Simultaneous occurrence of cable vibrations under the combined action of wind and rain have been observed around the world in cable-stayed bridges in the last 20 years. This mechanism has caused great concern to bridge engineers and researchers due to the large vibration amplitudes. These vibrations, which are predominantly cross-wind, were observed only under conditions of light rain and low wind speed occurring simultaneously. This paper presents the main results of an experimental wind tunnel study on three sectional cable models, set to investigate the influence of rivulets on the vortex shedding mechanism. The M1 model was positioned horizontally with perpendicular wind incidence to the longitudinal axis, the M2 model was positioned horizontally with oblique wind to the longitudinal axis and the M3 model was a typical inclined cable of cable-stayed bridges. For the M3 model, the vortex shedding intensity increases for all rivulets positions. The greatest intensity occurred when the upper and lower rivulets were at 50° and 110°, respectively. For turbulent flow, the vortex shedding is stronger in the models with rivulets. For Re < 1.2 x 105 the lower rivulets has no influence on the flow. However, for > 1.2 x 105 the lower rivulets have a clear influence on the flow around the cylinder. For the inclined model (M3) the lower rivulet affected the flow for all the Re range.
cable-stayed bridges; rain; wind; water rivulets