The Dubai eye giant observation wheel spoke cables dynamics

The Dubai eye giant observation wheel spoke cables dynamics

Modern observation wheels are extremely high, slender and light structures, making them particularly sensitive to the wind actions. In the design stage aerodynamics is one of the issues to be investigated since the structure may experience wind-induced vibrations.

All the effects of the interaction between wind and structure have to be taken into account: vortex shedding and vortex induced vibrations, wake induced vibrations and galloping. The static and dynamic behavior of the Dubay Eye rim spoke cables was studied by means of wind tunnel tests on cable prototypes to define the characteristics of the damping devices.