Flutter and buffeting responses of the Shantou Bay Bridge

Shantou Bay Bridge is the first long-span suspension bridge in China. Becau se of its location near the Shantou Seaport and its exposure to high typhoo n winds, wind-resistant studies are necessary to be made. In this paper, cr itical flutter wind speeds and buffeting responses of this bridge at its op eration and main construction stages are investigated. The Buffeting Respon se Spectrum method is first briefly presented. Then the sectional model tes t is carried out to directly obtain the critical flutter wind speed and to identify the flutter derivatives, which are adopted for the later analysis of the buffeting responses using the Buffeting Response Spectrum method. Fi nally the aeroelastic fall bridge model is tested to further investigate th e dynamic effects of the bridge. The results from the tests and the computa tions indicate that the flutter and buffeting behaviors of the Shantou Bay Bridge are satisfied.