Investigation of wind loads on bridge decks: an experimental and numerical analysis

Wind tunnel testing is very expensive, especially due to the handmade models and the cost of building and operation of wind tunnels. Therefore, numerical modelling such as computational fluid dynamics can be a more cost efficient solution and is seen to take the leading position in the future. The following research contains the validation of the Computational Fluid Dynamics tool VXFlow by comparing the numerical results with values in literature, the Eurocode and wind tunnel measurements. The study includes the analysis of static wind loads for different wind barrier geometries for the example of the Suderelbebrucke in Hamburg. VXFlow is found to give good results in a short computational time but tends to overpredict the drag coefficient. The application is aligned for investigations in the preliminary design of bridge decks and can be also used for wind tunnel validation. Keywords: Bridge deck, CFD tools, VXFlow, static wind loads, wind barrier