• Wind and Structures
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.447-464
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• 2017

The flutter instability is one of the most important themes need to be carefully investigated in the design of long-span bridges. This study takes the central-slotted ideal thin flat plate as an object, and examines the characteristics of unsteady surface pressures of stationary and vibrating cross sections based on computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. The flutter derivatives are extracted from the surface pressure distribution and the critical flutter wind speed of a long span suspension bridge is then calculated. The influences of angle of attack and the slot ratio on the flutter performance of central-slotted plate are investigated. The results show that the critical flutter wind speed reduces with increase in angle of attack. At lower angles of attack where the plate shows the characteristics of a streamlined cross-section, the existence of central slot can improve the critical flutter wind speed. On the other hand, at larger angles of attack, where the plate becomes a bluff body, the existence of central slot further reduces the flutter performance.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.509-520
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• 2021

The streamlined box is a common type of girders for long-span suspension bridges. Spanning deep canyons, long-span bridges are frequently attacked by strong winds with large angles of attack. In this situation, the flow field around the streamlined box changes significantly, leading to reduction of the flutter performance. The wind fairings have different effects on the flutter performance. Therefore, this study examines the flutter performance of box girders with different wind fairings at large angles of attack. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations were carried out to extract the flutter derivatives, and the critical flutter state of a long-span bridge was determined. Further comparisons of the wind fairings were investigated by a rapid method which is related to the input energy by the aerodynamic force. The results show that a reasonable type of wind fairings could improve the flutter performance of long-span bridges at large angles of attack. For the torsional flutter instability, the wind fairings weaken the adverse effect of the vortex attaching to the girder, and a sharper one could achieve a better result. According to the input energies on the girder with different wind fairings, the symmetrical wind fairings are more beneficial to the flutter performance

• Wind and Structures
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.281-291
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• 2004

The flutter characteristics of long span bridges are discussed from the point of the unsteady pressure distribution on bridge deck surface during heaving/torsional vibration related to the aerodynamic derivatives. In particular, it is explained that the coupling terms, which consist of $A_1^*$ and $H_3^*$, play a substantial role on the coupled flutter, in comparison with the flutter characteristics of various structural sections. Also the effect of the torsional/heaving frequency ratio of bridge structures on the flutter instability is discussed from the point of the coupling effect between heaving and torsional vibrations.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.23 no.4 s.181
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• pp.67-74
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• 2006

The paper presents gravitational effect on eigenvalue branches and flutter modes of a vertical cantilevered pipe conveying fluid. The eigenvalue branches and modes associated with flutter of cantilevered pipes conveying fluid are fully investigated. Governing equations of motion are derived by extended Hamilton's principle, and the related numerical solutions are sought by Galerkin's method. Root locus diagrams are plotted for different values of mass ratios of the pipe, and the order of branch in root locus diagrams is defined. The flutter modes of the pipe at the critical flow velocities are drawn at every one of the twelfth period. The transference of flutter-type instability from one eigenvalue branches to another is investigated thoroughly.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.38 no.5
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• pp.399-410
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• 2024

Long-span suspension bridges located in typhoon-prone regions face significant risks of flutter instability, particularly in girder erection. Despite the implementation of aerodynamic countermeasures designed for the service stage, the flutter stability of bridge in girder erection may not meet the required standards. Nowadays, the double-deck truss girder is increasingly common in practical engineering which exhibits different performance from the single-deck truss girder. To gain insights into the flutter performance of this girder type and determine temporary aerodynamic countermeasures for flutter suppression in girder erection, wind tunnel tests were conducted. The effects of affiliated members on the flutter performance were first examined. Subsequently, different aerodynamic countermeasures were designed and their effectiveness was tested. The results indicate that the stabilizers above and below the upper and lower decks are the most effective for the flutter stability of bridge at positive and negative angles of attack, respectively. The higher the stabilizers are, the better the effect on flutter suppression achieves. Considering the feasibility in practical engineering, a temporary stabilizer above the upper deck was considered. It is expected that the results could provide references for the aerodynamic design of double-deck truss girder during erection.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.54-59
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• 2009

In this paper, the effect of the position and size of a lumped mass on the structural stability of a high speed underwater vehicle is presented. For simplicity, a real vehicle was modeled as a follower force subjected beam that was resting on an elastic foundation, and the lumped mass effect was simplified as an elastic intermediate support. The stability of the simplified model was numerically analyzed based on the Finite element method (FEM). This numerical simulation revealed that flutter type instability or divergence type instability occurs, depending on the position and stiffness of the elastic intermediate support, which implies that the instability of the real model is affected by the position and size of the lumped mass.

