EXPERIMENTAL DETERMINATION OF THE AERODYNAMIC ADMITTANCE OF A BRIDGE DECK SEGMENT

The gust loading on bridge decks is described by the dynamic forces on a chord-wise strip and by the spatial distribution of these forces across the span. An experimental method to evaluate the aerodynamic admittance of a segment of a bridge deck that includes a combination of the cross-sectional admittance and the spatial distribution of the forces is presented in this paper. The method is based on wind tunnel tests in turbulent flow on a motionless section model of the deck. The approach has been validated experimentally on a closed-box girder bridge deck but can be applied to bridge decks of any cross-section.