Validity of the Nielsen-type hanger arrangement in spatial arch bridges with straight decks

In tied-arch bridges, a properly designed connection between the arch and the deck may become crucial, since the forces in the structure may be significantly reduced. This implies substantial material savings and, consequently, cheaper constructions. The introduction of the Nielsen cable arrangement (composed of V-shaped inclined hangers) in the last century was a milestone because it was able to reduce deflections and bending moments both in the arch and in the deck. So far, the Nielsen cable arrangement has proven to be successful in traditional vertical arch bridges. However, despite its advantages, it has not been widely applied to spatial arch bridges. Thus, this article analyses the difference between the structural behavior of spatial arch bridges with Nielsen-type cable arrangements with respect to those with classical vertical hanger configurations. The main goal is to verify whether the known effectiveness of the Nielsen cable arrangement for classical arch bridges is still preserved when applied to spatial arch bridges. In order to achieve this objective, and as the first part of our study, a set of different all-steel bridges composed of vertical and inclined arches with straight decks have been compared for both cable arrangements. As a major conclusion, for planar vertical arch bridges, the Nielsen-type cable arrangement is always the most effective. In addition, it also seems that, for spatial arch bridges composed of a straight deck and an inclined arch, it still keeps most of its effectiveness as long as the arch is moderately inclined.