Full-Scale Measurements to Investigate Rain–Wind Induced Cable-Stay Vibration and Its Mitigation
Publication: Journal of Bridge Engineering
Volume 11, Issue 3
Abstract
Large-amplitude vibrations are known to occur in the main stays of cable-stayed bridges in the presence of rain and wind. Although this problem first surfaced in many bridges around the world in the mid-1980s, it was not until 1996 when the Texas Department of Transportation began to investigate this problem in the United States. Both wind-tunnel and full-scale tests were conducted simultaneously to better understand this phenomenon and devise mitigation methods to reduce the vibrations. Full-scale tests were conducted on four cable stays of the Veterans’ Memorial Bridge near Port Arthur, Tex., over a period of three years. This paper presents observations from selected full-scale data and compares them to wind-tunnel test results as well as results found in past literature. Some observations regarding assessment of a distributed passive mitigation device that was installed on one of the cable stays in the field to control vibrations in the presence of rain and wind are also presented. Wind-tunnel tests show that this device is very effective. Limited data collected from the field after the installation of the device gives some evidence of its effectiveness in reducing the vibrations.
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Acknowledgments
Funding by the Texas Department of Transportation for this research is gratefully acknowledged. Technical assistance by Professor Nick Jones (Dean of Engineering, Johns Hopkins University) and Dr. Randy Poston (Principal, WDP & Associates) is also appreciated. In addition, special recognition goes to Tom Gardner, Dr. Zhongshan Zhao, and Dr. Lizhong Chen for their roles in this study.
References
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Bridge Engineering
Volume 11 • Issue 3 • May 2006
Pages: 293 - 304
Copyright
© 2006 ASCE.
History
Received: Jul 12, 2004
Accepted: Dec 20, 2004
Published online: May 1, 2006
Published in print: May 2006
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