• Wind and Structures
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• 제9권2호
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• pp.125-146
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• 2006

Stonecutters Bridge of Hong Kong is a cable-stayed bridge with two single-column pylons each 298 m high and an aerodynamic twin deck. The total length of the bridge is 1596 m with a main span of 1018 m. The top 118 m of the tower will comprise structural steel and concrete composite while the bottom part will be of reinforced concrete. The bridge deck at the central span will be of steel whilst the side spans will be of concrete. Stonecutters Bridge has adopted a twin-girder deck design with a wide clear separation of 14.3 m between the two longitudinal girders. Although a number of studies have been conducted to investigate the aerodynamic performance of twin-girder deck, the actual real life application of this type of deck is extremely limited. This therefore triggered the need for conducting the present studies, the main objective of which is to investigate the performance of Stonecutters Bridge against flutter at its in-service stage as well as during construction. Based on the flutter derivatives obtained from the 1:80 scale rigid section model experiment, flutter analysis was carried out using 3-D finite element based single parameter searching method developed by the second author of this paper. A total of 6 finite element models of the bridge covering the in-service stage as well as 5 construction stages were established. The dynamic characteristics of the bridge associated with these stages were computed and applied in the analyses. Apart from the critical wind speeds for the onset of flutter, the dominant modes of vibration participating in the flutter vibration were also identified. The results indicate that the bridge will be stable against flutter at its in-service stage as well as during construction at wind speeds much higher than the verification wind speed of 95 m/s (1-minute mean).

• Wind and Structures
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• 제24권4호
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• pp.367-384
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• 2017

The Maanshan Bridge over Yangtze River in China is a new long-span suspension bridge with double main spans of $2{\times}1080m$ and a closed streamline cross-section of single box deck. The flutter and buffeting performances were investigated via wind tunnel tests of a full bridge aeroelastic model at a geometric scale of 1:211. The tests were conducted in both smooth wind and simulated boundary layer wind fields. Emphasis is placed on studying the interference effect of adjacent span via installing a wind deflector and a wind separating board to shelter one span of the bridge model from incoming flow. Issues related to effects of mid-tower stiffness and deck supporting conditions are also discussed. The testing results show that flutter critical wind velocities in smooth flow, with a wind deflector, are remarkably lower than those without. In turbulent wind, torsional and vertical standard deviations for the deck responses at midspan in testing cases without wind deflector are generally less than those at the midspan exposed to wind in testing cases with wind deflector, respectively. When double main spans are exposed to turbulent wind, the existence of either span is a mass damper to the other. Furthermore, both effects of mid-tower stiffness and deck supporting conditions at the middle tower on the flutter and buffeting performances of the Maanshan Bridge are unremarkable.

• Wind and Structures
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• 제9권2호
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• pp.159-178
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• 2006

For the slender and flexible cable supported bridges, identification of all the flutter derivatives for the vertical, lateral and torsional motions is essential for its stability investigation. In all, eighteen flutter derivatives may have to be considered, the identification of which using a three degree-of-freedom elastic suspension system has been a challenging task. In this paper, a system identification technique, known as covariance-driven stochastic subspace identification (COV-SSI) technique, has been utilized to extract the flutter derivatives for a typical bridge deck. This method identifies the stochastic state-space model from the covariances of the output-only (stochastic) data. All the eighteen flutter derivatives have been simultaneously extracted from the output response data obtained from wind tunnel test on a 3-DOF elastically suspended bridge deck section-model. Simplicity in model suspension and measurements of only output responses are additional motivating factors for adopting COV-SSI technique. The identified discrete values of flutter derivatives have been approximated by rational functions.

• Wind and Structures
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• 제12권6호
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• pp.519-540
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• 2009

This paper presents the results of a study into experimental and numerical methods for the identification of bridge deck flutter derivatives. Nine bridge deck sections were investigated in a water tunnel in order to create an empirical reference set for numerical investigations. The same sections, plus a wide range of further sections, were studied numerically using a commercially available CFD code. The experimental and numerical results were compared with respect to accuracy, sensitivity, and practical suitability. Furthermore, the relevance of the effective angle of attack, the possible assessment of non-critical vibrations, and the formulation of lateral vibrations were studied. Selected results are presented in this paper. The full set of raw data is available online to provide researchers and engineers with a comprehensive benchmarking tool.

• Wind and Structures
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• 제31권1호
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• pp.31-41
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• 2020

A new type of bridge deck section consisting of four-box decks, two side decks for vehicular traffic lanes and two middle decks for railway traffic, has been experimentally investigated for determining its aerodynamic properties. The eight flutter derivatives were determined by the Iterative Least Squares (ILS) method for this new type of four-box deck model, with two windshields of 30 mm and 50 mm height respectively. Wind tunnel experiments were performed for angles of attack α = ±6°, ±4°, ±2° and 0° and Re numbers of 4.85×105 to 6.06×105 and it was found that the four-box deck with the 50 mm windshields had a better aerodynamic performance. Also, the results showed that the installation of the windshields reduced the values of the lift coefficient CL for the negative angles attack in the range of -6° to 0°, but the drag coefficient CD increased in the positive angle of attack range. However, galloping instability was not encountered for the tested reduced wind speeds, of up to 9.8. The aerodynamic force coefficients and the flutter derivatives for the four-box deck model were consistent with the results reported for the Messina triple-box bridge deck, but were different from those reported for the twin-box bridge decks.

