Aero-elastic wind tunnel test of a high lighting pole

Abstract

This paper presents a 1:25 multi-freedom aero-elastic model for a high lighting pole at the Zhoushan stadium. To validate the similarity characteristics of the model, a free vibration test was performed before the formal test. Beat phenomenon was found and eliminated by synthesis of vibration in the X and Y directions, and the damping ratio of the model was identified by the free decay method. The dynamic characteristics of the model were examined and compared with the real structure; the similarity results were favorable. From the test results, the major along-wind dynamic response was the first vibration component. The along-wind wind vibration coefficient was calculated by the China code and Eurocode. When the peak factor equaled 3.5, the coefficient calculated by the China code was close to the experimental result while Eurocode had a slight overestimation of the coefficient. The wind vibration coefficient during typhoon flow was analyzed, and a magnification factor was suggested in typhoon-prone areas. By analyzing the power spectrum of the dynamic cross-wind base shear force, it was found that a second-order vortex-excited resonance existed. The cross-wind response in the test was smaller than Eurocode estimation. The aerodynamic damping ratio was calculated by random decrement technique and the results showed that aerodynamic damping ratios were mostly positive at the design wind speed, which means that the wind-induced galloping phenomenon is predicted not to occur at design wind speeds.