Comparisons of bridges flutter derivatives and generalized ones

The causes of the nonlinearity of self-excited aerodynamic force of bridge are interpreted from such two aspects as amplitude and wind velocity. The concept of “generalized flutter derivative” is proposed, and its physical meaning is illustrated. The graphs of the generalized flutter derivatives of plate and Sutong Bridge section model are plotted. The characteristics of all generalized flutter derivatives are compared and analyzed, and their superiorities are verified. The results indicate that the physical meaning of generalized flutter derivatives are more explicit compared to the traditional ones. It is more convenient to understand the nonlinearity properties of self-excited aerodynamic force of bridge according to the generalized flutter derivatives graphs with the wind velocity as the horizontal coordinate.