Abstract
Despite its wide acceptance in various industries, CFD is considered a secondary option to wind tunnel tests in bridge engineering due to a lack of confidence. To increase confidence and to advance the quality of simulations in bridge aerodynamic studies, this study performed three-dimensional RANS simulations and DESs to assess the bridge deck aerodynamics of the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Bridge and demonstrated detailed procedures of the verification and validation of the applied CFD model. The CFD simulations were developed in OpenFOAM, the results of which are compared to prior wind tunnel test results, where general agreements were achieved though differences were also found and analyzed. The CFD model was also applied to study the effect of fascia beams and handrails on the bridge deck aerodynamics, which were neglected in most research to-date. These secondary structures were found to increase drag coefficients and reduce lift and moment coefficients by up to 32%, 94.3%, and 52.2%, respectively, which emphasized the necessity of including these structures in evaluations of the aerodynamic performance of bridges in service. Details of the verification and validation in this study illustrate that CFD simulations can determine close results compared to wind tunnel tests.
Highlights
Hazardous wind conditions can lead to various problems for long-span bridges
It is found that the attempt to save on computational power by reducing the length of domain will lead to results that are notably different from results calculated using a full-length domain
To validate the model, timeaveraged aerodynamic coefficients of three different bridge decks are determined using the model and have shown a general agreement with those derived from corresponding wind tunnel tests
Summary
The collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge has shown the catastrophic failure that flutter can cause; this has driven engineers to carefully take into account the aerodynamic analysis within procedures of bridge design. Similar bridge failures due to divergent aeroelastic effects did not occur after that, it has been witnessed that the wind effect can seriously influence the serviceability of long-span bridges, especially cable-supported bridges. According to a report by Kumarasena et al [1], many long-span cablestayed bridges encountered severe rain–wind-induced vibrations (RWIVs). Vortex-induced vibrations (VIVs) were observed at the Trans-Tokyo Bay Crossing Bridge, as reported by Fujino and Yoshida [2]. In 2020, large oscillations of the bridge deck occurred at the Humen Pearl Bridge, which was believed to be VIVs and caused a complete shutdown of the bridge [3]. Accurately estimating wind actions on bridges has become an essential part of modern bridge design
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