• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제48권3호
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• pp.395-414
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• 2013

The present study fundamentally investigated the mechanical performance of the rib-stiffened super-wide bridge deck with twin box girders in concrete, which is a very popular application to efficiently widen the bridges with normal span. The shear lag effects of the specific cross-sections were firstly studied. The spatial stress distribution and local stiffness of the bridge deck with twin box girders were then investigated under several typical wheel load conditions. Meanwhile, a comparative study for the bridge deck with and without stiffening ribs was also carried out during the investigation; thereby, a design optimization for the stiffening ribs was further suggested. Finally, aiming at the preliminary design, an approximate methodology to manually calculate the bending moments of the rib-stiffened bridge deck was analytically proposed for engineers to quickly assess its performance. This rib-stiffened bridge deck with twin box girders can be widely applied for concrete (especially concrete cable-stayed) bridges with normal span, however, requiring a super-wide bridge width due to the traffic flow.

• Wind and Structures
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• 제32권4호
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• pp.293-308
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• 2021

For the past three decades a significant amount of research has been conducted on bridge flutter. Wind tunnel tests for a 2000 m class twin-box suspension bridge have revealed that a twin-box deck carrying 4 m tall 50% open area ratio wind screens at the deck edges achieved higher critical wind speeds for onset of flutter than a similar deck without wind screens. A result at odds with the well-known behavior for the mono-box deck. The wind tunnel tests also revealed that the critical flutter wind speed increased if the bridge deck assumed a nose-up twist relative to horizontal when exposed to high wind speeds - a phenomenon termed the "nose-up" effect. Static wind tunnel tests of this twin-box cross section revealed a positive moment coefficient at 0° angle of attack as well as a positive moment slope, ensuring that the elastically supported deck would always meet the mean wind flow at ever increasing mean angles of attack for increasing wind speeds. The aerodynamic action of the wind screens on the twin-box bridge girder is believed to create the observed nose-up aerodynamic moment at 0° angle of attack. The present paper reviews the findings of the wind tunnel tests with a view to gain physical insight into the "nose-up" effect and to establish a theoretical model based on numerical simulations allowing flutter predictions for the twin-box bridge girder.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제71권4호
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• pp.433-444
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• 2019

Shear studs are often used to connect steel girders and concrete deck to form a composite bridge system. The application of precast concrete deck to steel-concrete composite bridges can improve the strength of decks and reduce the shrinkage and creep effect on the long-term behavior of structures. How to ensure the connection between steel girders and concrete deck directly influences the composite behavior between steel girder and precast concrete deck as well as the behavior of the structure system. Compared with traditional multi-I girder systems, a twin-I girder composite bridge system is more simplified but may lead to additional requirements on the shear studs connecting steel girders and decks due to the larger girder spacing. Up to date, only very limited quantity of researches has been conducted regarding the behavior of shear studs on twin-I girder bridge systems. One convenient way for steel composite bridge system is to cast concrete deck in place with shear studs uniformly-distributed along the span direction. For steel composite bridge system using precast concrete deck, voids are included in the precast concrete deck segments, and they are casted with cast-in-place concrete after the concrete segments are erected. In this paper, several sets of push-out tests are conducted, which are used to investigate the heavier of shear studs within the voids in the precast concrete deck. The test data are analyzed and compared with those from finite element models. A simplified shear stud model is proposed using a beam element instead of solid elements. It is used in the finite element model analyses of the twin-I girder composite bridge system to relieve the computational efforts of the shear studs. Additionally, a parametric study is developed to find the effects of void size, void spacing, and shear stud diameter and spacing. Finally, the recommendations are given for the design of precast deck using void for twin I-girder bridge systems.

