Computational Techniques for Novel Design of Long-Span Bridges Considering Aeroelastic Phenomena

Abstract

[Abstract] Optimization techniques have demonstrated their capability to obtain economic and sustainable designs while meeting the performance and safety requirements in a number of engineering disciplines. In the bridge engineering field, the increasing main span length of super-long span bridges makes the wind-resistant design a top priority. However, it has been traditionally conducted following heuristic rules based on experimental analyses. Alternatively, the last advances in CFD and metamodeling techniques enables the development of optimization frameworks. The right conception of the aerostructural optimization problem is crucial to achieve noticeable reductions in the required amount of material and comprehensive safe designs. This paper reports the last advances in the authors’ line of research that pursues the definition of a numerical methodology for the full aerostructural optimization of long-span bridges considering shape and size design variables. The capabilities of the method are presented, and the necessity of considering uncertainty in the process is discussed.