Experimental and numerical evaluation of the wind load on the 516 Arouca pedestrian suspension bridge

Abstract The present work analyses the wind load effects on the 516 Arouca bridge, the world's longest pedestrian suspension bridge in 2020. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was used to model a range of wind angles of attack between −8° and +8°. The simulations were performed by solving the steady-state Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations with the k-ω shear stress transport (SST) model. The fluid domain size was analysed by comparing the fluid flow behaviour for three different downstream sizes. It was shown that the downstream flow is not greatly affected by the bridge body due to the high opening surfaces of the bridge. Therefore, the most appropriate domain size considering the computation time was selected. The simulations were carried out for different bridge configurations to determine the influence of the upper guard of the tray deck and the suspended cables on the generated loads. The numerical results were validated by performing different wind tunnel tests using a reduced scale prototype. The predicted aerodynamic characteristics showed good agreement with the experimental results.