Dynamics of suspended cables under turbulence loading: Reduced models of wind field and mechanical system

In cables, turbulent wind may cause large amplitude oscillations. The prediction of cable response under wind action requires the use of high-dimensional numerical models either to describe the spatial wind field or to model the expected large cable oscillations. The paper discusses the ability of reduction techniques, for loading and cable descriptions, in reproducing accurately the dynamic response of a suspended cable excited by an artificially generated 3D turbulent wind field. Both the mechanical system and the spatially varying wind velocities are projected on the basis of cable eigenfunctions, retaining in the reduced models few degrees-of-freedom associated with the low frequency modes. A numerical investigation performed by a refined finite element model provides novel findings on the cable response to wind and permits to demonstrate the effectiveness of the reduced models in the description of cable dynamics. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.