Vortex-induced vibration of long suspenders nearby the tower in the wake of bridge tower

The long suspenders nearby the tower of suspension bridge are prone to produce vibration performance in the wake of bridge tower due to their low natural frequencies. The suspender safety is closely related to the structural safety of bridge. The CFD numerical simulation was adopted and the SST k-ω turbulence model was chosen to analyze the unsteady flow around a 2D bridge tower and a 2D suspender according to a practical suspension bridge. First, the respective aerodynamic characteristic of the bridge tower and the suspender was calculated and compared with the results of related literatures. The effects of the wake of bridge tower on the aerodynamic characteristics of long suspenders nearby the pylon were analyzed under the condition of various wind velocities and directions after checking the reliability of the analysis method. The possibility of vortex-induced vibration of long suspenders nearby the tower in the wake of bridge tower was researched by analyzing the flow field characteristics and the change of aerodynamic forces of suspenders. The results indicate that vortex shedding from bridge tower has a strong influence on aerodynamic characteristics of suspenders at a wide range of wind directions, which may lead to vortex-induced vibration of suspenders at low wind velocity because the frequencies of drag and lift coefficient of suspenders are close to the frequency of vortex shedding from bridge tower.