• Wind and Structures
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• 제9권2호
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• pp.125-146
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• 2006

Stonecutters Bridge of Hong Kong is a cable-stayed bridge with two single-column pylons each 298 m high and an aerodynamic twin deck. The total length of the bridge is 1596 m with a main span of 1018 m. The top 118 m of the tower will comprise structural steel and concrete composite while the bottom part will be of reinforced concrete. The bridge deck at the central span will be of steel whilst the side spans will be of concrete. Stonecutters Bridge has adopted a twin-girder deck design with a wide clear separation of 14.3 m between the two longitudinal girders. Although a number of studies have been conducted to investigate the aerodynamic performance of twin-girder deck, the actual real life application of this type of deck is extremely limited. This therefore triggered the need for conducting the present studies, the main objective of which is to investigate the performance of Stonecutters Bridge against flutter at its in-service stage as well as during construction. Based on the flutter derivatives obtained from the 1:80 scale rigid section model experiment, flutter analysis was carried out using 3-D finite element based single parameter searching method developed by the second author of this paper. A total of 6 finite element models of the bridge covering the in-service stage as well as 5 construction stages were established. The dynamic characteristics of the bridge associated with these stages were computed and applied in the analyses. Apart from the critical wind speeds for the onset of flutter, the dominant modes of vibration participating in the flutter vibration were also identified. The results indicate that the bridge will be stable against flutter at its in-service stage as well as during construction at wind speeds much higher than the verification wind speed of 95 m/s (1-minute mean).

• Wind and Structures
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• 제30권4호
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• pp.367-378
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• 2020

Two-dimensional Delayed Detached Eddy Simulation (DDES) was carried out to investigate the uniform flow over a twin-box bridge deck (TBBD) with various gap ratios of L/C=5.1%, 12.8%, 25.6%, 38.5%, 73.3% and 108.2% (L: the gap-width between two girders, C: the chord length of a single girder) at Reynolds number, Re=4×104. The aerodynamic coefficients of the prototype deck with gap ratio of 73.3% obtained from the present simulation were compared with the previous experimental and numerical data for different attack angles to validate the present numerical method. Particular attention is devoted to the fluctuating pressure distribution and forces, shear layer reattachment position, wake velocity and flow pattern in order to understand the effects of gap ratio on dynamic flow interaction with the twin-box bridge deck. The flow structure is sensitive to the gap, thus a change in L/C thus leads to single-side shedding regime at L/C≤25.6%, and co-shedding regime at L/C≥35.8% distinguished by drastic changes in flow structure and vortex shedding. The gap-ratio-dependent Strouhal number gradually increases from 0.12 to 0.27, though the domain frequencies of vortices shedding from two girders are identical. The mean and fluctuating pressure distributions is significantly influenced by the flow pattern, and thus the fluctuating lift force on two girders increases or decreases with increasing of L/C in the single-side shedding and co-shedding regime, respectively. In addition, the flow mechanisms for the variation in aerodynamic performance with respect to gap ratios are discussed in detail.

• 한국콘크리트학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국콘크리트학회 2008년도 춘계 학술발표회 제20권1호
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• pp.137-140
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• 2008

최근 교량분야에서는 강교량의 합리적인 개선을 위해 복잡한 구조의 단순화 및 표준화 방안으로 거더수를 최소화하여 시공성 및 유지보수성을 향상시킨 소수거더교에 대한 관심이 급증하고 있다. 소수 거더교는 거더수를 최소화하여 미관상 유리하며, 다주형교에 비해 상대적으로 부재수가 줄어들게 되어 제작 상에도 유리하다. 그러나 바닥판의 지간과 캔틸레버의 길이가 길어지게 되어 장지간 바닥판의 성능확보에 대한 검증이 필요하며, 다주형교에 비해 형고가 증가하게 된다. 본 연구에서는 이러한 한계를 극복하고 소수거더교의 구조적 성능을 극대화하기 위하여 기존 현장타설 바닥판을 대체하여 프리캐스트 콘크리트 바닥판을 적용하였다. 프리캐스트 콘크리트 바닥판은 공장에서 제작하므로 고강도, 고내구성의 고품질 바닥판 생산이 가능하다. 또한 내부긴장재에 의해 도입된 압축응력으로 인해 단순교 뿐만 아니라 연속교의 부모멘트 구간에서도 바닥판의 전단면이 유효하여, 바닥판의 단면을 주거더 단면의 일부로 고려할 수 있으므로 강거더의 중량 뿐만 아니라 형고를 경감시킬 수 있는 장점이 있다. 본 연구에서는 프리캐스트 콘크리트 바닥판을 적용한 소수거더교의 설계개념과 이를 적용한 부산-거제 연결도로 현장의 저도교, 전주우회도로 현장의 구증교의 설계사례에 대하여 소개하고자 한다.

