Torsional stiffness degradation and aerostatic divergence of suspension bridge decks

• The mechanism of stiffness degradation of suspension bridges has been investigated.
• The vertical motions of the cables lead to stiffness degradation.
• A strong wind itself does not always account for the aerostatic instability of a bridge deck.
• Three definitions of critical wind speed of aerostatic torsional divergence are presented.
• The reason of instability is the degradation of torsional stiffness.

The mechanism of aerostatic torsional divergence (ATD) of long-span suspension bridges is investigated. A theoretical analysis on the basis of a generalized model is presented, showing that the vertical motion of a bridge deck is crucial to the torsional stiffness of the whole suspended system, and that the vertical motion of either cable with a magnitude beyond a certain threshold could result in a sudden degradation of the torsional stiffness of the system. This vertical motion-induced degradation of stiffness is recognized as the main reason for the ATD. Long-span suspension bridges are susceptible to such a type of divergence, especially when they are immersed in turbulent wind fields. The divergences that occur in turbulent wind fields differ significantly from those in smooth wind fields, and the difference is well explained by the generalized model that the loosening of any one cable could result in the vanishing of the part of stiffness provided by the whole cable system. The mechanism revealed in this paper leads to a definition of the critical wind speed of the ATD in a turbulent flow; that is, the one resulting in a vertical motion so large as to loosen either cable to a stressless state. Numerical results from the nonlinear finite-element (FE) analysis of the Xihoumen suspension bridge, in conjunction with observations from wind tunnel tests on an aero-elastic full bridge model, are in support of the viewpoint presented in this study.