• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.196-202
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• 2019

In this study, the excessive noise and vibration phenomena of a high-speed Ro/Ro passenger ship were analyzed, and a countermeasure was taken based on them. This ship was granted a comfort class notation by the classification society, which was COMFORT-VIBRATION-II and COMFORT-NOISE-CREW-II. However, unfortunately, excessive noise and vibration in the aft part of the ship were delivered from the twin shaft propellers, and therefore the Class Requirement was not satisfied before delivery. In order to obtain the class notation, all of the concerned parties came to an agreement to reduce the noise and vibration level during operation after delivery because a seasonal ferry service was already scheduled and the cabin was fully booked. The root cause of the massive amount of noise and vibration was mainly the propeller-induced excitation pulse and beating that occurred from the mismatch of the rotating speeds of the two shaft lines. A 1st order vibrating force and beating phenomena existed in the propeller. Thus, a reduction of the excitation force, elimination of the beating phenomena, and decrease of the noise level at the aft area cabins and public spaces were required. In addition, structural reinforcements were conducted using pillars and additional girders at the aft part of the decks.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.463-479
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• 2007

A series of wind tunnel sectional model dynamic tests of a twin-deck bridge were conducted at the CLP Power Wind/Wave Tunnel Facility (WWTF) of The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) to investigate the effects of gap-width on the self-excited vibrations and the dynamic and aerodynamic characteristics of the bridge. Five 2.9 m long models with different gap-widths were fabricated and suspended in the wind tunnel to simulate a two-degrees-of-freedom (2DOF) bridge dynamic system, free to vibrate in both vertical and torsional directions. The mass, vertical frequency, and the torsional-to-vertical frequency ratio of the 2DOF systems were fixed to emphasize the effects of gap-width. A free-vibration test methodology was employed and the Eigensystem Realization Algorithm (ERA) was utilized to extract the eight flutter derivatives and the modal parameters from the coupled free-decay responses. The results of the zero gap-width configuration were in reasonable agreement with the theoretical values for an ideal thin flat plate in smooth flow and the published results of models with similar cross-sections, thus validating the experimental and analytical techniques utilized in this study. The methodology was further verified by the comparison between the measured and predicted free-decay responses. A comparison of results for different gap-widths revealed that variations of the gap-width mainly affect the torsional damping property, and that the configurations with greater gap-widths show a higher torsional damping ratio and hence stronger aerodynamic stability of the bridge.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.297-315
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• 2010

This paper is concerned with free vibration characteristics and natural frequency of horizontally curved composite plate girder bridges. Three-dimensional finite element models are developed for the girders using the software package LUSAS and analyses carried out on the models. The validity of the finite element models is first established through comparison with the corresponding results published by other researchers. Studies are then carried out to investigate the effects of total number of girders, number of cross-frames and curvature on the free vibration response of horizontally curved composite plate girder bridges. The results confirm the fact that bending modes are always coupled with torsional modes for horizontally curved bridge girder systems. The results show that the first bending mode is influenced by composite action between the concrete deck and steel beam at low subtended angle but, on the girders with larger subtended angle at the centre of curvature such influence is non-existence. The increase in the number of girders results in higher natural frequency but at a decreasing rate. The in-plane modes viz. longitudinal and arching modes are significantly influenced by composite action and number of girders. If no composite action is taken into account the number of girders has no significant effect for the in-plane modes.

• Advances in Computational Design
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.307-326
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• 2019

A low computational cost semi-analytical method is developed, based on eigenfunction expansion, to study the vibration of rectangular plates subjected to a series of moving sprung masses, representing a bridge deck under multiple vehicle or train moving loads. The dynamic effects of the suspension system are taken into account by using flexible connections between the moving masses and the base structure. The accuracy of the proposed method in predicting the dynamic response of a rectangular plate subjected to a series of moving sprung masses is demonstrated compared to the conventional rigid moving mass models. It is shown that the proposed method can considerably improve the computational efficiency of the conventional methods by eliminating a large number of time-varying components in the coupled Ordinary Differential Equations (ODEs) matrices. The dynamic behaviour of the system is then investigated by performing a comprehensive parametric study on the Dynamic Amplification Factor (DAF) of the moving loads using different design parameters. The results indicate that ignoring the flexibility of the suspension system in both moving force and moving mass models may lead to substantially underestimated DAF predictions and therefore unsafe design solutions. This highlights the significance of taking into account the stiffness of the suspension system for accurate estimation of the plate maximum dynamic response in practical applications.

