• Wind and Structures
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.565-587
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• 2013

Obvious vortex induced vibration (VIV) was observed during section model wind tunnel tests for a single main cable suspension bridge. An optimized section configuration was found for mitigating excessive amplitude of vibration which is much larger than the one prescribed by Chinese code. In order to verify the maximum amplitude of VIV for optimized girder, a full bridge aeroelastic model wind tunnel test was carried out. The differences between section and full aeroelastic model testing results were discussed. The maximum amplitude derived from section model tests was first interpreted into prototype with a linear VIV approach by considering partial or imperfect correlation of vortex-induced aerodynamic force along span based on Scanlan's semi-empirical linear model. A good consistency between section model and full bridge model was found only by considering the correlation of vortex-induced force along span.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.349-361
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• 2015

Higher-mode vertical vortex-induced vibrations (VIV) have been observed on several steel box-girder suspension bridges where different vertical modes are selectively excited in turn with wind velocity in accordance with the Strouhal law. Understanding the relationship of VIV amplitudes for different modes of vibration is very important for wind-resistant design of long-span box-girder suspension bridges. In this study, the basic rectangular cross-section with side ratio of B/D=6 is used to investigate the effect of different modes on VIV amplitudes by section model tests. The section model is flexibly mounted in wind tunnel with a variety of spring constants for simulating different modes of vibration and the non-dimensional vertical amplitudes are determined as a function of reduced velocity U/fD. Two 'lock-in' ranges are observed at the same onset reduced velocities of approximately 4.8 and 9.4 for all cases. The second 'lock-in' range, which is induced by the conventional vortex shedding, consistently gives larger responses than the first one and the Sc-normalized maximum non-dimensional responses are almost the same for different spring constants. The first 'lock-in' range where the vibration frequency is approximately two times the vortex shedding frequency is probably a result of super-harmonic resonance or the "frequency demultiplication". The main conclusion drawn from the section model study, central to the higher-mode VIV of suspension bridges, is that the VIV amplitude for different modes is the same provided that the Sc number for these modes is identical.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.499-509
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• 2020

The aeroelastic stability of a long-span suspension footbridge with a bluff deck (prototype section) was examined through static and dynamic wind tunnel tests using a 1:10 scale sectional model of the main girder, and the corresponding aerodynamic countermeasures were proposed in order to improve the stability. First, dynamic tests of the prototype sectional model in vertical and torsional motions were carried out at three attack angles (α = 3°, 0°, -3°). The results show that the galloping instability of the sectional model occurs at α = 3° and 0°, an observation that has never been made before. Then, the various aerodynamic countermeasures were examined through the dynamic model tests. It was found that the openings set on the vertical web of the prototype section (web-opening section) mitigate the galloping completely for all three attack angles. Finally, static tests of both the prototype and web-opening sectional models were performed to obtain the aerodynamic coefficients, which were further used to investigate the galloping mechanism by applying the Den Hartog criterion. The total damping of the prototype and web-opening models were obtained with consideration of the structural and aerodynamic damping. The total damping of the prototype model was negative for α = 0° to 7°, with the minimum value being -1.07%, suggesting the occurrence of galloping, while that of the web-opening model was positive for all investigated attack angles of α = -12° to 12°.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.263-278
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• 2003

This study investigates the effects of a bridge deck's width-to-depth (B/H) ratio and turbulence on buffeting response and flutter critical wind speed of long-span bridges by conducting section model tests. A streamlined box section and a plate girder section, each with four B/H ratios, were tested in smooth and turbulent flows. The results show that for the box girders, the response increases with the B/H ratio, especially in the vertical direction. For the plate girders, the vertical response also increases with the B/H ratio. However, the torsional response decreases as the B/H ratio increases. Increasing the B/H ratio and intensity of turbulence tends to improve the bridge's aerodynamic stability. Experimental results obtained from the section model tests agree reasonably with the calculated results obtained from a numerical analysis.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.561-577
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• 2013

Rational Functions are used to express the self-excited aerodynamic forces acting on a flexible structure for use in time-domain flutter analysis. The Rational Function Approximation (RFA) approach involves obtaining of these Rational Functions from the frequency-dependent flutter derivatives by using an approximation. In the past, an algorithm was developed to directly extract these Rational Functions from wind tunnel section model tests in free vibration. In this paper, an algorithm is presented for direct extraction of these Rational Functions from section model tests in forced vibration. The motivation for using forced-vibration method came from the potential use of these Rational Functions to predict aerodynamic loads and response of flexible structures at high wind speeds and in turbulent wind environment. Numerical tests were performed to verify the robustness and performance of the algorithm under different noise levels that are expected in wind tunnel data. Wind tunnel tests in one degree-of-freedom (vertical/torsional) forced vibration were performed on a streamlined bridge deck section model whose Rational Functions were compared with those obtained by free vibration for the same model.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.4 no.5
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• pp.367-382
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• 2001

