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15 - General Engineering
University of Oxford
Aeroelastic Control of Long-Span Suspension Bridges
The iconic Tacoma Narrows bridge disaster (1940) was caused by the gradual growth, over a period of approximately 45 minutes, of a structural torsional flutter oscillation. Rather than addressing this flutter instability problem using conventional structural means, this paper investigates the novel use of controlled leading- and trailing edge flaps to address the instability. Feedback compensation is achieved using a network of passive mechanical components. This work is on-going and theoretical results are currently being verified against wind tunnel tests. (The authors are listed in alphabetical order; ASME J. Applied Mechanics top 10 Most Downloaded Articles for June 2011).