Effect of skew wind on curved long-span floating bridges

Abstract

Long-span floating bridges have a transverse flexibility that give long natural periods. The horizontal profile is typically arch shaped to provide lateral stiffness which makes the skew wind angle (incident angle in the horizontal plane) a function of the position along the bridge. Hence, skew wind effects may be important. In this paper, a wind load module is developed for OrcaFlex based on classical buffeting theory extended to account for variations of the aerodynamic coefficients with variation of the skew wind angle relative to the bridge. Using this load module, the response of a 3 km floating bridge is investigated with and without skew wind effects.