scholarly journals Wind-Induced Phenomena in Long-Span Cable-Supported Bridges: A Comparative Review of Wind Tunnel Tests and Computational Fluid Dynamics Modelling

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 1642
Author(s):  
Yuxiang Zhang ◽  
Philip Cardiff ◽  
Jennifer Keenahan

Engineers, architects, planners and designers must carefully consider the effects of wind in their work. Due to their slender and flexible nature, long-span bridges can often experience vibrations due to the wind, and so the careful analysis of wind effects is paramount. Traditionally, wind tunnel tests have been the preferred method of conducting bridge wind analysis. In recent times, owing to improved computational power, computational fluid dynamics simulations are coming to the fore as viable means of analysing wind effects on bridges. The focus of this paper is on long-span cable-supported bridges. Wind issues in long-span cable-supported bridges can include flutter, vortex-induced vibrations and rain–wind-induced vibrations. This paper presents a state-of-the-art review of research on the use of wind tunnel tests and computational fluid dynamics modelling of these wind issues on long-span bridges.

2020 ◽  
pp. 107754632094615
Author(s):  
Yanguo Sun ◽  
Yongfu Lei ◽  
Ming Li ◽  
Haili Liao ◽  
Mingshui Li

As flutter is a very dangerous wind-induced vibration phenomenon, the mitigation and control of flutter are crucial for the design of long-span bridges. In the present study, via a large number of section model wind tunnel tests, the flutter performance of a superlong-span suspension bridge with a double-deck truss girder was studied, and a series of aerodynamic and structural measures were used to mitigate and control its flutter instability. The results show that soft flutter characterized by a lack of an evident divergent point occurred for the double-deck truss girder. Upper central stabilizers on the upper deck, lower stabilizers below the lower deck, and horizontal flaps installed beside the bottoms of the sidewalks are all effective in suppressing flutter for this kind of truss girder. By combining the structural design with aerodynamic optimizations, a redesigned truss girder with widened upper carriers and sidewalks, and double lower stabilizers combined with the inspection vehicle rails is identified as the optimal flutter mitigation scheme. It was also found that the critical flutter wind speed increases with the torsional damping ratio, indicating that the dampers may be efficient in controlling soft flutter characterized by single-degree-of-freedom torsional vibration. This study aims to provide a useful reference and guidance for the flutter design optimization of long-span bridges with double-deck truss girders.


2018 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-20
Author(s):  
Hiroki SUGIYAMA ◽  
Masakazu KAWASAKI ◽  
Takumi MORO ◽  
Akihiko NAKAYAMA ◽  
Hiroshi NODA

2013 ◽  
Vol 774-776 ◽  
pp. 68-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qing Song Duan ◽  
Cun Ming Ma ◽  
Bin Xie

With the development of economy and technology, many long span bridges have been constructed. However, oversize thickness and long duration of snow on these long span bridges might lead to security issues. The computational fluid dynamics software FLUENT is employed to simulate the snow effect on the bridges. According to the two-phase fluid theory, the relationship between air phase and snow phase is one-way coupling. The corresponding changes of snow load on the bridge deck under the action of strong winds are studied in this paper and the comparative analysis about aerodynamic impacts before and after the snow are conducted as well. According to the results, the snow has notable influence on the aerodynamic characteristics of bridge decks. Keywords: computational fluid dynamics; two-phase fluid theory; snow load; aerodynamics;


2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (9) ◽  
pp. 1262-1272 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shouying Li ◽  
Yangchen Deng ◽  
Wei Zhong ◽  
Zhengqing Chen

To investigate the aerodynamic characteristics of stay cables attached with helical wires, a series of wind tunnel tests and computational fluid dynamics simulations were both carried out on the smooth and helical-wire cable models. The diameters of helical wires include 2, 3, and 4 mm, and the distances between adjacent helical wires include 200, 300, and 600 mm. Pressure taps were uniformly arranged on seven cross sections of the cable models. First, wind tunnel tests including 50 test cases were conducted to measure the wind forces and wind pressures on the cables using the forced vibration system in HD-2 wind tunnel. The effects of the helical wires on the mean and fluctuating aerodynamic forces and the correlation coefficients along the cable axis were investigated in detail based on the experimental data. Second, large Eddy simulation module incorporated in software FLUENT® was used to simulate the aerodynamic forces on the smooth and helical-wire cables. The parameters of the cable and the helical wire are similar to those used in the wind tunnel tests. The results show that helical wires can attenuate vortex shedding and reduce the wind pressure correlation along the cable axis. Within the Reynolds number range from 0.4 × 105 to 1.6 × 105, the mean drag force of the helical-wire cable is lower than the value of the smooth cable, and the correlation coefficient decreases with the increase in wind velocity. The results obtained from wind tunnel tests and computational fluid dynamics simulations agree well with each other. Furthermore, the wind velocity contour around the helical-wire cables obtained from computational fluid dynamics simulations visually indicates that the approaching flow is forced to separate at the surface of the helical wire in advance, which makes the vortex shedding disorder along the cable axis.


