Aeroelastic response of suspended pedestrian bridges made of laminated wood and hemp

The work described in this paper investigated, by calculating critical flutter speed, the aeroelastic response of suspended pedestrian bridges made of a laminated wood structure and hemp cables and compared them to bridges with a steel structure and harmonic steel cables. Critical flutter speed was estimated using a numerical two degree of freedom (2-DOF) generalized deck model based on finite-element modal analysis. The critical flutter speeds of two sets of 25 different structural configurations, obtained by varying the deck chord and the permanent deck loads, made of steel and of laminated wood respectively, were estimated using experimental flutter derivatives obtained from 30 wind tunnel experiments. One of the most significant results was that pedestrian bridges made of laminated wood and hemp have a higher torsional frequency than those made of steel and that this affects critical flutter speed. A case study was performed and discussed by analyzing the structural and aeroelastic response of a 250 m pedestrian bridge with a 12 m deck chord and two approximately 32 m tall towers.