Abstract
For bridge wind-resistance design, the aerodynamic stability of a long-span bridge is sensitive to bridge attachments such as handrails, but the effect of handrail configuration on aerodynamic stability have not been studied in detail. As the full reproducing of handrail shape in numerical simulation need extremely fine grid generation and large calculation cost, how to reproduce or model the handrail configuration for mesh simplification in numerical simulation draws a large concern. In this study. 1 DOF Spring-supported free-vibration wind tunnel tests were conducted to investigate the effect of handrail configuration on vortex-induced vibration of a single box girder. Without changing porosity as well as the height and shape of the top horizontal bar, as the number of horizontal bars between the top bar and the foundation increases, the maximum heaving VIV amplitude decreases. On the other hand, increasing the side ratio of middle horizontal bars reduces the maximum amplitude of heaving VIV. Moreover, the possibility and limitation of simplifying the handrail model in experiment or in CFD were discussed based on the experimental results.
