Effect of beam slope on the static aerodynamic response of edge-girder bridge-deck

Abstract

2-edge box girder bridges have been widely used in civil engineering practice. However, these bridges show weakness in aerodynamic stability. To overcome this weakness, additional attachments, such as fairing and flap, are usually used. These additional attachments can increase the cost and decrease the constructability. Some previous researchers suggested an aerodynamically stabilized 2-edge box girder section, giving a slope to the edge box instead of installing additional attachments. However, their studies are limited to only dynamic stability, even though static aerodynamic coefficients are as important as dynamic stability. In this study, focus was given to the evaluation of static aerodynamic response for a stabilized 2-edge box girder section. For this, the slopes of the edge box were varied from 0 to 17 and static coefficients were obtained through a series of wind tunnel tests. The results were then compared with those from computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis. From the results, it was found that the drag coefficients generally decreased with the increasing box slope angle, except for the specific box slope range. This range of box slope varied depending on the B/H ratio, and this should be avoided for the practical design of such a bridge, since it results in poor static aerodynamic response.