Effects of aerodynamic parameters on the dynamic responses of road vehicles and bridges under cross winds

Abstract

To ensure the safety and normal working performance of both road vehicles and the bridge, it is important to study the dynamic interaction between the bridge, road vehicles, and wind loads. The wind–vehicle–bridge dynamic analysis has been extensively developed in the past decades. Recent studies highlighted the importance of predicting the dynamic responses of the vehicle–bridge system by considering the aerodynamic interference between the bridge and vehicles. However, the aerodynamic forces on vehicles in the previous studies were either calculated from the empirical formulae built on the work of vehicles running on roadway or obtained from wind-tunnel tests, which did not consider the interaction of the aerodynamic forces between the road vehicles and the bridge. Based on the wind tunnel tests, first, the aerodynamic force coefficients of the vehicle are fitted considering the aerodynamic interference between vehicles and the bridge, and a more effective and accurate approach to estimate the performance of vehicles and the bridge is provided in this study. Then, the application of the proposed methodology on the Jiangshun Bridge in China is presented as a numerical example. Effects of the coherence of the buffeting forces of the bridge and the aerodynamic parameters of the vehicle and the bridge on the dynamic performance of both the bridge and the vehicles are discussed. It is found that the coherence of buffeting forces of the bridge has obvious effects on the dynamic responses of the bridge and the vehicle, which should be considered in the analysis of the coupled vibration of wind–vehicle–bridge system. The aerodynamic parameters of the bridge have significant effects on the dynamic responses of the bridge, but slight impacts on the dynamic responses of the vehicle. Meanwhile, the aerodynamic parameters of the vehicle have essentially no impact on the responses of the bridge and have a great impact on the responses of the vehicle.