Simplified formulations for flutter instability analysis of bridge deck

This paper deals with the flutter instability problem of flexible bridge decks in the framework of bimodal-coupled aeroelastic bridge system analysis. Based on the analysis of coefficients of the polynomials deduced from the singularity conditions of an integral wind-structure impedance matrix, a set of simplified formulations for calculating the critical wind velocity and coupled frequency are presented. Several case studies are discussed and comparisons with available approximated approaches are made and presented, along with a conventional complex eigenvalue analysis and numerical results. From the results, it is found that the formulas that are presented in this study are applicable to a variety of bridge cross sections that are not only prone to coupled-mode but also to single-mode-dominated flutter.