Nonlinear aerostatic and aerodynamic analysis of long-span suspension bridges considering wind-structure interactions

The aerostatic and aerodynamic behaviors of a long-span suspension bridge are of serious engineering concern. As the span length increases, the nonlinear effects due to wind-structure interactions are becoming unnegligible in determining the aerostatic and aerodynamic behaviors of long-span suspension bridges. In this paper, an approach of three-dimensional nonlinear aerostatic and aerodynamic analysis is presented firstly, in which the nonlinearities of structural geometric, dynamic characteristics and aeroelastic forces due to the large deformation under the static wind loading are considered. Numerical analyses are then performed on the three-dimensional finite element model of a suspension bridge with a main span length of 1490 m. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is finally demonstrated. The results show that the nonlinear effects have a significant influence on the aerostatic and aerodynamic behaviors of long-span suspension bridges.