Modelling of turbulent dispersion for numerical simulation of wind-driven rain on bridges

Abstract

Wind-driven rain (WDR) is responsible for many potential negative effects on bridges, such as structural cracking, aggregate erosion, steel corrosion and storm water management problems and so on. Hence, accurate evaluations of the WDR effects on bridges are essential to provide solutions for preventing material degradation and improving durability capability of bridges. However, in most previous WDR numerical studies, the turbulent dispersion of raindrops was neglected. In this paper, the turbulent dispersion is integrated into Eulerian multiphase model to investigate the WDR effects on a bridge with rectangular cross-section. Especially, the influences of the turbulent dispersion are discussed in detail by comparing the WDR simulation results for the cases with and without consideration of the turbulent dispersion in terms of WDR flow fields, volume fraction, specific catch ratio, catch ratio, rain loads and aerostatic force coefficients. The results indicate that the turbulent dispersion for a certain range of raindrop size is needed to be taken into account for obtaining accurate WDR simulation results for bridges.