AN INVESTIGATION OF AEROELASTIC INSTABILITY OF SUSPENSION BRIDGES

Abstract

THE AEROELASTIC INSTABILITY OF SUSPENSION BRIDGES IS INVESTIGATED BY A METHOD SIMILAR TO THAT FOR AEROELASTIC PHENOMENON OF AN AIRCRAFT. USING THE UNSTEADY AIR FORCES OBTAINED FROM THE EXPERIMENTS, THE REDUCED VELOCITIES ARE CALCULATED BY THE FLUTTER EQUATIONS. COMPARISON OF THE CRITICAL FLUTTER SPEEDS CALCULATED FROM THE EQUATIONS WITH THE RESULTS OBTAINED BY FLUTTER MODEL TESTS HAS SHOWN REMARKABLY GOOD AGREEMENT. IT IS CONCLUDED THAT THE FLUTTER SPEED OF SUSPENSION BRIDGES CAN BE ESTIMATED FROM THE FLUTTER EQUATIONS WITH HIGH ACCURACY USING THE MEASURED UNSTEADY AIR FORCES. /RRL/A/