Journal of Wind Engineering

and Industrial Aerodynamics 90 (2002) 2045–2055

Background component of buffeting response of

cable-stayed bridges
M. Gua,*, S.R. Chena, C.C. Changb
a
State Key Laboratory for Disaster Reduction in Civil Engineering, Tongji University,
Shanghai 200092, China
b
Department of Civil Engineering, Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, Hong Kong, China

Abstract

For practical purpose, buffeting response of cable-stayed bridges to wind excitation is

usually analytically determined by single-mode-based method, and the resultant response is
written as the composition of the resonant component and the background component by the
square root of sum squares (SRSS) method. The background component is sometimes
neglected for simplifying computations. In the present paper, numerical computations on four
representative cable-stayed bridges in China indicate that the background component usually
has a significant contribution to the buffeting response of long-span cable-stayed bridges.
Parametric studies on the effects of structural parameters on the buffeting background
components for these four bridges are also performed. A simplified method introduced in
literatures for estimation of the background component of buffeting response is then briefly
discussed. Finally an approximate method for estimating the first vertical bending mode-
buffeting response of cable-stayed bridges is proposed.
r 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Cable-stayed bridges; Buffeting response; Background component; Simplified method

1. Introduction

Long-span cable-stayed bridges may exhibit wind-induced vibration phenomena

such as flutter, buffeting and vortex oscillation under wind excitation. Buffeting is a
kind of random vibration induced by turbulence in the oncoming wind. In practical
application, buffeting response of a bridge is usually estimated in frequency domain
as the composition of several single degree of freedom responses using the square

*Corresponding author. Fax: +86-21-65981210.

E-mail address: minggu@mail.tongji.edu.cn (M. Gu).

0167-6105/02/$ - see front matter r 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 1 6 7 - 6 1 0 5 ( 0 2 ) 0 0 3 2 0 - 3
2046 M. Gu et al. / J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 90 (2002) 2045–2055

root of sum squares (SRSS) method [1,2]. Although methods for multi-mode
coupled buffeting response have already been studied [3,4], single-mode-based SRSS
method still plays an important role in buffeting response analysis for practical
purposes due to its simplicity.
The buffeting response is usually separately evaluated as background and
resonant components. In practical analysis of buffeting response of some bridges
[5], and in some codes [6] and in methods for equivalent static load distributions [7],
the background component was usually omitted for simplification of the
computation procedure. However, the effect of such an omission on the total
buffeting response has not been analyzed in detail.
A simplified method was recommended in [5] to compute the background
component of buffeting response. This method was developed based on an
assumption that the function describing the spatial coherence of fluctuating wind
velocity keeps a constant over the whole frequency range. This method can greatly
simplify the computation procedure indeed, but its validation has not been available.
In this paper, four representative cable-stayed bridges in China are computed to
investigate the contribution of the background component to the total buffeting
response of cable-stayed bridges. The simplified method for estimation of the
background component of buffeting response of bridges introduced in [5] is then
briefly discussed. Finally an approximate method for estimating the first vertical
bending mode-buffeting response of cable-stayed bridges is proposed.

2. Basic formulation
The deflection components of the bridge deck can be expressed as [8]
X
vertical : hðx; tÞ ¼ hi ðxÞBxi ðtÞ; ð1Þ
i
X
torsion : aðx; tÞ ¼ ai ðxÞxi ðtÞ; ð2Þ
i
X
sway : pðx; tÞ ¼ pi ðxÞBxi ðtÞ; ð3Þ
i

where xi ðtÞ is the ith generalized coordinate of the bridge; B is the deck width; hi ðxÞ;
ai ðxÞ and pi ðxÞ are the ith modal shape functions.
The multi-mode coupling equation governing the bridge motion under wind
action can be written in matrix style as
Ix00 þ Ax0 þ Cx ¼ Qb ; ð4Þ
where x is the generalized coordinate vector; a prime represents a derivative with
respect to dimensionless time s ¼ Ut=B; U is the wind speed on the bridge deck; I is
an identity matrix; A and C are the damping and stiffness matrices, respectively; Qb
is the buffeting force vector.
Eq. (4) can be Fourier-transformed into reduced frequency (K) domain as:
% b;
E x% ¼ Q ð5Þ
 M. Gu et al. / J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 90 (2002) 2045–2055 2047

