Investigations on the Influence of Pedestrians on the Buffeting of a Long-Span Suspension Footbridge

According to a suspension footbridge, the pedestrian-bridge section models with different pedestrian densities (mu) were proposed. The wind tunnel tests were performed to study the influence of pedestrians on aerostatic force coefficients and flutter derivatives, and it is found that: with the increase of mu, the drag force coefficient increases, and the lift force coefficient decreases, while the effect of mu on the pitching moment coefficient can be ignored; moreover, there is a significant influence of mu on the flutter derivatives. Then, the static wind forces, buffeting forces, and self-excited forces considering the influence of pedestrians were calculated by using the measured aerostatic force coefficients, the measured flutter derivatives, and the simulated fluctuating wind field. By applying these forces to the finite element model of the suspension footbridge, a buffeting analysis was conducted by using the ANSYS Parametric Design Language, and it is found that: with the increase of pedestrians on the long-span suspension footbridge, the buffeting increases, while the effect of wind attack angles (theta) on the buffeting decreases; Especially, when mu > 1.0 P/m(2), the effect of theta on the buffeting can be ignored.