A Simplified Method for Estimating the Critical Wind Speed of Moving Vehicles on Bridges Under Crosswinds

Abstract

To evaluate the crosswind stability (overturning and sideslip) of vehicles driving on the bridge, obtaining critical wind speed is essential. The traditional method is based on the aerodynamic forces of moving vehicles on the bridge and the analysis of force equilibrations. However, various shapes of the bridge make the flow field around the vehicle on the bridge very complicated to obtain. In this paper, a simplified method is introduced to calculate the critical wind speeds of moving vehicles on bridges based on the influence of coefficients of the wind environment on the bridge and the aerodynamic forces of moving vehicles on open fields. The aerodynamic forces of moving vehicles are simulated with dynamic mesh techniques. Besides, the characteristics of the wind environment on the bridge deck are studied to evaluate the driving safety and determine the influence coefficient. To further demonstrate the reliability, critical wind speed in different road conditions of the proposed simplified method shows very good agreement with the traditional method.