where x% and Q % b are the Fourier transforms of x and Qb vectors, respectively. A

general term of the impedance matrix E is Eij ¼ K 2 dij þ iKAij ðKÞ þ Cij ðKÞ; K
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
ð¼ Bo=UÞ is the reduced frequency; i ¼ 1; dij is the Kronecker delta
function.
If only the diagonal terms of the matrix E are kept, which means that the coupling
items in the motion equation are omitted, Eq. (5) can be easily solved. Thus RMS
value of the single-mode-based buffeting response can be obtained by using SRSS
method to all the selected single mode-buffeting responses as
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
X ffi X  4 2 Z N
2 ðxÞ ¼ 2 2 rB l 1
sðxÞ ¼ s
i i
d
i B i
r ðxÞ SQbi Qbi ðKÞ dK ; ð6Þ
Ii U 0 jEii ðKÞj2
where si ðxÞ is the ith single-mode response; Ii is the ith generalized inertia moment of
mass; l is the main span length of the bridge; r is the air density; ri ðxÞ ¼ ai ðxÞ or hi ðxÞ
or pi ðxÞ;
(
1 for r ¼ a;
dB ¼ ð7Þ
B for r ¼ h; p
and the power spectrum of the buffeting force Qb has the following form:
SQbi Qbi ðKÞ ¼ Rq%i ðKÞSu ðKÞ þ Rr%i ðKÞSw ðKÞ; ð8Þ
where
Z lZ l
dxA dxB
Rq%i ðKÞ ¼ q% i ðxA Þq% i ðxB Þ ecðKÞjxA xB j=l ; ð9Þ
0 0 l l
Z lZ l
dxA dxB
Rr%i ðKÞ ¼ r%i ðxA Þr%i ðxB Þ ecðKÞjxA xB j=l ; ð10Þ
0 0 l l

q% i ðxÞ ¼ 2½CL hi ðxÞ þ CD pi ðxÞ þ CM ai ðxÞ ; ð11Þ

r%i ðxÞ ¼ ðCL0 þ CD Þhi ðxÞ þ CD

0 0
pi ðxÞ þ CM ai ðxÞ; ð12Þ

lKl
cðKÞ ¼ ð7plp20Þ: ð13Þ
2pB
CL ; CD and CM are the coefficients of lift, drag and moment of the bridge deck,
respectively. A prime over the coefficients represents a derivative with respect to
attack angle of wind. The power spectra of the longitudinal and vertical fluctuating
wind speed components uðtÞ and wðtÞ in Eq. (8) take Kaimal’s and Panofsky’s
expressions [2], respectively, as
200zu2
Su ðnÞ ¼ ; ð14Þ
Uð1 þ 50f Þ5=3

3:36zu2
Sw ðnÞ ¼ : ð15Þ
Uð1 þ 10f 5=3 Þ
2048 M. Gu et al. / J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 90 (2002) 2045–2055

z is the elevation of the deck above water; f ¼ nz=U; n is the vibration frequency; u
is the friction velocity.
Based on a fair approximation, Eq. (6) can be rewritten as
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
si ðxÞ ¼ s2ri þ s2bi
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
 2 Z N
2 2 rB4 l U K* *
¼ dB ri ðxÞ S ð K Þ þ SQbi Qbi ðKÞ dK ; ð16Þ
2Ii U K* 2i 8Bz* i
Q Q
bi bi i
0

where sri is the resonant component of the ith mode-buffeting response, which is
usually considered to be the ith total buffeting response in some practical
applications; sbi is the background component of the ith mode-buffeting response;
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
K* i ¼ Ki 1  Ao r ð1=Ki ÞðIar =Ii Þ; z* i ¼ zi ðKi =K* i Þ  Azr ðK* i =2ÞðIar =Ii Þ; Ki ¼ 2pBni =U;
o z
Ar ¼ H4 ; P4 ; A3 as well as Ar ¼ H1 ; P1 ; A2 for r ¼ h; p; a; respectively; Iar ¼
rB2 ld0B =2 is the aerodynamic moment of mode r;
(
0 B for r ¼ a;
dB ¼
1 for r ¼ h; p:

ni is the ith natural frequency.

