Calculation methods for cable curve of self-anchored suspension bridge

Took Sanchaji suspension bridge in Changsha as a case study, based on different hypothesis, two methods were deduced, the parabola method of cable gravity distributing uniformly along the span, and the catenaries method of gravity distributing equally along the curve. It is pointed that the parabola method is straightforward, but the results are relatively coarse, and the catenaries method is relatively complicated, but the results are precise, which takes into account all-around factors. For the two methods above, the error of vertical coordinate of cable is 0.739%, and the error of zero-stress length for cable is 0.31%. The results show that the two methods are feasible to calculate the cable curve of self-anchored suspension bridge.