• 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.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.691-711
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• 2006

This paper uses the finite element method to simultaneously consider the coupled cable-deck vibrations and the parametric vibrations of stay cables in dynamic analysis of a cable-stayed bridge. The stay cables are represented by some cable finite elements, which can consider the parametric vibration of the cables. In addition to modeling stay cables using multiple link cable elements, a procedure for removing the self-weight term of cable element is proposed. A eigenvalue analysis process using dynamic condensation method for sorting out the natural modes of the girder-tower vibrations and the Rayleigh damping considering element damping for damping matrix are also proposed for dynamic analyses of cable-stayed bridges. The possibilities of using cable elements and of using global and local vibrations to evaluate the parametric vibrations of stay cables in a cable-stayed bridge are confirmed, respectively.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.43-57
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• 2020

Considering the wind barriers induced aerodynamic characteristic variations of both bridge deck and trains, this paper studies the effects of wind barriers on the safety and stability of trains as they run through an urban rail transit cable-stayed bridge which tends to be more vulnerable to wind due to its relatively low stiffness and lightweight. For the bridge equipped with wind barriers of different characteristics, the aerodynamic coefficients of trains and bridge decks are obtained from wind tunnel test firstly. And then, the space vibration equations of the wind-train-bridge system are established using the experimentally obtained aerodynamic coefficients. Through solving the dynamic equations, one can calculate the dynamic responses both the trains and bridge. The results indicate that setting wind barriers can effectively reduce the dynamic responses of both the trains and bridge, even though more wind forces acting on the bridge are caused by wind barriers. In addition, for urban rail transit cable-stayed bridges located in strong wind environment, the wind barriers are recommended to be set with 20% porosity and 2.5 m height according to the calculation results of cases with wind barriers porosity and height varying in two wide ranges, i.e., 10% - 40% and 2.0 m to 4.0 m, respectively.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.343-360
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• 2017

The post-flutter state of streamlined steel box girder is studied in this paper. Firstly, the nonlinear aerodynamic self-excited forces of the bridge deck cross section were investigated by CFD dynamic mesh technique and then the nonlinear flutter derivatives were identified on this basis. Secondly, based on the 2-degree-of-freedom (DOF) coupling flutter theory, the torsional amplitude and the nonlinear flutter derivatives were introduced into the traditional direct flutter calculation method, and the original program was improved to the "post-flutter state analysis program" so that it can predict not only the critical flutter velocity but also the movement of the girder in the post-flutter state. Finally, wind tunnel tests were set to verify the method proposed in this paper. The results show that the effect of vertical amplitude on the nonlinear flutter derivatives is negligible, but the torsional amplitude is not; with the increase of wind speed, the post-flutter state of streamlined steel box girder includes four stages, namely, "little amplitude zone", "step amplitude zone", "linearly growing amplitude zone" and "divergence zone"; damping ratio has limited effect on the critical flutter velocity and the steady state response in the post-flutter state; after flutter occurs, the vibration form is a single frequency vibration coupled with torsional and vertical DOF.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.1-12
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• 1989

The nonlinearity of a cable-stayed bridge results from the large displacement of main girder due to a long span, the catenary action of cables and the flexural stiffness reduced by large axial forces. The dynamic behaviour of a cable-stayed bridge plays an important role in determining its safety. Especially, when the eccentrically moving load is applied to a cable-stayed bridge, the torsional vibration and vertical vibration are coupled and moreover the variation of cable tensions shows important dynamic characteristics. This dissertation presents a theoretical study and a finite element procedure for analysis of a cable-stayed bridge under a eccentrically moving load. Attention is focused on the dynamic behaviours such as dynamic increments of cable tensions and nodal displacements, with the variety of velocities and eccentricities of moving load. It is found that a moving load with eccentricity can have significant effects upon the responses; the torsion of bridge deck and the increments of cable tensions, according to the present results in this study.