the elastic give of the surrounding structure (towers, deck, and other members). Supported in linear and staged-linear analysis; in geometric-nonlinear stages a warning is issued that member forces from the stressing load are not recovered.

Cable Stressing

Stage: The construction stage at which the selected cables are stressed. Pick a previously defined Construction Stage. The stressing load is bound to this stage's analysis case, so the cables develop their pretension at — and after — this erection step, and not before. The user must provide a value.

Cables: The truss cables to stress at this stage, picked from previously defined Truss Cable objects. Only cables with a non-zero Pretension Force develop force; each cable's Pretension Force is set on the Truss Cable itself. The user must pick at least one cable.

Stressing (%) - applied as an initial-tension load of Stressing x Cable Pretension. Member-force recovery is supported in linear/staged-linear analysis; geometric-nonlinear stages report a warning.: The fraction of each cable's Pretension Force to apply at this stage, as a percentage (100 = full pretension). The applied initial tension equals Stressing × the cable's Pretension Force, so a single stressing object can stress a group of cables to the same fraction of their individual design forces. Use values below 100 for partial or staged stressing, and add a second stressing object at a later stage to re-stress.