Vortex-induced torsional oscillations of bridge girders with basic sections in turbulent flows

This paper investigates the effects of turbulence characteristics such as turbulence intensity and scale on the vortex-induced torsional oscillation of two-dimensional rectangular cylinders with an aspect ratio ( = B/D) of 4 or 7 and hexagonal cylinders such as former cylinders with fairings. The responses are measured in the actively generated turbulent flows similar to natural wind. In this paper, it is also investigated which component of turbulence characteristics, horizontal component or vertical one, strongly affects the vortex-induced torsional oscillations. The vortex-induced torsional responses of the rectangular cylinders are more strongly affected by turbulence intensity than those of the hexagonal cylinders and the responses are especially affected by the horizontal component of turbulent flows. In some cases, vertical turbulence scale affects the response. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.