Relevance of Eighteen Flutter Derivatives in Wind Response of a Long-Span Cable-Stayed Bridge

Abstract

Prediction of flutter critical wind velocity is of major concern in the wind resistant design of long-span cable-supported bridges. A full set of 18 experimental flutter derivatives in the past has not been used in the flutter analysis of such bridges. In particular, lateral flutter derivatives have been ignored or used from quasisteady theory. In this paper, all experimentally determined flutter derivatives have been used to analyze the flutter behavior of a long-span cable-stayed bridge. Flutter conditions have been obtained from the complex eigenvalue of modal state-space equation of motion. The importance of lateral flutter derivatives and lateral modes in the flutter phenomenon has been highlighted. Flutter critical wind speeds from the application of the theoretical flutter derivatives and the Selberg’s formula were also examined and were found to be exceptionally higher than that obtained using all experimental flutter derivatives for a long-span cable-stayed bridge.