Stress-Level Buffeting Analysis and Wind Turbulence Intensity Effects on Fatigue Damage of Long-Span Bridges

Abstract

Buffeting-induced vibration, which has a frequent occurrence and relatively large amplitude, may cause fatigue damage to the steel girder of long-span bridges. Buffeting is caused by random wind turbulence, and the turbulence intensity has a considerable impact on buffeting-induced vibration. In the present study, the wind turbulence intensity effects on the fatigue damage of long-span bridges are investigated by taking the Taihong Suspension Bridge as an example. The stress-level buffeting analysis of the bridge under spatial distributed forces is first presented. Then, a parametric study on the effects of wind turbulence intensity on the buffeting-induced fatigue is conducted based on the Miner’s rule. It is found that the increase of the wind turbulence intensity can increase the number of cycles of the dominant small stress range, which eventually contributes to the increase of the accumulated fatigue damage.