Direct identification of aeroelastic force coefficients using forced vibration method

This study investigates the applicability of the direct identification of flutter derivatives in the time domain using Rational Function Approximation (RFA), where the extraction procedure requires either a combination of at least two wind speeds or one wind speed. In the frequency domain, flutter derivatives are identified at every wind speed. The ease of identifying flutter derivatives in the time domain creates a paradox because flutter derivative patterns sometimes change in higher-order polynomials. The first step involves a numerical study of RFA extractions for different deck shapes from existing bridges to verify the accurate wind speed combination for the extraction. The second step involves validating numerical simulation results through a wind tunnel experiment using the forced vibration method in one degree of freedom. The findings of the RFA extraction are compared to those obtained using the analytical solution. The numerical study and the wind tunnel experiment results are in good agreement. The results show that the evolution pattern of flutter derivatives determines the accuracy of the direct identification of RFA.