Modal stability of inclined cables subjected to vertical support excitation

In this paper the out-of-plane dynamic stability of inclined cables subjected to in-plane vertical support excitation is investigated. We compute stability boundaries for the out-of-plane modes using rescaling and averaging methods. Our study focuses on the 2:1 internal resonance phenomenon between modes that occurs when the excitation frequency is twice the first out-of-plane natural frequency of the cable. The second in-plane mode is excited directly, while the out-of-plane modes can be excited parametrically. An analytical model is developed in order to study the stability regions in parameter space. In this model we include nonlinear coupling effects with other modes, which have thus far been omitted from previous models of parametric excitation of inclined cables. Our study reflects the importance of such effects. Unstable parameter regions are defined for the selected cable configuration. The validity of the proposed stability model was tested experimentally using a small-scale cable actuator rig. A comparison between experimental and analytical results is presented in which very good agreement with model predictions was obtained. r 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.