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Reduced order models (ROMs) are computationally efficient techniques, which have been widely used for predicting unsteady aerodynamic response of airfoils and wings. However, they have not been applied extensively to perform unsteady fluid dynamic analysis of flexible structures in civil engineering. This paper discusses the application of reduced order computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model based on the eigensystem realization algorithm (ERA) in the aerodynamic analysis of flexible structures with arbitrary shaped cross sections. As an example of a civil structure we examine the GBB long-span bridge for which there are published experimental data. The aerodynamic impulse responses of the GBB Bridge are used to construct the ROM, and then the aerodynamic forces due to arbitrary inputs are evaluated and compared to those of the model coupled with an advanced CFD code. Results demonstrate reasonable prediction power and high computational efficiency of the technique that can serve for preliminary design, optimization and control purposes. The methodology described in this paper has wide application in many offshore engineering problems where flexible structures interact with unsteady fluid mechanical phenomena.

This paper describes an efficient reduced order model (ROM) applied in the aerodynamic analysis of bluff bodies. The proposed method, which is based on eigensystem realization algorithm (ERA), uses the impulse response of the system obtained by computational fluid dynamics (CED) analysis to construct a ROM that can accurately predict the response of the system to any arbitrary input. In order to study the performance of the proposed technique, three different geometries including elliptical and rectangular sections as well as the deck cross section of Great Belt Bridge (GBB) were considered. The aerodynamic coefficients of the impulse responses of the three sections are used to construct the corresponding ROM for each section. Then, the aerodynamic coefficients from an arbitrary sinusoidal input obtained by CED are compared with the predicted one using the ROM. The results presented illustrate the ability of the proposed technique to predict responses of the systems to arbitrary sinusoidal and other generic inputs, with significant savings in terms of CPU time when compared with most CED codes. The methodology described in this paper has wide application in many offshore engineering problems where flexible structures interact with unsteady fluid flow, and should be useful in preliminary design, in design optimization, and in control algorithm development.