Computational study on aerodynamics of long-span bridges

A numerical procedure for aerodynamic load analysis of long span bridges is presented. The preconditioned Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes equations are adopted to compute flows over the bridges. To capture the turbulent characteristics of the flows, two equation turbulence models, Coakley’s q − ω model and Menter’s k − ω SST model, are used to compute the turbulent viscosity. A dual time stepping method in conjunction with the AF-ADI method is used to advance the solution in time. A loosely coupled method of the preconditioned RANS equations with the turbulence model equations is employed for fast computation without losing numerical stability. The numerical method for the aerodynamic load analysis is verified against well-known benchmark problems. Aerodynamic loads of two real bridges are computed with the method to demonstrate the usefulness of the method.