It is reasonable to study the contribution of the background component to the ith
total buffeting response by investigating the difference between sri and si : This
difference, which is denoted by Zi ; is here expressed by the ratio of sri to si :
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
sri 1
Zi ¼ ¼ ; ð17Þ
si 1 þ bi

where
RN
8Bz* i 0 SQbi Qbi ðKÞ dK
bi ¼ : ð18Þ
U K* i SQb Qb ðK* i Þ
i i

Due to the existence of a triple integration in Eqs. (16) and (18), their closed forms
cannot be obtained. In order to remove the triple integration item from Eqs. (16) and
(18) and simplify the computation, cðKÞ in Eqs. (9) and (10), which describes the
spatial correlation of fluctuating wind velocity along the bridge, was assumed to be
cðK* i Þ; namely a constant, in [5]. Thus the spectrum of buffeting force SQbi Qbi ðKÞ in
Eq. (3) was simplified as
SQbi Qbi ðKÞERq%i ðK* i ÞSu ðKÞ þ Rr%i ðK* i ÞSw ðKÞ: ð19Þ

With this simplification, the closed forms can be derived, which is given in Ref. [8].
To check the reliability of the simplification, a ratio similar to Eq. (17) is defined
based on the simplification in Eq. (19) as
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
sri 1
Z% i ¼ ¼ ; ð20Þ
s% i 1 þ b% i
 M. Gu et al. / J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 90 (2002) 2045–2055 2049

where s% i is the RMS of the ith total buffeting displacement obtained from the
simplified method;
z* i 6Ar þ 1:67
b% i ¼ ; ð21Þ
*
pfi 50Ar =ð1 þ 50f*i Þ5=3 þ 0:84=ð1 þ 10f*5=3
i Þ

K* i z
f*i ¼ ð22Þ
2pB
and
8 2
>
> 2CL
>
> ; r ¼ h;
>
> CL0 þ CD
>
>
>
< 
2CD 2
Ar ¼ ; r ¼ p; ð23Þ
>
> CD0
>
>  
>
>
> 2CM 2
>
>
: 0 ; r ¼ a:
CM

3. Parametric studies on background component

For most cable-stayed bridges, the 1st vertical bending buffeting usually makes
most contribution to the total buffeting response, and the other mode-buffeting
responses could be omitted from a practical point of view [9–12]. So, only the ratio of
the resonant component to the first vertical bending mode-buffeting response,
namely Zv1 ; is investigated. Four representative cable-stayed bridges in China are
carefully chosen and numerically studied. The main parameters of these bridges are
listed in Table 1.
From the equations in Section 2, it can be found that the main factors affecting
the quantity of Zv1 are n1 ; z1 ; z=U and the aerodynamic force coefficients. To disclose
the effect of a certain factor on Zv1 ; the other factors are kept constants when this
selected factor is under study. The numerical results indicate that the values of Zv1 for

Table 1
Main parameters of the our cable-stayed bridges [9–12]

Name Main span Deck and pylon style 1st mode vertical
length (m) bending frequency

Yangpu Bridge 602 Composite deck, two pylons 0.286

Tongling Bridge over 432 Concrete box deck, two pylons 0.275
Yangtze River
Hengqin Bridge 240 Concrete box deck, one pylon 0.535
Xupu Bridge 590 Composite deck, two pylons 0.306
2050 M. Gu et al. / J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 90 (2002) 2045–2055

all the four cable-stayed bridges vary with the factors in much the same way. Thus,
only the results of Yangpu Bridge and Hengqin Bridge are shown hereafter.

