Time domain modelling of aeroelastic bridge decks: a comparative study and an application

This paper has the purpose of describing, developing and comparing the formulae of aeroelastic forces in the time domain for the aerodynamic study of bridges. In particular, it considers the ‘quasi-steady’ formulation and the formulation ‘derived from the extension of aeroelastic derivatives to the time domain’ with the use of the recursive expression for the memory term. Both formulae are then applied to the analysis of ‘stress ribbon’ pedestrian bridges, aerodynamically similar to a thin airfoil immersed in a fluid. The thin airfoil theory is described and then extended to general coverage of bridge dynamics in order to identify the essential aeroelastic coefficients and derivatives. Different formulae are also compared with simplified theory of the aeroelastic issue frequency domain. Finally, this comparison, the obtained results and all input data are recorded and can be used as a possible benchmark for other theoretical formulations