Experimental and Numerical Investigation of Wind Characteristics over Mountainous Valley Bridge Site Considering Improved Boundary Transition Sections

To study wind characteristics over mountainous terrain, the Xiangjiang Bridge site was employed in this paper. The improved boundary transition sections (BTS) were adopted to reduce the influence of “artificial cliffs” of the terrain model on the wind characteristics at the bridge site over the mountainous terrain. Numerical simulation and experimental investigations on wind characteristics over mountainous terrain with/without BTS were conducted for different cases, respectively. The research results show that the cross-bridge wind speed ratios and wind attack angles at the main deck level vary greatly along the bridge axis, which can be roughly divided into three parts, namely the mountain (I, III) and central canyon areas (II). The cross-bridge wind speed ratios at the main deck level with BTS is generally larger than that without BTS in the central canyon area (II) for most cases, while the opposite trend can be found in wind attack angles. The longitudinal wind speed ratios of the terrain model with BTS at L/4, L/2, and 3L/4 of the bridge length are larger than that of the terrain model without BTS for most cases. In general, the maximum relative error between numerical results and experimental results is about 30% for most cases.