Wind suction effect on long-span stiffened steel truss bridges during erection

During the erection of long-span steel truss bridges, the bridge decks and the steel truss girders are commonly constructed simultaneously in order to shorten the construction period, leading to wind suction effect on the decks when wind strikes. This effect may have a remarkable influence on the wind-resistant behavior of stiffened steel truss bridges which hold long-span cantilevers during erection, as wind suction can act together with the gravity load to increase the structural response. However, neither current codes nor studies have taken this effect into account This paper is intended to investigate the wind suction effect and its influence on the static wind-resistant behavior of stiffened steel truss bridges during construction. Two wind tunnel tests, including a high-frequency base balance (H-FBB) test and a synchronous multi-pressure sensing system (SM-PSS) test, were carried out with the world's longest arch-stiffened steel truss bridge as a model. On the basis of the experimental results, two net pressure coefficients which could be used to determine the wind suction are proposed. A finite element analysis considering the wind suction effect is also performed, through which the wind suction influence on the model bridge during erection is obtained. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.