Nonlinear dynamic response of sea-crossing bridges to 3D correlated wind and wave loads

Abstract

Long span sea-crossing bridges are often slender and sensitive to wind and wave loads. Nonlinear dynamic response analysis of the bridges under three-dimensional (3D) correlated wind and wave loads is performed in this study in consideration of both geometric and aerodynamic nonlinearities. An optimized C-vine copula is first used to construct a 3D joint probability distribution and environmental contour of mean wind speed, significant wave height and peak wave period. Multi-point fluctuating wind loads with Davenport coherence function and random wave loads with pile group effect are then determined using wind and wave spectra respectively. The nonlinear wind-wave-bridge system considering geometric and aerodynamic nonlinearities is solved by the Newmark-β method with the 3D correlated wind and wave parameters as an input. The proposed approach is finally applied to a real sea-crossing cable-stayed bridge with the measured wind and wave data. The results show that the nonlinear response of the bridge is higher than its linear response with the same input. The bridge response is significantly reduced if the 3D correlated wind and wave loads other than conventional uncorrelated wind and wave loads are considered.

An experimental investigation on the hydrodynamic performance of floating bridge foundation with taut mooring system

“…It can avoid the construction of fixed foundations for the traditional bridge structures, which is quite challenging in the aforementioned engineering conditions with regard to the technological and financial aspects. Nowadays, a number of research works have focused on the structural safety of deep-water bridges subjected to environmental loadings (Guo et al, 2015; Wei et al, 2018; Fang et al, 2022; Han et al, 2022), and it is believed that with the continuous development of bridge engineering, the deep water conditions will inevitably be faced by engineers and researchers. In this context, the floating bridge is thought to be a promising structural concept for water-crossing engineering, and several investigations regarding to the structural performance of floating bridges have been published in the past few years.…”