Refinements on aerodynamic stability analysis of super long-span bridges

Abstract

The traditional flutter and buffeting analysis method essentially established by Professors Scanlan and Davenport is mainly based on undeformed structures and linear theory. But for super long-span bridges, the influences of basic hypothesis in the conventional theory might be unnegligible factors of aerodynamic performance, and some prospective refinements on aerodynamic stability analysis should be considered. These refinements include nonlinear effects of deformed structures, influence of full-coupled flutter derivatives, full-mode flutter analysis, probabilistic assessment of the onset of flutter and computational fluid dynamics application in aerodynamic analysis as well. The comparison and contrast between the results obtained from traditional approaches and refined ones have shown the importance and rationality, while analyzing the aerodynamic performance of super long-span bridges. All of these refinements have significantly helped to understand how a super long-span bridge behaves in aerodynamic and aeroelastic performance.