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CONTENTS
Volume 11, Number 3, May 2008
 


Abstract
In a wind tunnel experiment employing a reduced scale model, Reynolds number (Re) can hardly be respected. Its effects on the aerodynamics of closed-box bridge decks have been the subject of research in recent years. Stonecutters Bridge in Hong Kong is a cable-stayed bridge having an unprecedented central span of 1018m. The issue of Re sensitivity was raised early in the design phase of the deck of Stonecutters Bridge. The objective of this study is to summarise the results of various wind tunnel experiments in order to demonstrate the effect of Re on the steady state aerodynamic force coefficients. The results may provide an insight on the choice of scale for section model experiments in bridge design projects. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis of forces on bridge deck section was also carried out to see how CFD results are compared with experimental results.

Key Words
Stonecutters Bridge; Reynolds number; aerodynamic force coefficients; CFD.

Address
M. C. H. Hui; Major Works Project Management Office, Highways Department, 6/F, Ho Man Tin Government
Offices, 88 Chung Hau Street, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China
Z. Y. Zhou, A. R. Chen and H. F. Xiang; State Key Laboratory for Disaster Reduction in Civil Engineering and Department of Bridge Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China

Abstract
This paper focuses on assessing the failure of one of the transmission towers that collapsed in Winnipeg, Canada, as a result of a microburst event. The study is conducted using a fluid-structure numerical model that was developed in-house. A major challenge in microburst-related problems is that the forces acting on a structure vary with the microburst parameters including the descending jet velocity, the diameter of the event and the relative location between the structure and the jet. The numerical model, which combines wind field data for microbursts together with a non-linear finite element formulation, is capable of predicting the progressive failure of a tower that initiates after one of its member reaches its capacity. The model is employed first to determine the microburst parameters that are likely to initiate failure of a number of critical members of the tower. Progressive failure analysis of the tower is then conducted by applying the loads associated with those critical configurations. The analysis predicts a collapse of the conductors cross-arm under a microburst reference velocity that is almost equal to the corresponding value for normal wind load that was used in the design of the structure. A similarity between the predicted modes of failure and the post event field observations was shown.

Key Words
downburst; microburst; finite element; transmission tower; transmission line; failure; wind.

Address
A. Y. Shehata; Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
A. A. El Damatty; Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada

Abstract
Flutter derivatives provide the basis of predicting the critical wind speed in flutter and buffeting analysis of long-span cable-supported bridges. Many studies have been performed on the methods and applications of identification of flutter derivatives of bridge decks under wind action. In fact, strong wind, especially typhoon, is always accompanied by heavy rain. Then, what is the effect of rain on flutter derivatives and flutter critical wind speed of bridges? Unfortunately, there have been no studies on this subject. This paper makes an initial study on this problem. Covariance-driven Stochastic Subspace Identification (SSI in short) which is capable of estimating the flutter derivatives of bridge decks from their steady random responses is presented first. An experimental set-up is specially designed and manufactured to produce the conditions of rain and wind. Wind tunnel tests of a quasi-streamlined thin plate model are conducted under conditions of only wind action and simultaneous wind-rain action, respectively. The flutter derivatives are then extracted by the SSI method, and comparisons are made between the flutter derivatives under the two different conditions. The comparison results tentatively indicate that rain has non-trivial effects on flutter derivatives, especially on and , and thus the flutter critical wind speeds of bridges.

Key Words
bridge deck; flutter derivative; rain and wind action; stochastic subspace identification.

Address
State Key Laboratory for Disaster Reduction in Civil Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, P. R. China

Abstract
The spanwise flow structure around a rigid smooth circular cylinder model in cross-flow has been investigated based on the experimental data obtained from a series of wind tunnel tests. Surface pressures were collected at five spanwise locations along the cylinder over a Reynolds number range of 1.14?05 to 5.85?05, which covered sub-critical, single-bubble and two-bubble regimes in the critical range. Separation angles were deduced from curve fitted to the surface pressure data. In addition, spanwise correlations and power spectra analyses were employed to study the spatial structure of flow. Results at different spanwise locations show that the transition into single-bubble and two-bubble regimes could occur at marginally different Reynolds numbers which expresses the presence of overlap regions in between the single-bubble regime and its former and later regimes. This indicates the existence of three-dimensional flow around the circular cylinder in cross-flow, which is also supported by the observed cell-like surface pressure patterns. Relatively strong spanwise correlation of the flow characteristics is observed before each transition within the critical regime, or formation of first and second separation-bubbles. It is also noted that these organized flow structures might lead to greater overall aerodynamic forces on a circular cylinder in cross-flow within the critical Reynolds number regime.

Key Words
circular cylinder; critical reynolds number regime; cross-flow, spanwise variation; separation angle.

Address
University of Windsor, 401 Sunset Ave., Windsor, ON., Canada N9B 3P4

Abstract
This paper adopts autoregressive (AR) model to simulate the wind velocity of spatial three-dimensional fields in accordance with the time and space dependent characteristics of the 3-D fields. Based on the built MATLAB programming, this paper discusses in detail the issues of the AR model deduced by matrix form in the simulation and proposes the corresponding solving methods: the over-relaxation iteration to solve the large sparse matrix equations produced by large number of degrees of freedom of structures; the improved Gauss formula to calculate the numerical integral equations which integral functions contain oscillating functions; the mixed congruence and central limit theorem of Lindberg-Levy to generate random numbers. This paper also develops a method of ascertaining the rank of the AR model. The numerical examples show that all those methods are stable and reliable, which can be used to simulate the wind velocity of all large span structures in civil engineering.

Key Words
wind velocity; AR model; model rank; random numbers

Address
Department of Astronautic Science and Mechanics, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China


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