Wind tunnel tests were conducted on a model of deck section from the Ting Kau cable stayed bridge. The purpose of the tests was to determine the set of aerodynamic derivatives conventionally used to describe the motion-induced forces arising from the wind flow, and to investigate the stability of the deck under different conditions of turbulence and angle of attack. The study shows that except for large negative angles of attack the deck section itself is stable up to a high wind speed, and that when instability does occur it is essentially a single degree of freedom (torsional) flutter.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.205-217
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• 2009

Aerodynamic flutter control for long-span cable-supported bridges was investigated based on three basic girder sections, i.e. streamlined box girder section, box girder section with cantilevered slabs and two-isolated-girder section. Totally four kinds of aerodynamic flutter control measures (adding fairings, central-slotting, adding central stabilizers and adjusting the position of inspection rail) were included in this research. Their flutter control effects on different basic girder sections were evaluated by sectional model or aeroelastic model wind tunnel tests. It is found that all basic girder sections can get aerodynamically more stabled with appropriate aerodynamic flutter control measures, while the control effects are influenced by the details of control measures and girder section configurations. The control effects of the combinations of these four kinds of aerodynamic flutter control measures, such as central-slotting plus central-stabilizer, were also investigated through sectional model wind tunnel tests, summarized and compared to the flutter control effect of single measure respectively.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.26 no.5A
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• pp.887-899
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• 2006

The aim of this study is to investigate a correlation between fundamental data on aerodynamic characteristics of bridge girder cross-sections, such as aerodynamic force coefficients and flutter derivatives, and their aerodynamic behaviour. The section model tests were carried out in three stages. In the first stage, seven deck configurations were studied, namely; Six 2-edge girders and one box girder. In this stage, changes in aerodynamic force coefficients due to geometrical shape of girders, incidence angle of flow, wind directions and turbulence intensities were studied by static section model tests. In the second stage, the dynamic section model tests were carried out to investigate the relativity of static coefficients to dynamic responses. And finally, the two-dimensional (lift-torsion) aerodynamic derivatives of three bridge deck configurations were investigated by dynamic section model tests. The aerodynamic derivatives can be best described as a representation of the aerodynamic damping and the aerodynamic stiffness provided by the wind for a given deck geometry. The method employed here to extract these unsteady aerodynamic properties is known as the initial displacement technique. It involves the measurement of the decay in amplitude with time of an initial displacement of the deck in heave and torsion, for various wind speeds, in smooth flow. It is suggested that the proposed aerodynamic force coefficients and flutter derivatives of bridge girder sections will be potentially useful for the aeroelastic analysis and buffeting analysis.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.75-95
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• 2003

A numerical model is presented to simulate the mechanical behaviour of composite steel and concrete columns taking into account the interaction between the hollow steel section and the concrete core. The model, based on displacement finite element methods with an Updated Lagrangian formulation, allows for geometrical and material non linearities combined with heating over all or a part of the section and column length. Comparisons of numerical calculations made using the model with 33 fire resistance tests show that the model is able to predict the fire resistance, expressed in minutes of fire exposure, of composite columns with a good accuracy.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.355-369
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• 2022

Section model test, as the most commonly used method to evaluate the aerostatic and aeroelastic performances of long-span bridges, may be carried out under different conditions of incoming wind speed, geometric scale and wind tunnel facilities, which may lead to potential Reynolds number (Re) effect, model scaling effect and wind tunnel scale effect, respectively. The Re effect and scale effect on aerostatic force coefficients and aeroelastic characteristics of streamlined bridge decks were investigated via 1:100 and 1:60 scale section model tests. The influence of auxiliary facilities was further investigated by comparative tests between a bare deck section and the deck section with auxiliary facilities. The force measurement results over a Re region from about 1×10⁵ to 4×10⁵ indicate that the drag coefficients of both deck sections show obvious Re effect, while the pitching moment coefficients have weak Re dependence. The lift coefficients of the smaller scale models have more significant Re effect. Comparative tests of different scale models under the same Re number indicate that the static force coefficients have obvious scale effect, which is even more prominent than the Re effect. Additionally, the scale effect induced by lower model length to wind tunnel height ratio may produce static force coefficients with smaller absolute values, which may be less conservative for structural design. The results with respect to flutter stability indicate that the aerodynamic-damping-related flutter derivatives 𝘈^*₂ and 𝐴^*₁𝐻^*₃ have opposite scale effect, which makes the overall scale effect on critical flutter wind speed greatly weakened. The most significant scale effect on critical flutter wind speed occurs at +3° wind angle of attack, which makes the small-scale section models give conservative predictions.