Equivalent Wind Loading of Long-span Arch Bridges

With the consideration of usually bluff cross sections of arch ribs and ever-growing span length, it is necessary to carry out careful investigation on wind loading of long-span arch bridges in order to ensure aerodynamic safety of arch ribs and the whole bridge. However, compared with the main girder, even the static wind load of an arch rib is more complicated for the commonly change of elevation, cross section shape and inclination angle along the axis, while different types of possible wind-induced vibrations make the dynamic wind loading more complicated. Based on engineering practices on long-span arch bridges in China, the analysis of different combinations of equivalent wind loading for different construction stages of arch bridges, including the determination of static wind load for some complicated arch rib structures were investigated and discussed.