Flutter and buffeting responses of the Shantou Bay Bridge

Shantou Bay Bridge is the first long-span suspension bridge in China. Because of its location near the Shantou Seaport and its exposure to high typhoon winds, wind-resistant studies are necessary to be made. In this paper, critical flutter wind speeds and buffeting responses of this bridge at its operation and main construction stages are investigated. The Buffeting Response Spectrum method is first briefly presented. Then the sectional model test is carried out to directly obtain the critical flutter wind speed and to identify the flutter derivatives, which are adopted for the later analysis of the buffeting responses using the Buffeting Response Spectrum method. Finally the aeroelastic full bridge model is tested to further investigate the dynamic effects of the bridge. The results from the tests and the computations indicate that the flutter and buffeting behaviors of the Shantou Bay Bridge are satisfied.