Numerical investigation of aerodynamic characteristics
for vehicles moving on bridges under crosswinds
Jiaming Zhang,Wei Liu,Xuhui He,Qi Tao,Cunming Ma
Abstract
The aerodynamic characteristics of vehicles moving on bridges under crosswinds are critical factors for
accurately assessing their safety and comfort when traveling on long-span bridges and directly impact the normal
operation of the bridge, whereas most previous studies have primarily focused on vehicles in ground scenarios or
stationary states. In this paper, the real movements of a large tractor-trailer on a highway bridge deck with six traffic
lanes and on flat ground were simulated simultaneously based on the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) numerical
simulation platform using the overset mesh technique, and the flow features and aerodynamic forces of the moving
vehicle under the effect of crosswinds were investigated in detail. The results show that the flow features of the moving
vehicle under crosswinds are mainly related to the yaw angle of the relative wind (synthesized by the wind velocity
and vehicle velocity), which leads to the aerodynamic forces of the moving vehicle as functions of the synthesized
wind yaw angle. Furthermore, the presence of the bridge deck reduces the side force and yawing moment of the vehicle
but increases the rolling moment to a certain extent compared to the simulation results of the ground case, and such
effects are also related to the position of the traffic lane in which the vehicle is traveling on the bridge deck. Finally,
empirical equations for the aerodynamic coefficients of the vehicle traveling on the bridge deck with respect to the
synthetic wind yaw angle are developed for engineering applications.
Key Words
aerodynamic characteristic; CFD simulation; moving vehicle; overset mesh; wind-vehicle-bridge
system
Address
Jiaming Zhang — 1)China Railway Eryuan Engineering Group Co., Ltd., Chengdu, Sichuan, China, 610031 2)School of Civil Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China, 410083
Wei Liu — China Railway Eryuan Engineering Group Co., Ltd., Chengdu, Sichuan, China, 610031
Xuhui He — School of Civil Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China, 410083
Qi Tao — China Railway Eryuan Engineering Group Co., Ltd., Chengdu, Sichuan, China, 610031
Cunming Ma — School of Civil Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China, 611756
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