Abstract
With the help of the commercial FE package ANSYS, this paper presents a finite element (FE) model for analyzing coupled flutter of long-span bridges. This model models the aero-elastic forces acting on the bridge utilizing a specific user-defined element Matrix27 in ANSYS, by which stiffness and damping matrices can be expressed in terms of the reduced wind velocity and flutter derivatives. Taking advantage of this FE model, Transient dynamic analysis is carried out to determine the dynamic response of a structure under the action of pulse load, of which the damping ratio can be obtained by considering response peaks which are several cycles apart. The condition for onset of flutter instability turns into that, at a certain wind velocity, the structural system incorporating fictitious Matrix27 elements does simple harmonic vibration with zero damping ratios or near zero one. The damping ratio is completely calculated in post-analysis of ANSYS and the initial frequency is given by any value and the last frequency can be got by iterating several times. In order to validate the developed procedure, a classical case study on three hundred meter simple supported beam is provided.
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