Prediction of the buffeting response of ice-accreted stay cables

Buffeting of iced stay cables is addressed in the paper. Numerical simulations of the 3-D 2 DoFs cross-sectional response are carried out in the time domain. The quasi steady assumption is used for evaluating buffeting and self-excited forces. A specially derived numerical model accounts for the dependency of the aerodynamic coefficients on the angle of attack, on the wind-cable angle and on the Reynolds number. The final goal of the study is that of producing relationships between the mean wind velocity and direction and the statistics of the cable displacements, for use in fatigue calculations. Furthermore, a probabilistic framework for the evaluation of the buffeting response of stay cables considering all possible climatic conditions, is proposed.