Study on flutter characteristics of cable-supported bridges

In this paper, a nonlinear method is proposed to analyze the flutter stability of cable-supported bridges, in which structural geometric nonlinearity and the nonlinear effects due to the static wind–structure interactions are fully considered. A computer program NFACSB is also developed. With the criteria of total mode damping including both structural and aerodynamic damping less than zero, the critical condition of flutter can be obtained. Through the analyses on two cable-supported bridges with streamlined and bluff deck sections, flutter characteristics is explained and the intrinsic consistence of different flutter types is clarified. The effects of each aerodynamic derivative and mode coupling on flutter instability are further investigated.