Host: Japan Association for Wind Engineering
Pages 109-
The objective of this research is to experimentally investigate the effects of the wind barrier, regarding the aerodynamic response of the bridge and the aerodynamic forces of the vehicle on the bridge. A box girder model with a width-to-height ratio of 9 is applied. The wind barrier is with a constant height and with a section of Straight-line Type (ST) and Curved-line Type (CT). The opening of the wind barrier was non-dimensionalized as Opening area Ratio (OR), the ratio of its opening area to its windward-surface area. Based on the results of the torsional 1DOF free vibration tests on the girder, the wind barrier of OR = 0% resulted in the aerodynamic instabilities of the girder, i.e., the vortex-induced vibration and torsional flutter, while increasing OR stabilized these aerodynamic instabilities. Based on the measurement of the aerodynamic forces on a simplified vehicle on the girder, enlarging OR increased the drag force coefficient (Cs) of the vehicle, whereas the wind barrier of OR = 50% still reduced Cs by about 50% compared with that without wind barrier.