• International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.305-317
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• 2011

This paper presents an overview on flutter boundary prediction in tests which is principally based on a system stability measure, named Jury's stability criterion, defined in the discrete-time domain, accompanied with the use of autoregressive moving-average (AR-MA) representation of a sampled sequence of wing responses excited by continuous air turbulences. Stability parameters applicable to two-, three- and multi-mode systems, that is, the flutter margin for discrete-time systems derived from Jury's criterion are also described. Actual applications of these measures to flutter tests performed in subsonic, transonic and supersonic wind tunnels, not only stationary flutter tests but also a nonstationary one in which the dynamic pressure increased in a fixed rate, are presented. An extension of the concept of nonstationary process approach to an analysis of flutter prediction of a morphing wing for which the instability takes place during the process of structural morphing will also be mentioned. Another extension of analytical approach to a multi-mode aeroelastic system is presented, too. Comparisons between the prediction based on the digital techniques mentioned above and the traditional damping method are given. A future possible application of the system stability approach to flight test will be finally discussed.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.171-180
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• 2019

This paper presents a restart iterative approach for time-domain flutter analysis of long-span bridges using the commercial FE package ANSYS. This approach utilizes the recursive formats of impulse-response-function expressions for bridge's aeroelastic forces. Nonlinear dynamic equilibrium equations are iteratively solved by using the restart technique in ANSYS, which enable the equilibrium state of system to get back to last moment absolutely during iterations. The condition for the onset of flutter instability becomes that, at a certain wind velocity, the amplitude of vibration is invariant with time. A long-span suspension bridge was taken as a numerical example to verify the applicability and accuracy of the proposed method by comparing calculated results with wind tunnel tests. The proposed method enables the bridge designers and engineering practitioners to carry out time-domain flutter analysis of bridges in commercial FE package ANSYS.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.533-556
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• 2003

The flutter and buckling analysis of a beam structure subjected to a static follower force is completely studied in the paper. The beam is fixed in the transverse direction and constrained by a rotational spring at one end, and by a translational spring and a rotational spring at the other end. The co-existence of flutter and buckling in this beam due to the presence of the follower force is an interesting and important phenomenon. The results from this theoretical analysis will be useful for the stability design of structures in engineering applications, such as the potential of flutter control of aircrafts by smart materials. The transition-curve surface for differentiating the two distinct instability regions of the beam is first obtained with respect to the variations of the stiffness of the springs at the two ends. Second, the capacity of the follower force is derived for flutter and buckling of the beam as a function of the stiffness of the springs by observing the variation of the first two frequencies obtained from dynamic analysis of the beam. The research in the paper may be used as a benchmark for the flutter and buckling analysis of beams.

• Advances in aircraft and spacecraft science
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.31-49
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• 2019

Flutter is a dangerous phenomenon encountered in flexible structures subjected to aerodynamic forces. This includes aircraft, helicopter blades, engine rotors, buildings and bridges. Flutter occurs as a result of interactions between aerodynamic, stiffness and inertia forces on a structure. The conventional method for designing a rotor blade to be free from flutter instability throughout the helicopter's flight regime is to design the blade so that the aerodynamic center (AC), elastic axis (EA) and center of gravity (CG) are coincident and located at the quarter-chord. While this assures freedom from flutter, it adds constraints on rotor blade design which are not usually followed in fixed wing design. Periodic Structures have been in the focus of research for their useful characteristics and ability to attenuate vibration in frequency bands called "stop-bands". A periodic structure consists of cells which differ in material or geometry. As vibration waves travel along the structure and face the cell boundaries, some waves pass and some are reflected back, which may cause destructive interference with the succeeding waves. In this work, we analyze the flutter characteristics of a helicopter blades with a periodic change in their sandwich material using a finite element structural model. Results shows great improvements in the flutter forward speed of the rotating blade obtained by using periodic design and increasing the number of periodic cells.