Experimental study on the dynamic responses of a freestanding bridge tower subjected to coupled actions of wind and wave loads

Abstract This work presents an experimental investigation of the dynamic responses of a freestanding bridge tower model under coupled wave and wind actions. A test model with a geometric scaling of 1:100 was manufactured, and the test was performed in a wind tunnel and wave flume. The dynamic responses of the test model were measured under three cases of wind, wave and wind-wave coupled actions. The displacement, acceleration and bending moment were analyzed for the model with different wind speeds and wave exposures. The test results indicated that the coupled wind-wave effects are clear for lower wind speed with regular waves when the wave period is in the resonant region of the structures. When the wave period is far from the resonant frequency of the structure or the wind speed is much higher, the coupled wind-wave action does not significantly affect the dynamic responses of the bridge tower.