• Wind and Structures
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• 제10권1호
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• pp.61-82
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• 2007

This paper presents a novel finite element (FE) model for analyzing coupled flutter of long-span bridges using the commercial FE package ANSYS. This model utilizes a specific user-defined element Matrix27 in ANSYS to model the aeroelastic forces acting on the bridge, wherein the stiffness and damping matrices are expressed in terms of the reduced wind velocity and flutter derivatives. Making use of this FE model, damped complex eigenvalue analysis is carried out to determine the complex eigenvalues, of which the real part is the logarithm decay rate and the imaginary part is the damped vibration frequency. The condition for onset of flutter instability becomes that, at a certain wind velocity, the structural system incorporating fictitious Matrix27 elements has a complex eigenvalue with zero or near-zero real part, with the imaginary part of this eigenvalue being the flutter frequency. Case studies are provided to validate the developed procedure as well as to demonstrate the flutter analysis of cable-supported bridges using ANSYS. The proposed method enables the bridge designers and engineering practitioners to analyze flutter instability by using the commercial FE package ANSYS.

• Wind and Structures
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• 제27권3호
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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.

• 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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• 제31권5호
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• pp.403-418
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• 2020

To investigate the effects of central buckles on the dynamic behavior and flutter stability of long-span suspension bridges, four different connection options between the main cable and the girder near the mid-span position of the Aizhai Bridge were studied. Based on the flutter derivatives obtained from wind tunnel tests, formulations of self-excited forces in the time domain were obtained using a nonlinear least square fitting method and a time-domain flutter analysis was realized. Subsequently, the influences of the central buckles on the critical flutter velocity, flutter frequency, and three-dimensional flutter states of the bridge were investigated. The results show that the central buckles can significantly increase the frequency of the longitudinal floating mode of the bridge and have greater influence on the frequencies of the asymmetric lateral bending mode and asymmetric torsion mode than on that of the symmetric ones. As such, the central buckles have small impact on the critical flutter velocity due to that the flutter mode of the Aizhai Bridge was essentially the symmetric torsion mode coupled with the symmetric vertical mode. However, the central buckles have certain impact on the flutter mode and the three-dimensional flutter states of the bridge. In addition, it is found that the phenomenon of complex beat vibrations (called intermittent flutter phenomenon) appeared in the flutter state of the bridge when the structural damping is 0 or very low.

• Wind and Structures
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• 제9권4호
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• pp.331-344
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• 2006

The cable-stayed-suspension hybrid bridge is a cooperative system developed from the traditional cable-stayed and suspension bridges, and takes some advantages of the two bridge systems. It is also becoming a competitive design alternative for some long and super long-span bridges. But due to its great flexibility, the flutter stability plays an important role in the design and construction of this bridge system. Considering the geometric nonlinearity of bridge structures and the effects of nonlinear wind-structure interaction, method and its solution procedure of three-dimensional nonlinear flutter stability analysis are firstly presented. Parametric analyses on the flutter stability of a cable-stayed-suspension hybrid bridge with main span of 1400 meters are then conducted by nonlinear flutter stability analysis, some design parameters that significantly influence the flutter stability are pointed out, and the favorable structural system of the bridge is also discussed based on the wind stability.

• Wind and Structures
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• 제5권2_3_4호
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• pp.257-266
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• 2002

In the recent years flow around bridges are investigated using computer modeling. Selvam (1998), Selvam and Bosch (1999), Frandsen and McRobie (1999) used finite element procedures. Larsen and Walther (1997) used discrete vorticity procedure. The aeroelastic instability is a major criterion to be checked for long span bridges. If the wind speed experienced by a bridge is greater than the critical wind speed for flutter, then the bridge fails due to aeroelastic instability. Larsen and Walther (1997) computed the critical velocity for flutter using discrete vortex method similar to wind tunnel procedures. In this work, the critical velocity for flutter will be calculated directly (free oscillation procedure) similar to the approaches reported by Selvam et al. (1998). It is expected that the computational time required to compute the critical velocity using this approach may be much shorter than the traditional approach. The computed critical flutter velocity of 69 m/s is in reasonable comparison with wind tunnel measurement. The no flutter and flutter conditions are illustrated using the bridge response in time.

• 한국소음진동공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국소음진동공학회 2005년도 추계학술대회논문집
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• pp.929-929
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• 2005

In this study, computational demonstrations for the flutter suppression are presented for the 3-DOF airfoil system with oscillating flap. Advanced computational methods such as computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and computational structural dynamics (CSD) are used and a simultaneous coupling method has been developed to accurately conduct flutter analyses. In addition, optimal control theory is integrated into the CFD based flutter analysis method to construct the coupled aeroservoelastic analysis system for the airfoil with oscillating flap. For a well-defined typical section model, fundamental unsteady aerodynamics and flutter characteristics are investigated. Finally, to show the effectiveness of flutter control the physical aeroelastic responses are directly compared between the open loop and the closed loop systems.

• Wind and Structures
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• 제2권1호
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• pp.41-49
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• 1999

The flutter of a bridge is induced by self-excited force factors such as lift, drag and aerodynamic moment. These factors are associated with flutter derivatives in the analysis of wind engineering. The flutter derivatives are the function of structure configuration, wind velocity and response circular frequency. Therefore, the governing equations for the interaction between the wind and dynamic response of the structure are complicated and highly nonlinear. Herein, a numerical algorithm through graphical technique for the solution of wind at flutter is presented. It provides a concise approach to the solution of wind velocity at flutter.

• Wind and Structures
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• 제16권4호
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• pp.323-340
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• 2013

An active mass damper system for flutter control of bridges is presented. Flutter stability of bridge structures is improved with the help of eccentric rotational actuators (ERA). By using a bridge girder model that moves in two degrees of freedom and is subjected to wind, the equations of motion of the controlled structure equipped with ERA are established. In order to take structural nonlinearities into consideration, flutter analysis is carried out by numerical simulation scheme based on a 4th-order Runge-Kutta algorithm. An example demonstrates the performance and efficiency of the proposed device. In comparison with known active mass dampers for flutter control, the movable eccentric mass damper and the rotational mass damper, the power demand is significantly reduced. This is of advantage for an implementation of the proposed device in real bridge girders. A preliminary design of a realization of ERA in a bridge girder is presented.

• 한국소음진동공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국소음진동공학회 2005년도 추계 학술대회논문집(수송기계편)
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• pp.49-52
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• 2005

Flutter analysis procedure can be divided into two steps such as the computation of generalized mass, stiffness, and unsteady aerodynamic matrices and the calculation of major vibration modes frequency and damping values at each flight speed by solving the complex eigenvalue problem. In aircraft flutter analyses, most of the time is spent in the process of computing the unsteady aerodynamic matrices at each Mach-reduced frequency pairs defined. In this study, the method has been presented for computation and extraction of unsteady aerodynamic matrix portions dependent only on aerodynamic model using DMAP ALTER in MSC/NASTRAN SOL 145. In addition, efficient flutter analysis method has been suggested by computing and utilizing the unsteady generalized aerodynamic matrices for each analysis condition using the unsteady aerodynamic matrix portions extracted above.