• Wind and Structures
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• 제17권3호
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• pp.317-343
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• 2013

When evaluating flutter instability, it is often assumed that incident wind is normal to the longitudinal axis of a bridge and the flutter critical wind speed estimated from this direction is most unfavorable. However, the results obtained in this study via oblique sectional model tests of four typical types of bridge decks show that the lowest flutter critical wind speeds often occur in the yaw wind cases. The four types of bridge decks tested include a flat single-box deck, a flat ${\Pi}$-shaped thin-wall deck, a flat twin side-girder deck, and a truss-stiffened deck with and without a narrow central gap. The yaw wind effect could reduce the critical wind speed by about 6%, 2%, 8%, 7%, respectively, for the above four types of decks within a wind inclination angle range between $-3^{\circ}$ and $3^{\circ}$, and the yaw wind angles corresponding to the minimal critical wind speeds are between $4^{\circ}$ and $15^{\circ}$. It was also found that the flutter critical wind speed varies in an undulate manner with the increase of yaw angle, and the variation pattern is largely dependent on both deck shape and wind inclination angle. Therefore, the cosine rule based on the mean wind decomposition is generally inapplicable to the estimation of flutter critical wind speed of long-span bridges under skew winds. The unfavorable effect of yaw wind on the flutter instability of long-span bridges should be taken into consideration seriously in the future practice, especially for supper-long span bridges in strong wind regions.

• Wind and Structures
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• 제22권2호
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• pp.161-184
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• 2016

Long-span suspension bridges have evolved through the years and with them, the bridge girder decks improved as well, changing their shapes from standard box-deck girders to twin box and multi-box decks sections. The aerodynamic characteristics of the new generation of twin and multiple-decks are investigated nowadays, to provide the best design wind speeds and the optimum dimensions such bridges could achieve. The multi-box Megane bridge deck is one of the new generation bridge decks, consisting of two side decks for traffic lanes and two middle decks for railways, linked between them with connecting beams. Three-dimensional CFD simulations were performed by employing the Large Eddy Simulation (LES) algorithm with a standard Smagorinsky subgrid-scale model, for $Re=9.3{\times}10^7$ and angles of attack ${\alpha}=-4^{\circ}$, $-2^{\circ}$, $0^{\circ}$, $2^{\circ}$ and $4^{\circ}$. Also, a wind tunnel experiment was performed for a scaled model, 1:80 of the Megane bridge deck section, for $Re=5.1{\times}10^5$ and the aerodynamic static coefficients were found to be in good agreement with the results obtained from the CFD-LES model. However the aerodynamic coefficients determined individually, from the CFD-LES model, for each of the traffic and railway decks of the Megane bridge, varied significantly, especially for the downstream traffic deck. Also the pressure distribution and the effect of the spacing between the connecting beams, on the wind speed profiles showed a slight increase in turbulence above the downstream traffic and railway decks.

• Wind and Structures
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• 제20권2호
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• pp.327-347
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• 2015

This paper investigates the effects of Reynolds number (Re) on the aerodynamic characteristics of a twin-deck bridge. A 1:36 scale sectional model of a twin girder bridge was tested using the Wall of Wind (WOW) open jet wind tunnel facility at Florida International University (FIU). Static tests were performed on the model, instrumented with pressure taps and load cells, at high wind speeds with Re ranging from $1.3{\times}10^6$ to $6.1{\times}10^6$ based on the section width. Results show that the section was almost insensitive to Re when pitched to negative angles of attack. However, mean and fluctuating pressure distributions changed noticeably for zero and positive wind angles of attack while testing at different Re regimes. The pressure results suggested that with the Re increase, a larger separation bubble formed on the bottom surface of the upstream girder accompanied with a narrower wake region. As a result, drag coefficient decreased mildly and negative lift coefficient increased. Flow modification due to the Re increase also helped in distributing forces more equally between the two girders. The bare deck section was found to be prone to vortex shedding with limited dependence on the Re. Based on the observations, vortex mitigation devices attached to the bottom surface were effective in inhibiting vortex shedding, particularly at lower Re regime.

• Wind and Structures
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• 제10권5호
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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.