• Wind and Structures
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• v.5 no.5
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• pp.407-422
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• 2002

Passive control of the flutter condition of suspension bridges using a combined vertical and torsional tuned mass damper (TMD) system is presented. The proposed TMD system has two degrees of freedom, which are tuned close to the frequencies corresponding to vertical and torsional symmetric modes of the bridge which get coupled during flutter. The bridge-TMD system is analyzed for finding critical wind speed for flutter using a finite element approach. Thomas Suspension Bridge is analyzed as an illustrative example. The effectiveness of the TMD system in increasing the critical flutter speed of the bridge is investigated through a parametric study. The results of the parametric study led to the optimization of some important parameters such as mass ratio, TMD damping ratio, tuning frequency, and number of TMD systems which provide maximum critical flutter wind speed of the suspension bridge.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.317-343
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• 2013

When evaluating flutter instability, it is often assumed that incident wind is normal to the longitudinal axis of a bridge and the flutter critical wind speed estimated from this direction is most unfavorable. However, the results obtained in this study via oblique sectional model tests of four typical types of bridge decks show that the lowest flutter critical wind speeds often occur in the yaw wind cases. The four types of bridge decks tested include a flat single-box deck, a flat ${\Pi}$-shaped thin-wall deck, a flat twin side-girder deck, and a truss-stiffened deck with and without a narrow central gap. The yaw wind effect could reduce the critical wind speed by about 6%, 2%, 8%, 7%, respectively, for the above four types of decks within a wind inclination angle range between $-3^{\circ}$ and $3^{\circ}$, and the yaw wind angles corresponding to the minimal critical wind speeds are between $4^{\circ}$ and $15^{\circ}$. It was also found that the flutter critical wind speed varies in an undulate manner with the increase of yaw angle, and the variation pattern is largely dependent on both deck shape and wind inclination angle. Therefore, the cosine rule based on the mean wind decomposition is generally inapplicable to the estimation of flutter critical wind speed of long-span bridges under skew winds. The unfavorable effect of yaw wind on the flutter instability of long-span bridges should be taken into consideration seriously in the future practice, especially for supper-long span bridges in strong wind regions.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.491-504
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• 2002

A state-space method is proposed to analyze the aerodynamically coupled flutter problems of long-span bridges based on the modal coordinates of structure. The theory about complex modes is applied in this paper. The general governing equation of the system is converted into a complex standard characteristic equation in a state space format, which contains only two variables. The proposed method is a single-parameter searching method about reduced velocity, and it need not choose the participating modes beforehand and has no requirement for the form of structure damping matrix. The information about variations of system characteristics with reduced velocity and wind velocity can be provided. The method is able to find automatically the lowest critical flutter velocity and give relative amplitudes, phases and energy ratios of the participating modes in the flutter motion. Moreover, the flutter analysis of Jiangyin Yangtse suspension bridge with 1385 m main span is performed. The proposed method has proved reliable in its methodology and efficient in its use.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.285-298
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• 2009

For long-span suspension bridges with their intrinsic limit in flutter, some counter measures, for example, central stabilizers, should be adopted to improve aerodynamic stability to meet with the appropriate wind resistance requirements. The present paper introduces aerodynamic stabilization for long-span suspension bridges with box girders by using central stabilizers based on Xihoumen Bridge with the main span of 1650 m. The aerodynamic stabilization study covers experimental investigation of sectional model testing, comprehensive evaluation of three central stabilizers and theoretical analysis of stabilizing mechanism related to flutter derivatives, aerodynamic damping and degree participation.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.41-61
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• 2015

The flutter stability of long-span suspension bridges during erection can be more problematic and more susceptible to be influenced by many factors than in the final state. As described in this paper, numerical flutter stability analyses were performed for the construction process of Zhongdu Bridge over Yangtze River using the commercial FE package ANSYS. The effect of the initial wind attack angle, the sequence of deck erection, the stiffness reduction of stiffening girders, the structural damping, and the cross cables are discussed in detail. It was found that the non-symmetrical sequence of deck erection was confirmed to be aerodynamically favourable for the deck erection of long-span suspension bridges and the best erection sequence should be investigated in the design phase. While the initial wind attack angle of $-3^{\circ}$ is advantageous for the aerodynamic stability, $+3^{\circ}$ is disadvantageous compared with the initial wind attack angle of $0^{\circ}$ during the deck erection. The stiffness reduction of the stiffening girders has a slight effect on the flutter wind speed of the suspension bridge during erection, but structural damping has a great impact on it, especially for the early erection stages.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.187-208
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• 2011