• Wind and Structures
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• 제20권2호
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• pp.275-292
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• 2015

The presence of traffic on a slender long-span bridge deck will modify the cross-section profile of the bridge, which may influence the flutter derivatives and in turn, the critical flutter wind velocity of the bridge. Studies on the influence of vehicles on the flutter derivatives and the critical flutter wind velocity of bridges are rather rare as compared to the investigations on the coupled buffeting vibration of the wind-vehicle-bridge system. A typical streamlined cross-section for long-span bridges is adopted for both experimental and analytical studies. The scaled bridge section model with vehicle models distributed on the bridge deck considering different traffic flow scenarios has been tested in the wind tunnel. The flutter derivatives of the modified bridge cross section have been identified using forced vibration method and the results suggest that the influence of vehicles on the flutter derivatives of the typical streamlined cross-section cannot be ignored. Based on the identified flutter derivatives, the influence of vehicles on the flutter stability of the bridge is investigated. The results show that the effect of vehicles on the flutter wind velocity is obvious.

• Wind and Structures
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• 제26권4호
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• pp.231-251
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• 2018

The objective of the investigation is the analysis of wind-tunnel experimental errors, associated with the measurement of aeroelastic coefficients of bridge decks (Scanlan flutter derivatives). A two-degree-of-freedom experimental apparatus is used for the measurement of flutter derivatives. A section model of a closed-box bridge deck is considered in this investigation. Identification is based on free-vibration aeroelastic tests and the Iterative Least Squares method. Experimental error investigation is carried out by repeating the measurements and acquisitions thirty times for each wind tunnel speed and configuration of the model. This operational procedure is proposed for analyzing the experimental variability of flutter derivatives. Several statistical quantities are examined; these quantities include the standard deviation and the empirical probability density function of the flutter derivatives at each wind speed. Moreover, the critical flutter speed of the setup is evaluated according to standard flutter theory by accounting for experimental variability. Since the probability distribution of flutter derivatives and critical flutter speed does not seem to obey a standard theoretical model, polynomial chaos expansion is proposed and used to represent the experimental variability.

• Wind and Structures
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• 제21권2호
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• pp.223-239
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• 2015

Open decks are a widely used deck configuration in long-span cable-stayed bridges; however, incorporating aerodynamic countermeasures are advisable to achieve better aerodynamic performance than a bluff body deck alone. A sectional model of an open deck cable-stayed bridge with a main span of 400 m was selected to conduct a series of wind tunnel tests. The influences of five practical aerodynamic countermeasures on flutter and vortex-induced vibration (VIV) performance were investigated and are presented in this paper. The results show that an aerodynamic shape selection procedure can be used to evaluate the flutter stability of decks with respect to different terrain types and structural parameters. In addition, the VIV performance of $\prod$-shaped girders for driving comfortableness and safety requirements were evaluated. Among these aerodynamic countermeasures, apron boards and wind fairings can improve the aerodynamic performance to some extent, while horizontal guide plates with 5% of the total deck width show a significant influence on the flutter stability and VIV. A wind fairing with an angle of $55^{\circ}C$ showed the best overall control effect but led to more lock-in regions of VIV. The combination of vertical stabilisers and airflow-depressing boards was found to be superior to other countermeasures and effectively boosted aerodynamic performance; specifically, vertical stabilisers significantly contribute to improving flutter stability and suppressing vertical VIV, while airflow-depressing boards are helpful in reducing torsional VIV.

• Wind and Structures
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• 제14권5호
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• pp.413-434
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• 2011

Without output covariance estimation, one reference-based Stochastic Subspace Technique (SST) for extracting modal parameters and flutter derivatives of bridge deck is developed and programmed. Compared with the covariance-driven SST and the oscillation signals incurred by oncoming or signature turbulence that adopted by previous investigators, the newly-presented identification scheme is less time-consuming in computation and a more desired accuracy should be contributed to high-quality free oscillated signals excited by specific initial displacement. The reliability and identification precision of this technique are confirmed by a numerical example. For the 3-DOF sectional models of Sutong Bridge deck (streamlined) and Suramadu Bridge deck (bluff) in wind tunnel tests, with different wind velocities, the lateral bending, vertical bending, torsional frequencies and damping ratios as well as 18 flutter derivatives are extracted by using SST. The flutter derivatives of two kinds of typical decks are compared with the pseudo-steady theoretical values, and the performance of $H_1{^*}$, $H_3{^*}$, $A_1{^*}$, $A_3{^*}$ is very stable and well-matched with each other, respectively. The lateral direct flutter derivatives $P_5{^*}$, $P_6{^*}$ are comparatively more accurate than other relevant lateral components. Experimental procedure seems to be more critical than identification technique for refining the estimation precision.

• Wind and Structures
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• 제12권1호
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• pp.1-19
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• 2009

In this paper, the airflow around an ideal thin plate (hereafter referred to as ITP) with various ratios of central slot is simulated by using the finite-difference-method (FDM)-based Arbitrary-Lagrangian-Eulerian descriptions for the rigid oscillating body. The numerical procedure employs the second-order projection scheme to decouple the governing equations, and the multigrid algorithm with three levels to improve the computational efficiency in evaluating of the pressure equation. The present CFD method is validated through comparing the computed flutter derivatives of the ITP without slot to Theodorsen analytical solutions. Then, the unsteady aerodynamics of the ITP with and without central slot is investigated. It is found that even a smaller ratio of central slot of the ITP has notable effects on pressure distributions of the downstream section, and the pressure distributions on the downstream section will further be significantly affected by the slot ratio and the reduced wind speeds. Continuous increase of $A_2^*$ with the increase of central slot may be the key feature of the slotted ITP. Finally, flutter analyses based on the flutter derivatives of the slotted ITP are performed, and moreover, flutter instabilities of a scaled sectional model of a twin-deck bridge with various ratios of deck slot are investigated. The results confirm that the central slot is effective to improve bridge flutter stabilities, and that the flutter critical wind speeds increase with the increase of slot ratio.