ALE-VMS methods for wind-resistant design of long-span bridges

Abstract

For unsteady aerodynamics, the Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian Variational Multi-Scale (ALE-VMS) formulation for incompressible flows has proven an accurate and powerful method. In this paper we present an overview of some of its applications to wind engineering of long-span bridges, including flutter and buffeting analysis and vortex-induced vibrations. In general the numerical results compare well with the companion wind-tunnel experiments. Further, we use the method to address more special topics of bluff-body aerodynamic; the impact of inlet turbulence on the self-excited forces and the nonconforming span-wise coherence structures of turbulence and buffeting forces. The present work demonstrates the completeness and accuracy of ALE-VMS, and proves it to be a viable engineering tool for bridge aerodynamics.