Investigation of wind loads effect on Osman Gazi bridge using CFD

Wind loads are important dynamic loads that should not be ignored in the design of high and long span structures. In particular, it can be defined as a specific engineering problem, due to requirement of combining different disciplines such as transportation, structural and fluid mechanics. Advance in technology and civil engineering techniques enable engineers to push limits in the design of bridge and viaducts for higher and longer spans. Generally, the main methods used to analyze aerodynamic performance of such structures are design codes and wind tunnel tests. Limitations and disadvantages of these methods make numerical modeling studies more important. Recent advances in finite element methods, different boundary condition options and successful turbulence closures have facilitated highly accurate aerodynamic analysis of any type of geometry using high performance computers. In this thesis, aerodynamic analysis of the Osman Gazi Bridge deck has been performed for different wind velocities and different turbulence models. ANSYS CFX was used for numerical modeling as a quite reliable Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software. Wind loads effect on bridge has been also evaluated in terms of traffic comfort and safety as well as structural safety. As a result, it was detected that the bridge deck is exposed quite low wind resistance and it has a streamlined geometric design. In terms of traffic safety and comfort on the bridge, even at high speeds for long and large vehicles, it has understood that there is any risk of tipping over.