Preliminary static analysis of suspension bridges

Dimensionless charts, useful for the the understanding of the static behaviour of single-span suspension bridges, are generated in this paper by applying numerical methods to the equations of the deflection theory. Charts include displacements and bending moments under concentrated loading and maximum displacements and bending moments under distributed loading. Based on these charts, explicit formulae useful for design are given. Extension to the analysis of three span suspension bridges is performed. The accuracy of this extension is checked by analysing 19 existing and hypothetical suspension bridges.