The nonlinear post-flutter instabilities were experimentally investigated through two-degree-of-freedom sectional model tests on a typical flat closed-box bridge deck (width-to-depth ratio 9.14). Laser displacement sensors and piezoelectric force balances were used in the synchronous measurement of dynamic displacement and aerodynamic force. Beyond linear flutter boundary, the sectional model exhibited heave-torsion coupled limit cycle oscillation (LCOs) with an unrestricted increase of stable amplitudes with reduced velocity. The post-critical LCOs vibrated in a complex mode with amplitude-dependent mode modulus and phase angle. Obvious heaving static deformation was found to be coupled with the large-amplitude post-critical LCOs, for which classical quasi-steady theory was not applicable. The aerodynamic torsional moment and lift during post-critical LCOs were measured through a novel wind-tunnel technique by 4 piezoelectric force balances. The measured force signals were found to contain significantly higher-order components. The energy evolution mechanism during post-critical LCOs was revealed via the hysteresis loops of the measured force signals.

The wind characteristics of the mountainous environment in Western China are extremely complex. Many advances have occurred in the study of wind characteristics in plains or hilly areas. However, some limitations remain in the study of mountain passes and riverbanks. We selected a mountain pass and river beach in a certain area as the research objects, then set up observation instruments at different locations to establish temporary observation stations to collect more than one year of measured data. By processing the measurement data during the observation period, the mean wind characteristics and fluctuating wind characteristics of the area were obtained. Through comparison with the standard, we found strong nonstationary characteristics of the wind, such as large deviations between the wind field characteristics values in the standard and measured values, proving the need for wind field observations of mountain passes and riverbanks.

To more clearly understand the changes in flow characteristics around two square cylinders with different spacing ratios, the main mode of the flow field was extracted by using the Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) and Dynamic Mode Decomposition (DMD) methods. The changes in the main mode of the flow field at different spacing ratios and the difference of the time series were analyzed and compared. This processing can separate the mixed information in the flow field and obtain the dominant modes in the flow field. These main modes can clearly reflect the dominant flow characteristics in the flow field. The analysis results show that when L/D = 2, the flow field structure is consistent with the flow field around a single square cylinder. When L/D = 2.5–3.5, the vortex shedding from upstream cylinders combines with the vortex near the downstream cylinders. This mutual coupling causes a significant change in the drag coefficient value of the downstream cylinder. When L/D = 4, the main vortex from the upstream cylinder can be completely shed, which means that the upstream and downstream square cylinder vortices start to become independent. The main focus of this paper is to use the advantages of POD and DMD to obtain several modes with higher energy in the flow field. Furthermore, it can be considered that these main modes can fully reflect the flow characteristics of the flow field.

Currently, research on wind fields of U-shaped valleys is rarely reported, and anemometers or wind observation towers are usually used for field measurement, but the measured position is limited and the cost is high. In order to study the wind characteristics in a mountainous U-shaped valley, a long-range, all-weather, high-precision Wind3D 6000 lidar was placed at a bridge site located in a U-shaped valley. Then, according to the data effective ratio and wind speed, nearly 6 months of original data ranging from 0 m to 810 m were analyzed statistically. It was found that the spatio-temporal distribution of wind speed and direction is obviously not uniform, and the wind parameters are correlated among different virtual wind towers (VWTs). By classification, the effective data of midspan position is taken as the research object, and the wind speed profile is divided into three categories. Type-1 shows disorderly characteristics; Type-2 shows a linear relationship; and Type-3 shows a nonlinear relationship. The wind direction is consistent with the main wind direction at the bridge site and the average wind direction of different VWTs has a high consistency. The concept of wind-direction deflection rate is put forward to describe the variation of wind direction with height. These measured wind parameters could be used as a reference for bridge wind-resistant design.

In this study, a π-shaped main beam with typical geometric characteristic parameters was selected for conducting wind tunnel tests, and the characteristics of the buffeting force were measured. Based on the measured results, numerical expansion research was conducted using the narrowband synthetic random flow generation (NSRFG) turbulent inlet method, and a grid strategy was provided. By changing the geometric characteristic parameters of the π-shaped girder, a comparative study was conducted using proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) and dynamic mode decomposition (DMD) methods, revealing the influence of cross-sectional geometric characteristic parameters on the buffeting force characteristics and analyzing their mechanism of action. The results indicate that the inlet wind parameters of the NSRFG need to be adapted to the grid size. The grid filter size at the front end of the model should be smaller than 0.193 of the along-wind turbulence integral scale, which can then be used to solve for 80% of the turbulent kinetic energy. The smaller the aspect ratio is, the larger the buffeting force spectrum is, and the smaller the opening ratio is, the smaller the buffeting force spectrum is. The opening ratio strongly influences the buffeting lift spectrum, and the aspect ratio strongly influences the buffeting drag spectrum. The POD decomposition indicates that the geometric characteristic parameters affect the shape, strength, position, and direction of vortices at the section opening. DMD decomposition indicates that geometric feature parameters affect the frequency and growth rate of dominant modes as well as the directionality and regularity of vortex distribution.