Abstract
A girder-to-girder connecting cable to prevent a girder from unseating is important device to prepare for huge displacement response due to severe earthquake. This paper studied the demand capacity of the connecting cable for the worst situation that the girder was falling off from the pier top. First, the equation of motion for a free falling of a simple girder was derived. Then, the subsequent shock absorbing process with a spring, a viscous damping device and a hysteretic damping device was considered. The numerical simulations showed an example of the maximum acting force to the connecting cable and demand displacement for its operation.
