Research on wind field characteristics measured in U-shaped valley at bridge site by Lidar

Abstract

<p>Currently, research on wind fields of U-shaped valleys is rarely reported. In order to study the wind characteristics in a mountainous U-shaped valley, a lidar was placed at a bridge site located in a U-shaped valley. Then, nearly 6 months of original data ranging from 0 m to 810 m were analyzed statistically. It was found that the wind parameters are correlated among different virtual wind towers (VWTs). The wind speed profile is divided into three categories: disordered, linear and nonlinear. The wind direction is consistent with the main wind direction at the bridge site and the average wind direction of different VWTs has a high consistency. The concept of wind-direction deflection rate is put forward to describe the variation of wind direction with height. These measured wind parameters could be used as a reference for bridge wind- resistant design.</p>