Abstract Summary
Suspended footbridges are more vulnerable to flutter than suspension road bridges due to their lightweight, flexible, and slender structural features. To ensure proper flutter stability, it is necessary to precisely investigate the flutter characteristics of the flexible suspended footbridge. This study compared the influence of the deck grating on the flutter wind speed of a prototype flexible suspended footbridge. In addition, the flutter behavior, mechanism, and major structural parameters of flexible suspended footbridge were identified via wind tunnel tests and aeroelastic flutter analyses on a section with a closed deck where flutter occurred. It was deduced that the decrease of torsional damping due to the torsional-driven vertical vibration and coupled aeroelastic force induced the torsional flutter. In addition, it was possible to increase the coupled flutter wind speed via the open grating deck. The prototype of flexible suspended bridge was constructed by applying open grating to the entire deck to ensure wind stability.
