Finite Elements in Analysis and Design 47 (2011) 208210

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Finite Elements in Analysis and Design

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Discussion

Discussion on Full-order and multimode utter analysis using ANSYS [Finite elements in analysis and design 44(910) (2008) 537551]
G.F. Chen n, F.Y. Xu, Z. Zhang, W.L. Qiu
Wind Engineering Research Center, Faculty of Infrastructure Engineering, Dalian University of technology, Dalian, Liaoning 116024, PR China

a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history: Received 2 July 2010 Accepted 4 October 2010 Available online 4 November 2010 Keywords: ANSYS Flutter

a b s t r a c t
This discussion has pointed out that when doing the utter analysis of long span bridge using ANSYS, enough data of the external le (utter derivatives) should be given. Otherwise, the inaccuracy even the wrong result will be obtained. & 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

It is encouraged that, in this paper[1], the authors have presented the full-order and multimode methods for analyzing coupled utter of long-span bridges using commercial nite element (FE) package ANSYS. The work provides a useful approach to prediction of utter speed by ANSYS.

As shown in Fig. 9(a), the real part of the complex modes 1and 2 maintains constant after the wind velocity of almost 80 and 150 m/s, respectively, which are also shown in Fig. 7(a) of the paper [2]. As shown in appendix of the paper [2], the utter derivatives have been inputted as a table, which is a special type of numeric array

0.02 0.00 -0.02 -0.04 imagnary part -0.06 Real part -0.08 -0.10 -0.12 -0.14 -0.16 -0.18 -0.20 -20 0 20 40 60 80 100 wind veloctity (m/s) 120 140
complex mode 1

0.20 0.18 0.16 0.14 0.12 0.10 0.08 0.06 0.04 0.02 0.00 -0.02 -20 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
complex mode 1

wind veloctity (m/s)

Fig. 1. Variation of complex eigenvalue 1 versus wind velocity: (a) real part and (b) imaginary part.

DOI of original article: 10.1016/j.nel.2008.01.011 Corresponding author. Tel.: + 86 41184707995; fax: + 86 41184706275. E-mail address: gfchen123@yahoo.com.cn (G.F. Chen).

0168-874X/$ - see front matter & 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.nel.2010.10.001

G.F. Chen et al. / Finite Elements in Analysis and Design 47 (2011) 208210

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0.52 0.05 0.04 0.03 imagnary part Real part 0.02 0.01 0.00 -0.01 -0.02 -20 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200
complex mode 2

0.50 0.48 0.46 0.44 0.42 0.40 0.38 0.36 0.34 0.32 -20 0 20 40 60 80

complex mode 2

100 120 140 160 180 200

wind veloctity (m/s)

wind veloctity (m/s)

Fig. 2. Variation of complex eigenvalue 2 versus wind velocity: (a) real part and (b) imaginary part.

1.0 0.195 0.8 0.190 frequency (Hz)

ANSYS close form ANSYS close form

0.185

damping ratio 60 80 100 120 140

0.6

0.4

0.180

0.2 0.175 0.0 0.170 -20 0 20 40 -20 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140

wind veloctity (m/s)

wind veloctity (m/s)

0.04 0.50 0.02 0.00 frequency (Hz) damping ratio 0.45 -0.02 -0.04 -0.06 -0.08 -0.10 0.35 -0.12 -0.14 0.30 -0.16
ANSYS close form

0.40

ANSYS close form

-20

20

40

60

80

100 120 140 140 140 200

-20

20

40

60

80

100 120 140 140 140 200

wind veloctity (m/s)

wind veloctity (m/s)

Fig. 3. Comparison of utter analysis for the simply supported thin airfoil bridge: complex mode 1: (a) frequency and (b) damping ratio; complex mode 2: (c) frequency and (d) damping ratio.

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G.F. Chen et al. / Finite Elements in Analysis and Design 47 (2011) 208210

that allows ANSYS to calculate values through linear interpolation between these array elements explicitly dened in the array. Moreover, one can dene the array indices for each row, column, and plane and these indices can be not only integer numbers but also real numbers. Array elements can be either integers or real numbers. In the discussers experience, if a row index value exceeds the maximum row index number of the table, the row index value will be set as the maximum index number. The purpose of this discussion is in unveiling the reason the real part of the complex modes 1 and 2 keeps constant after some velocities. *Tread is a command to read a table of data from an external le (utter derivatives) to an ANSYS table array parameter. If the external le is not sufcient for the increase of row index value with an increase of the wind velocity, the row index value will exceed the maximum row index value. This leads to the utter derivatives keeping constant with the increase in wind velocity . Then the values of matrix27 elements remain constant, which result in the values of the aerodynamic stiffness and damping matrices keeping constant. That is the reason the real part and even the imaginary part of the complex mode do not vary with the increase in wind velocity. In order to illustrate the reason as mentioned before, the utter analysis of the simply supported beam-like bridge with thin-airfoil cross section has been done again with a sufcient utter derivatives data. As shown in Fig. 1, the real part of complex mode 1 decreases with the increase of the wind velocity; however the imaginary part rst increases in lower wind velocity and then decreases in higher wind velocity. From Fig. 2, it can be seen that

the real part of the complex mode 2 decreases in lower wind velocity and then increases all long in higher wind velocity; however, the imaginary part decreases with the increase of the wind velocity. These results differ from those of the authors as shown in Fig. 9(a). It is worth noting that the values of real part and imaginary part q 2 are xo and o 1x , respectively, where o is the frequency and x is the damping ratio. In the following ,the accuracy and effectiveness of the proposed framework are demonstrated utilizing another utter analysis method that has been proposed by Chen [3,4]. Fig. 3 shows that the two methods agree very well with each other. In one word, when doing the utter analysis of long span bridge using ANSYS, enough data of the external le (utter derivatives) should be given. Otherwise, the inaccuracy even the wrong result will be obtained. References
[1] X.G. Hua, Z.Q. Chen, Full-order and multimode utter analysis using ANSYS[J], Finite Elements in Analysis and Design 44 (9-10) (2008) 537551. [2] X.G. Hua, Z.Q. Chen, Y.Q. Ni, et al., Flutter analysis of long-span bridges using ANSYS[J], Wind and Structures 10 (1) (2007) 6182. [3] X.Z. Chen, A. Kareem, Revisiting multimode coupled bridge utter: some new insights[J], Journal of Engineering MechanicsASCE 132 (10) (2006) 11151123. [4] X.Z. Chen, Improved understanding of bimodal coupled bridge utter based on closed-form solutions[J], Journal of Structural EngineeringASCE 133 (1) (2007) 2231.