• Wind and Structures
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• v.26 no.4
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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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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.267-284
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• 1999

Multiple tuned mass dampers are proposed to suppress the vertical and torsional buffeting and to increase the aerodynamic stability of long-span bridges. Each damper has vertical and torsional frequencies, which are tuned to the corresponding frequencies of the structural modes to suppress the resonant effects. These proposed dampers maintain the advantage of traditional multiple mass dampers, but have the added capability of simultaneously controlling vertical and torsional buffeting responses. The aerodynamic coupling is incorporated into the formulations, allowing this model to effectively increase the critical speed of a bridge for either single-degree-of-freedom flutter or coupled flutter. The reduction of dynamic response and the increase of the critical speed through the attachment of the proposed dampers to the bridge are also discussed. Through a parametric analysis, the characteristics of the multiple tuned mass dampers are studied and the design parameters - including mass, damping, frequency bandwidth, and total number of dampers - are proposed. The results indicate that the proposed dampers effectively suppress the vertical and the torsional buffeting and increase the structural stability. Moreover, these tuned mass dampers, designed within the recommended parameters, are not only more effective but also more robust than a single TMD against wind-induced vibration.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.397-413
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• 2017

When bridges are constructed with lower heights from the ground, the formed channel between the deck and the ground will inevitably hinder or accelerate the air flow. This in turn will have an impact on the aerodynamic forces on the deck, which may result in unexpected wind-induced responses of bridges. This phenomenon can be referred to "ground effects." So far, no systematic studies into ground effects on the wind-induced responses of closed box girders have been performed. In this paper, wind tunnel tests have been adopted to study the ground effects on the aerodynamic force coefficients and the wind-induced responses of a closed box girder. In correlation with the heights from the ground in two ground roughness, the aerodynamic force coefficients, the Strouhal number ($S_t$), the vortex-induced vibration (VIV) lock-in phenomena over a range of wind velocities, the VIV maximum amplitudes, the system torsional damping ratio, the flutter derivatives, the critical flutter wind speeds and their variation laws correlated with the heights from the ground of a closed box girder have been presented through wind tunnel tests. The outcomes show that the ground effects make the vortex-induced phenomena occur in advance and adversely affect the flutter stability.

• 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.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.402-409
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• 2004

Numerical analysis of static and dynamic wind effects on civil engineering structures was performed. Long-span suspension bridges are flexible structures that are highly sensitive to the action of the wind. Aerodynamic effect often becomes a governing factor in the design process of bridges 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 aerodynamic 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. Buffeting caused by turbulence results in structural fatigue, which could lead to the failure of a bridge. Navier-Stokes equations are 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.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.55-67
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• 2020

Wind tunnel test is one of the most important means to study the flutter performance of bridges, but there are blockage effects in flutter test due to the size limitation of the wind tunnel. On the other hand, the size of computational domain can be defined by users in the numerical simulation. This paper presents a study on blockage effects of a simplified box girder by computation fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation, the blockage effects on the aerodynamic characteristics and flutter performance of a long-span suspension bridge are studied. The results show that the aerodynamic coefficients and the absolute value of mean pressure coefficient increase with the increase of the blockage ratio. And the aerodynamic coefficients can be corrected by the mean wind speed in the plane of leading edge of model. At each angle of attack, the critical flutter wind speed decreases as the blockage ratio increases, but the difference is that bending-torsion coupled flutter and torsional flutter occur at lower and larger angles of attack respectively. Finally, the correction formula of critical wind speed at 0° angle of attack is given, which can provide reference for wind resistance design of streamlined box girders in practical engineering.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.359-381
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• 2011

This paper deals with the flutter instability problem of flexible bridge decks in the framework of bimodal-coupled aeroelastic bridge system analysis. Based on the analysis of coefficients of the polynomials deduced from the singularity conditions of an integral wind-structure impedance matrix, a set of simplified formulations for calculating the critical wind velocity and coupled frequency are presented. Several case studies are discussed and comparisons with available approximated approaches are made and presented, along with a conventional complex eigenvalue analysis and numerical results. From the results, it is found that the formulas that are presented in this study are applicable to a variety of bridge cross sections that are not only prone to coupled-mode but also to single-mode-dominated flutter.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.525-533
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• 2001

The wind resistant design of long-span bridges has urged a special attention to the prevention of the flutter occurrence Therefore calculation of flutter derivatives is indispensable to this prediction. A used system identification method must identify all the flutter derivatives from noisy experimental data In this paper MITD(Modified Ibrahim Tim Domain) method and AKF (Adaptive Kalman Filter) method are applied to extract flutter derivatives from section-model tests. The robustness and reliability of proposal SI methods under a high signal-to-noise ratio is demonstrated through numerical simulation for windtunnel test.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.149-161
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• 2018

A reliability analysis method is proposed in this paper based on the maximum entropy (MaxEnt) principle in which constraints are specified in terms of the fractional moments instead of integer moments. Then a multiplicative dimensional reduction method (M-DRM) is introduced to compute the fractional moments. The method is applicable for both explicit and implicit limit state functions of complex structures. After two examples illustrate the accuracy and efficiency of this method in comparison to the Monte Carlo simulation (MCS), the method is used to analyze the flutter reliability of suspension bridge. The results show that the empirical formula method in which the limit state function is explicitly represented as a function of variables is only a too conservative estimate for flutter reliability analysis but is not accurate adequately. So it is not suitable for reliability analysis of bridge flutter. The actual flutter reliability analysis should be conducted based on a finite element method in which limit state function is implicitly represented as a function of variables. The proposed M-DRM provide an alternate and efficient way to analyze a much more complicated flutter reliability of long span suspension bridge.

• 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.