Conformal mapping has achieved many successes in engineering. It can help to solve some complex fluid flow problems. This study proposed a numerical method for conformal mapping of closed box girder bridges and applied it to flutter performance prediction, which is crucial for ensuring the safety and sustainability of bridge structures. The characteristics of conformal mapping coefficients for the closed box were investigated. Thereafter, a numerical method through searching the conformal mapping coefficients was presented. The results show that the proposed numerical method has a smaller error in the existing research. The conformal mapping of six practical bridges agrees well with the closed box girder shapes, indicating the validity of the proposed method. The flutter prediction results by the proposed method are consistent with the wind tunnel test. The conformal mapping and flutter calculations took no more than ten seconds, showing high computing efficiency. This method is easier to understand and implement without complex mathematical derivation, which is helpful for the extensive application of conformal mapping in bridge engineering.

Bridges in mountainous areas are indispensable nodes in transportation networks, and wind resistance capabilities have become a controlling factor of long-span bridges built in mountain areas. Therefore, it is necessary to study the characteristics of wind fields under complex terrain. An improved inlet boundary by fitting the boundary curve was proposed in this study. The inlet fluctuating wind field was generated by the Correlation Improved Random Flow Generation method (CIRFG). The results of the numerical simulations show that the fluctuating wind input generated by CIRFG tallies with the target wind field, which proves the reliability of the proposed method. The method of fitting boundary curves to give inlet wind speed profiles can achieve non-uniform wind profile inputs. The results show the wind direction of the gorge varies significantly by height. The wind speed at the summit will accelerate affected by the terrain. Also influenced by the terrain, the turbulence intensity profiles in the simulated area show an S-shape. The transverse wind and angle of attack are uneven along the main girder, especially near slopes. The conclusions obtained in the study can provide references for the wind resistance of bridges built in mountainous areas.

In the wind tunnel test, the full-bridge aeroelastic model needs to simulate both the shape and dynamic characteristics of the real bridge, and modal parameters are key dynamic parameters. Therefore, it is essential to identify the modal parameters of the model accurately. To get accurate modal parameters of the long-span bridge model in the wind tunnel test, the applications of the Hilbert-Huang transform for modal parameter identification were analyzed in this paper. Then a band-pass filter is designed to filter the original signal so that the intrinsic mode function obtained by empirical mode decomposition can satisfy the single-component signal requirement and eliminate the mode mixing effect effectively. Meanwhile, the endpoint data extension method based on SVM (Support Vector Machine) was presented to restrain the end effects of empirical mode decomposition. Finally, taking the Oujiang Bridge as the engineering background, the improved algorithm was applied to modal parameter identification of the bridge under ambient excitation. The modal parameters such as modal frequency and damping ratio were obtained. The reliability of the improved method was verified by comparing the identified modal parameters with the results of the finite element method, and it turns out that the improved method can reduce the frequency identification error of vertical bend, lateral bend, and torsion to 1.01%, 4.07%, and 1.68%. The results indicated that the improved method based on the Hilbert-Huang transform can accurately identify the main modal parameters of the structure and can be better applied to identify the modal parameters of long-span bridge structures.

This paper is a contribution to analyzing the aerodynamic forces on a streamlined box girder (SBG) with coupled vibration in a potential flow. The key enabling step was to assume that the normal velocity of the airflow at an arbitrary point on the surface of the SBG was equal to the normal velocity of the surface motion. The aerodynamic drag force, lift force, and pitching moment were expressed as functions of the motion state of the SBG and the SBG’s shape-related parameters. To investigate the applicability of this force model, the analytical solution at various angles of attack was compared with a numerical simulation in a viscous flow. The results imply that the amplitude of the analytical lift force and pitching moment agree well with the numerical results under the angles of attack of 0° and ±3°. Furthermore, the analytical drag force effectively predicts the second-order phenomenon resulting from the multiplication of the vertical and torsional vibration velocities. As a consequence, the present analytical solution provides an effective method for analyzing the aerodynamic forces acting on SBGs with coupled vibration.