• Wind and Structures
• /
• v.11 no.3
• /
• pp.209-220
• /
• 2008

Flutter derivatives provide the basis of predicting the critical wind speed in flutter and buffeting analysis of long-span cable-supported bridges. Many studies have been performed on the methods and applications of identification of flutter derivatives of bridge decks under wind action. In fact, strong wind, especially typhoon, is always accompanied by heavy rain. Then, what is the effect of rain on flutter derivatives and flutter critical wind speed of bridges? Unfortunately, there have been no studies on this subject. This paper makes an initial study on this problem. Covariance-driven Stochastic Subspace Identification (SSI in short) which is capable of estimating the flutter derivatives of bridge decks from their steady random responses is presented first. An experimental set-up is specially designed and manufactured to produce the conditions of rain and wind. Wind tunnel tests of a quasi-streamlined thin plate model are conducted under conditions of only wind action and simultaneous wind-rain action, respectively. The flutter derivatives are then extracted by the SSI method, and comparisons are made between the flutter derivatives under the two different conditions. The comparison results tentatively indicate that rain has non-trivial effects on flutter derivatives, especially on and $H_2$ and $A_2$thus the flutter critical wind speeds of bridges.

• Wind and Structures
• /
• v.13 no.3
• /
• pp.293-307
• /
• 2010

This paper describes a new method for the estimation of six complex aerodynamic admittance functions. The aerodynamic admittance functions relate buffeting forces to the incoming wind turbulent components, of which the estimation accuracy affects the prediction accuracy of the buffeting response of long-span bridges. There should be two aerodynamic admittance functions corresponding to the longitudinal and vertical turbulent components, respectively, for each gust buffeting force. Therefore, there are six aerodynamic admittance functions in all for the three buffeting forces. Sears function is a complex theoretical expression for the aerodynamic admittance function for a thin airfoil. Similarly, the aerodynamic admittance functions for a bridge deck should also be complex functions. This paper presents a separated frequency-by-frequency method for estimating the six complex aerodynamic admittance functions. A new experimental methodology using an active turbulence generator is developed to measure simultaneously all the six complex aerodynamic admittance functions. Wind tunnel tests of a thin plate model and a streamlined bridge section model are conducted in turbulent flow. The six complex aerodynamic admittance functions, determined by the developed methodology are compared with the Sears functions and Davenport's formula.

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