Flutter mechanism for rectangular prisms in smooth and turbulent flow

The aim of the present work is to clarify the flutter mechanism for suspended long span bridges via a parametric analysis on flutter instability for a set of given deck profiles. Several wind tunnel tests in the DIC–CRIACIV boundary layer wind tunnel (BLWT) have been carried out on spring suspended section models such as rectangular cylinders of different slenderness ratios B/D=5 and 12.5, where B is the longitudinal length of the prism and D is the height of the prism. The main experimental parameters needed for examining whether a given bridge profile is flutter-prone below a certain mean wind velocity are the flutter derivatives, so a system identification procedure (combined system identification method, CSIM) has been developed to extract simultaneously all flutter derivatives from two degrees of freedom (2DoF) section model test results (coupled vertical-torsional free vibration tests). The parametric analysis includes the investigation on (1) the effects of model dynamic properties on BLWT test results, (2) the consequence of turbulence on bridge stability, (3) the possible definition of an aerodynamic stability performance index (β) for rectangular cylinders for designing purposes.