Abstract
© 2015, Taylor & Francis Group, London.Cable-stayed footbridges have now become a popular option for footbridges. The cables are exposed and sometimes accessible therefore the likelihood of an accidental or intentional event leading to the loss of a stay is very high. The loss of a cable on a cable-stayed bridge is either evaluated using a dynamic amplification factor of 1.5–2.0 or by undertaking a detailed dynamic analysis. However, the loading on a footbridge and modal response of a footbridge is different from that of a traffic bridge. This paper presents the results of a three dimensional nonlinear dynamic analysis of a cable-stayed footbridge to the loss of cable(s) to fire and blast, with varying loads and numbers of cables lost. The research shows the application of full live load when a cable is lost gives DAF values similar to when two cables are lost when accidental load is applied. The DAF values obtained for the remaining cables, deck and pylon are higher than 2.0 except for the displacement of the pylon.