3.1. Effect of n1 of the bridge

To study the effect of the first vertical bending frequency, n1 ; on Zv1 ; n1 is assumed
to vary around the original value for each of the bridges. The numerical results of
Yannpu Bridge and Hengqin Bridge are presented in Figs. 1 and 2, respectively. In
the figures, the x-axis is n1 =nv1 ; where n1 is the variable natural frequency and nv1 is
the original natural frequency of the first vertical bending mode of the bridge. The
results shown in these two figures indicate that Zv1 decreases with the increase in n1 in
a linear way. This means that a higher natural frequency will result in a larger
background component.

3.2. Effect of z/U

Figs. 3 and 4 illustrate, respectively, the effects of z=U on Zv1 for Yangpu
Bridge and Hengqin Bridge. The value of z of Yangpu Bridge is about 60 m. For
Yangpu Bridge, when the velocity U equals 30 m/s, i.e. z=U ¼ 2; Zv1 is 85%; when U
is 15 m/s, Zv1 decreases to 73%. The other bridges have the same tendencies. The
results indicate that for cable-stayed bridges Zv1 is usually smaller at low velocity
than that at high velocity, that is to say, the lower the velocity, the larger the
background component. Thus, it would be very important to take the background
component into account for the estimation of fatigue life of a bridge due to
buffeting.

100
A: U=40m/s; B: U=30m/s;
C: U=15m/s; D: U=8m/s.
90
A

80
B
η v1 (%)

70 C

60
D

50
0.65 0.70 0.75 0.80 0.85 0.90 0.95 1.00 1.05 1.10
n/n 1

Fig. 1. Zv1 versus frequency for Yangpu Bridge.

 M. Gu et al. / J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 90 (2002) 2045–2055 2051

100 A: U=50m/s
A B: U=25m/s
95 C: U=10m/s

90 B
η v1 (%)

85

80

75
C

0.44 0.46 0.48 0.50 0.52 0.54 0.56 0.58

f (Hz)
Fig. 2. Zv1 versus frequency for Hengqin Bridge.

90

85

80
η v1 (%)

75

70

65

60
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

z/U
Fig. 3. Zv1 versus z=U for Yangpu Bridge.

3.3. Effect of structural damping ratio

The effects of the structural damping ratio on Zv1 for Yangpu Bridge and Hengqin
Bridge are shown in Figs. 5 and 6, respectively. It is found from these figures that Zv1
decreases with the structural damping ratio in a nearly linear way as well.
2052 M. Gu et al. / J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 90 (2002) 2045–2055

98

96

94

92
η v1 (%)

90

88

86

84

82

0.25 0.50 0.75 1.00 1.25 1.50 1.75 2.00 2.25 2.50
z/U
Fig. 4. Zv1 versus z=U for Hengqin Bridge.

90

85

80
η v1 (%)

75

70

65
0.00 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06
ζ
Fig. 5. Zv1 versus structural damping ratio for Yangpu Bridge.

3.4. Effect of aerodynamic force coefficients

For all the four bridges, when the original values of the aerodynamic force
coefficients (CL ; CL0 and CD ) are multiplied by constants from 0.01 to 20, Zv1 changes
little (p3%). This seems to indicate that the aerodynamic force coefficients are not
important factors affecting the quantity of Zv1 :
 M. Gu et al. / J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 90 (2002) 2045–2055 2053

100

98

96
η v1 (%)

94

92

90
0.00 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06

ζ
Fig. 6. Zv1 versus structural damping ratio for Hengqin Bridge.

4. Difference between gv1 and g% v1

The above numerical results indicate that the background component usually has
significant contribution to the first vertical bending buffeting response, and thus the
background component may not be negligible in buffeting analysis of cable-stayed
bridges for most cases.
Z% v1 is computed using Eq. (20) and then is compared with Zv1 to investigate their
difference. For Yangpu Bridge under a wind speed of 30 m/s, Z% v1 is 94.9%. This
means that for Yangpu Bridge the resonant component estimated using the
simplified method occupies about 95% of the first vertical bending mode buffeting
response, and thus the background buffeting component could be neglected from a
practical point of view. However, under the same condition, Zv1 equals 84%, as
shown in Fig. 1. The numerical results of the other bridges also show that their Z% v1
are generally over 90%, much larger than the corresponding results of Zv1 : This
seems to suggest that the contribution of the background response would be
underestimated if the simplification method is used.

