Experimental Investigation on Glaze Ice Accretion and Its Influence on Aerodynamic Characteristics of Pipeline Suspension Bridges

Abstract

Pipeline suspension bridges may experience ice accretion under special atmospheric conditions, and the aerodynamic characteristics of the bridges may be modified by the ice accretion. Under some specific climatic conditions of freezing rain, the dependencies of the ice size and shape on the icing duration and some structural properties (including pipeline diameter, inclination angle of wind hanger, inclination angle and size of section steel, and girder geometry) were experimentally investigated in a refrigerated precipitation icing laboratory. Typical ice accretions on pipelines, wind hangers, section steels, and girders of pipeline suspension bridges are summarized. Then the effects of some selected ice accretions on aerodynamic force coefficients of a bridge girder were further investigated through wind tunnel tests. The ice size and shape on the pipeline were closely related to the pipeline diameter and icing duration. The engineering geometric models of ice accretion on pipelines were extracted. The ice shape and size on wind hangers and section steels changed with their inclination angles. The aerodynamic force coefficients of a girder with ice accretion were much higher than those of an ice-free one. The results can provide references for simulating the ice accretion and further evaluating the effect of ice accretion on the aerodynamics of pipeline suspension bridges.