Eccentric-wing flutter stabilizer for bridges - Analysis, tests, design, and costs

A device is presented that aims at preventing bridge flutter. It consists of wings positioned along the sides of, and fixed to, the bridge deck. Flutter suppression effectiveness is high provided the lateral eccentricity of the wings is large. It is a passive aerodynamic device that is presumably more cost-efficient than other passive measures or devices. Moreover, it does not contain moving parts. This is an advantage over devices with moving parts, which meet resistance due to reliability and durability concerns. Wind-tunnel tests were performed in which the flutter speed of a bridge deck sectional model without wings and with wings mounted in various configurations was measured. The experimental results are presented and compared with the results of flutter analyses using finite aeroelastic beam elements. Using the analytical approach, also the effect of the distribution of the wings along the length of a bridge was studied to optimize this distribution. Preliminary design studies for the wings and their support structures as well as quantity and cost estimates are presented. For a representative example bridge and wing configuration, an increase of 22% of flutter speed is reached at a cost increase of 2.5%.