Experimental and numerical study of a hinged floating bridge under waves and moving loads

Abstract

ABSTRACT As an important means of water transportation, floating bridges have broad application prospects. In this paper, a numerical calculation model of the floating bridge considering the combined actions of waves and moving loads is established based on the potential flow theory, and model tests are carried out to verify the accuracy of the numerical method. The effects of motorcade loads and wave parameters on the dynamic responses of the floating bridge were further investigated. The results show that the larger vertical displacements of the floating bridge are affected by both the increase in the number of vehicles and the decrease in vehicle distances. The wave frequency and wave amplitude ranges dominated by the waves and vehicle loads were provided. The extreme dynamic responses of the hinged floating bridge under the combined effect of the waves and moving loads are less than the linear superposition of the individual effect.