Based on the ANSYS, an approach of full-mode aerodynamic flutter analysis for long-span suspension bridges has been presented in this paper, in which the nonlinearities of structure, aerostatic and aerodynamic force due to the deformation under the static wind loading are fully considered. Aerostatic analysis is conducted to predict the equilibrium position of a bridge structure in the beginning, and then flutter analysis of such a deformed bridge structure is performed. A corresponding computer program is developed and used to predict the critical flutter wind velocity and the corresponding flutter frequency of a long-span suspension bridge with double main span. A time-domain analysis of the bridge is also carried out to verify the frequency-domain computational results and the effectiveness of the approach proposed in this paper. Then, the nonlinear effects on aerodynamic behaviors due to aerostatic action are discussed in detail. Finally, the results are compared with those of traditional suspension bridges with single main span. The results show that the aerostatic action has an important influence on the flutter stability of long-span suspension bridges. As for a suspension bridge with double main spans, the flutter mode is the first anti-symmetrical torsional vibration mode, which is also the first torsional vibration mode in natural mode list. Furthermore, a double main-span suspension bridge is better in structural dynamic and aerodynamic performances than a corresponding single main-span structure with the same bridging capacity.

• Coupled systems mechanics
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• v.1 no.3
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• pp.219-234
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• 2012

Tuned vibration control in aeroelasticity of slender wood bridges is treated in present paper. The approach suggested takes into account multiple functions in aeroelastic analysis and flutter of slender wood bridges subjected to laminar and turbulent wind flow. Tuned vibration control approach is presented with application on actual bridge. Some results obtained are discussed.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.5 no.6
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• pp.479-492
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• 2002

A finite element aerodynamic model that can be used to analyse flutter instability of long span bridges in the time domain is presented. This approach adopts a simplified quasi-steady formulation of the wind forces neglecting the vortex shedding effects. The governing equations used are effective only for reduced velocities $V^*$ sufficiently great: this is generally acceptable for long-span suspension bridges and, then, the dependence of the wind forces expressions of the flutter derivatives can be neglected. The procedure describes the mechanical response in an accurate way, taking into account the non-linear geometry effects (large displacements and large strains) and considering also the compressed locked coil strands instability. The time-dependence of the inertia force due to fluid structure interaction is not considered. The numerical examples are performed on the three-dimensional finite element model of the Great Belt East Bridge (DK). A mode frequency analysis is carried out to validate the model and the results show good agreement with the experimental measurements of the full bridge aeroelastic model in the wind tunnel tests. Significant parameters affecting bridge response are introduced and accurately investigated.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.271-278
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• 2004

Numerical analysis of wind effects on civil engineering structures was performed. Aerodynamic effect often becomes a governing factor and aeroelastic stability boundary becomes a prime criterion which should be confirmed during the structural design stage of bridges because the long-span suspension bridges are prone to the aeroelastic instabilities caused by wind. If the wind velocity exceeds the critical velocity that the bridge can withstand, then the bridge fails due to the phenomenon of flutter. Navier-Stokes equations were used for the aeroelastic analysis of bridge girder section. The aeroelastic simulation is carried out to study the aeroelastic stability of bridges using both Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) and Computational Structural Dynamic (CSD) schemes. Critical flutter velocities were computed for bridges with different stiffness. It was confirmed that the critical flutter velocity of bridge girder section was sensitive to the change of structural stiffness.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.417-430
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• 2019

To study the wake influence of an upstream bridge on the wind-resistance performance of a downstream bridge, two adjacent long-span cable-stayed bridges are taken as examples. Based on wind tunnel tests, the static aerodynamic coefficients and the dynamic response of the downstream bridge are measured in the wake of the upstream one. Considering different horizontal and vertical distances, the flutter derivatives of the downstream bridge at different angles of attack are extracted by Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations and discussed, and the change in critical flutter state is further studied. The results show that a train passing through the downstream bridge could significantly increase the lift coefficient of the bridge which has the same direction with the gravity of the train, leading to possible vertical deformation and vibration. In the wake of the upstream bridge, the change in lift coefficient of the downstream bridge is reduced, but the dynamic response seems to be strong. The effect of aerodynamic interference on flutter stability is related to the horizontal and vertical distances between the two adjacent bridges as well as the attack angle of incoming flow. At large angles of attack, the aerodynamic condition around the downstream girder which may drive the bridge to torsional flutter instability is weakened by the wake of the upstream bridge, and the critical flutter wind speed increases at this situation.