Investigation on wind stability of three-tower cable-stayed-suspension hybrid bridges under skew wind

By using a computational program of three-dimensional aerostatic and aerodynamic stability analysis of long-span bridges under skew wind, the dynamic characteristics and structural stability (including the aerostatic and aerodynamic stability) of a three-tower cable-stayed-suspension hybrid bridge with main span of 1 400 meters are investigated numerically under skew wind, and the skew wind and aerostatic effects on the aerostatic and aerodynamic stability of three-tower cable-stayedsuspension hybrid bridge are ascertained. The results show that the three-tower cable-stayed-suspension hybrid bridge is a longspan structure with greater flexibility, and it is more susceptible to the wind action. The aerostatic instability of three-tower cable-stayed-suspension hybrid bridges is characterized by the coupling of vertical bending and torsion of the girder, and the skew wind does not affect the aerostatic instability mode. The skew wind has positive or negative effects on the aerostatic stability of the bridge, the influence is between -5.38% and 4.64%, and in most cases, it reduces the aerostatic stability of the bridge. With the increase of wind yaw angle, the critical wind speed of aerostatic instability does not vary as the cosine rule as proposed by the skew wind decomposition method, the skew wind decomposition method may overestimate the aerostatic stability, and the maximum overestimation is 16.7%. The flutter critical wind speed fluctuates with the increase of wind yaw angle, and it may reach to the minimum value under the skew wind. The skew wind has limited effect on the aerodynamic stability of three-tower cable-stayed-suspension hybrid bridge, however the aerostatic effect significantly reduces the aerodynamic stability of the bridge under skew wind, the reduction is between 3.66% and 21.86%, with an overall average drop of 11.59%. The combined effect of skew and static winds further reduces the critical flutter wind speed, the decrease is between 7.91% and 19.37%, with an overall average decrease of 11.85%. Therefore, the effects of skew and static winds must be comprehensively considered in the aerostatic and aerodynamic stability analysis of three-tower cable-stayed-suspension hybrid bridges.