Author(s):  
Wojciech Grendysa ◽  
Bartosz Olszański

This paper presents the optimization of multi-element aerofoil for the LAR-3 Puffin -- STOL light transport aircraft concept proposal. Based on the geometry and aerodynamic characteristics of the well-known and proven in flight three-segment NACA 63A416 aerofoil, the authors explore the possibility of enhancing its high-lift performance by the movement of slot and flap position in extended (deployed) aerodynamic configuration. In order to determine the optimum positions of aerofoil segments (elements), a multi-step optimization approach was developed. It combines computational fluid dynamics simulations that were used for design space screening and preliminary optimization together with low-turbulence wind tunnel tests which yielded certain results. To decrease the numerical cost of the computer simulation campaign, Design of experiment methods (optimal space-filling design among others) were employed instead of exhausting full factorial (parametric) design. Response surface models of major aerodynamic coefficients (lift, drag, pitching moment) at predicted maximum lift coefficient ( C L max) point allowed to narrow down search space and identify several candidates for optimal configuration to be checked experimentally. Wind tunnel tests campaign confirmed the major trends observed in computational fluid dynamics derived response surface contour plots. For the optimum aerodynamic configuration, chosen experimental C L max is over 3.9, which is a 10% increase over the baseline (initial slat and flap positions) case. In parallel, the maximum lift-to-drag ratio gain at that point was almost 19%. The research outlined in this paper was conducted on behalf of the aircraft production company and its results will be applied in a newly designed transport aircraft.


2021 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabio Malizia ◽  
T. van Druenen ◽  
B. Blocken

AbstractAerodynamic drag is the main resistive force in cycling at high speeds and on flat terrain. In wind tunnel tests or computational fluid dynamics simulations, the aerodynamic drag of cycling wheels is often investigated isolated from the rest of the bicycle, and sometimes in static rather than rotating conditions. It is not yet clear how these testing and simulating conditions influence the wheel aerodynamic performance and how the inclusion of wheel rotation influences the overall measured or computed cyclist drag. This study presents computational fluid dynamics simulations, validated with wind tunnel tests, that indicate that an isolated static spoked front wheel has a 2.2% larger drag area than the same wheel when rotating, and that a non-isolated static spoked front wheel has a 7.1% larger drag area than its rotating counterpart. However, rotating wheels are also subjected to the rotational moment, which increases the total power required to rotate and translate the wheel compared to static conditions where only translation is considered. The interaction with the bicycle frame and forks lowers the drag area of the front wheel by 8.8% for static and by 12.9% for the rotating condition, compared to the drag area of the isolated wheels. A different flow behavior is also found for static versus rotating wheels: large low-pressure regions develop from the hub for rotating wheels, together with a lower streamwise velocity region inside the circumference of the wheel compared to static wheels. The results are intended to help in the selection of testing/simulating methodologies for cycling spoked wheels.


2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 948-959 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haojun Tang ◽  
KM Shum ◽  
Qiyu Tao ◽  
Jinsong Jiang

To improve the flutter stability of a long-span suspension bridge with steel truss stiffening girder, two vertical stabilizers of which the total height reaches to approximately 2.9 m were planned to install on the deck. As the optimized girder presents the characteristics of a bluff body more, its vortex-induced vibration needs to be studied in detail. In this article, computational fluid dynamics simulations and wind tunnel tests are carried out. The vortex-shedding performance of the optimized girder is analyzed and the corresponding aerodynamic mechanism is discussed. Then, the static aerodynamic coefficients and the dynamic vortex-induced response of the bridge are tested by sectional models. The results show that the vertical stabilizers could make the incoming flow separate and induce strong vortex-shedding behind them, but this effect is weakened by the chord member on the windward side of the lower stabilizer. As the vortex-shedding performance of the optimized girder is mainly affected by truss members whose position relationships change along the bridge span, the vortex shed from the girder can hardly have a uniform frequency so the possibility of vortex-induced vibration of the bridge is low. The data obtained by wind tunnel tests verify the results by computational fluid dynamics simulations.


2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (9) ◽  
pp. 1823-1837
Author(s):  
Kun Lin ◽  
Minghai Wei ◽  
Hongjun Liu ◽  
Huafeng Wang

In this article, a two-dimensional Lighthill aerodynamic model is first extended to three-dimensional space, and then combined with the larger Von Karman plate deformation theory, a model for predicting the critical flutter wind speeds of long-span bridges in the primary design is proposed. The predictions of the presented model are compared to the results of wind tunnel tests for five long-span bridges with different main girder section forms. After that, based on the proposed model, the effects of width to span ratio and thickness to span ratio on the critical flutter wind speeds of long-span bridges are investigated. The results show that the differences between the proposed model and wind tunnel tests are only 7%–14%. Therefore, the presented model can assess the flutter wind speed in preliminary design stages of a bridge. The results also reveal that width to span ratios between 1/30 and 1/10 and thickness to span ratios between 1/300 and 1/100 are optimal for long-span bridges.


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