Investigation on the effect of vibration frequency on vortex-induced vibrations by section model tests

Higher-mode vertical vortex-induced vibrations (VIV) have been observed on several steel box-girder suspension bridges where different vertical modes are selectively excited in turn with wind velocity in accordance with the Strouhal law. Understanding the relationship of VIV amplitudes for different modes of vibration is very important for wind-resistant design of long-span box-girder suspension bridges. In this study, the basic rectangular cross-section with side ratio of B/D=6 is used to investigate the effect of different modes on VIV amplitudes by section model tests. The section model is flexibly mounted in wind tunnel with a variety of spring constants for simulating different modes of vibration and the non-dimensional vertical amplitudes are determined as a function of reduced velocity U/fD. Two \'lock-in\' ranges are observed at the same onset reduced velocities of approximately 4.8 and 9.4 for all cases. The second \'lock-in\' range, which is induced by the conventional vortex shedding, consistently gives larger responses than the first one and the Sc-normalized maximum non-dimensional responses are almost the same for different spring constants. The first \'lock-in\' range where the vibration frequency is approximately two times the vortex shedding frequency is probably a result of super-harmonic resonance or the \"frequency demultiplication\". The main conclusion drawn from the section model study, central to the higher-mode VIV of suspension bridges, is that the VIV amplitude for different modes is the same provided that the Sc number for these modes is identical.