Improving Wind Barrier for Enhanced Vehicle Stability in Bridge Tower Areas: A Combined Numerical and Field Study

Under crosswind conditions, cars passing through the bridge tower area equipped with wind barriers experience significant lateral vibrations. Field measurements have indicated that excessive porosity of the crash barriers is the primary cause of these cars’ vibrations. To improve the protectiveness of wind barriers near the bridge tower, a two-dimensional numerical simulation method is proposed to simplify the simulation of the three-dimensional wind shielding of the bridge tower (WSBT), and the accuracy of the proposed method is verified through the first field measurements. Subsequently, a measure involving the installation of enhanced barrier strips (EBSs) is proposed to reduce the porosity of the anti-collision guardrail and optimize the driving wind environment in the bridge tower area. Finally, numerical simulations of the vehicle dynamic model, along with additional field measurements, are conducted to verify the wind protection optimization measures. The results show that the proposed simulation method of WSBT achieves good accuracy. A large-sized EBS, installed in the anti-collision guardrail area, consists of a combined configuration of standard channel steel with heights of 80[Formula: see text]mm and 65[Formula: see text]mm, along with standard angle steel with a height of 70[Formula: see text]mm, which enhances the wind distribution of the bridge deck. After the optimized EBS is installed, both the driving performance analysis and field measurements confirm the effectiveness of the wind protection measures.