5. An approximate method for resultant buffeting response

An approximate formula for estimating the value of Zv1 can be given through
curve fitting on the results of Zv1 of the four cable-stayed bridges as
Zv1 ¼ ð0:315K 2  3:163K þ 6:415Þz1  ð0:120K  0:2Þn1  0:804; ð24Þ
where K ¼ z=U: The precision of the above approximate formula will be discussed in
the next two case studies.
2054 M. Gu et al. / J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 90 (2002) 2045–2055

Table 2
Estimated buffeting responses

Bridge Main span fv1 U Zv1 sr1 (cm) sv1 from sv1 from Error (%)
name length (m) (Hz) (m/s) Eq. (25) Eq. (16)
(cm) (cm)

Xupu 590 0.306 17 0.755 0.345 0.475 0.472 0.64

Qingzhou 605 0.278 30 0.591 11.64 14.33 14.14 2.78

On the other hand, the formula for the total buffeting response of the first vertical
bending mode can be derived from Eq. (17) as follows:

sv1 ¼ sr1 =Zv1 : ð25Þ

Using the above two formulas one can easily find the approximate total buffeting
response of a cable-stayed bridge. The resonant buffeting response, sri ; can be
obtained from some practical methods, such as the buffeting response spectrum
method [13].
Xupu cable-stayed bridge, whose main parameters are given in Table 1, is
firstly taken as an example to show the application and to investigate the precision
of the present approximate method. The first vertical bending frequency
of this bridge is 0.306 Hz; the first bending damping ratio is assumed to be 0.01;
and the wind speed at the deck level takes 17 m/s. As a result, the RMS
of the resonant buffeting displacement is 0.345 cm from the buffeting response
spectrum method. The value of Zv1 is 0.755 from Eq. (24). This means that for
Xupu Bridge the resonant component is 75.5% of the total buffeting response
of the first vertical bending mode. From Eq. (25) the RMS value of the
approximate total buffeting response is 0.475 cm. On the other hand, the precise
RMS value of the first vertical bending buffeting displacement is 0.472 cm from
Eq. (16). The error between the approximate buffeting displacement and the precise
one is 0.64%.
Then the approximate method is used for estimating the buffeting displacement of
the Qingzhou Bridge over Min River, also a cable-stayed bridge. This bridge has a
main span of 605 m and a steel box deck. Its first vertical bending frequency is
0.2784 Hz. The structural damping ratio and the wind speed at the bridge deck level
are assumed to be 0.005 and 30 m/s, respectively. The computed RMS resonant
buffeting displacement of the first vertical bending mode, sr1 ; is 11.64 cm using the
buffeting response spectrum method. The value of Zv1 is 0.591. Thus the estimated
RMS value of the resultant buffeting displacement is 14.33 cm from the present
approximate method. Besides, the precise value is 14.14 cm from Eq. (16). The error
between the approximate value and the precise one is only 2.78%, which is
acceptable for practical purpose.
The above results are further summarized in Table 2.
 M. Gu et al. / J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 90 (2002) 2045–2055 2055

6. Concluding remarks

In this paper, a numerical study on four representative cable-stayed bridges in

China is performed to investigate the contribution of the background component to
the total buffeting response of cable-stayed bridges. The background component
usually contribute around or over 15% to the total response of the first vertical
bending mode. Higher natural frequency and damping and lower wind speed will
result in larger background component. The simplified method in [5] for background
component of buffeting response might underestimate the background buffeting
component. An approximate method for the total buffeting displacement of the first
vertical bending mode of cable-stayed bridges is finally derived. Two case studies
indicate that the approximate method is convenient to be used and its precision is
acceptable for practical purpose.

Acknowledgements

This project is co-supported by the National Science Foundation for the

Outstanding Youth and University Key Teacher by the Ministry of Education,
which are gratefully acknowledged.

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