Study of Aerodynamic Effect on Skybridges Connecting Tall Buildings: A Computational Fluid Dynamic Approach

Abstract

Many cities have developed with the rapid growth of the population. Due to the shortage of land, tall buildings have to be implicit closeness. In the recent past due to various advantages, skybridges are adopted widely to connect adjacent buildings in the case of wind-induced motion, the vortex shedding causes a periodic driving force across the skybridge structure. Flutter and buffeting are the main aerodynamic instabilities in flexible bridges. In this research, a numerical simulation based on CFD was used to investigate the aerodynamic performance of skybridges. The numerical simulation was adopted using ANSYS/Fluent software to analyze four different skybridge configurations subjected to various wind forces. Throughout the simulation process that was carried out, the interaction of wind speed and cross-section of the skybridge deck was examined. All three aerodynamic forces showed an increment when the velocity increases. Results revealed that when the edges of the deck cross-section get smoother, aerodynamic forces acting on the skybridge get smaller. Hence, the model with curved edges gives the optimum cross-section for the construction of a skybridge.