Experimental determination of the two-dimensional aerodynamic admittance of typical bridge decks

In this paper, the two-dimensional lift, drag and pitching moment aerodynamic admittances of three typical bridge deck sections, including a streamlined box section, an edge section and a truss section are identified by wind tunnel tests using a statistical identification approach and high-frequency dynamic balance measurement technique. An empirical formula for determining the two-dimensional aerodynamic admittance is proposed and compared with the commonly used Sears function and Davenport function. The results show that the two-dimensional lift and moment aerodynamic admittances for the three types of bridge decks are larger than Sears' function in the concerned wavenumber range of the buffeting analysis. This indicates that the Sears function may underestimate the vertical and torsional buffeting response of prototype long-span bridges. The two-dimensional drag aerodynamic admittance of the truss section corresponds strongly with Davenport's function, which verifies the reasonableness of Davenport's function that was originally developed for the two-dimensional drag aerodynamic admittance of open lattice structures. Furthermore, it was found that the two-dimensional aerodynamic admittance is insensitive to the mean wind velocity. The effect of wind attack angle on the two-dimensional aerodynamic admittance of bridge decks cannot be neglected.