Experimental study on the effects of hydrodynamic loads on the seismic response of end-anchored floating bridges

Abstract

This study focuses on seismic hydrodynamic testing and presents a 1:100-scaled experiment conducted on an end-anchored floating bridge. A series of underwater experiments with varying wave heights and wave periods were conducted to evaluate the effects of hydrodynamic properties on the dynamic behavior of floating bridges under the combined action of earthquakes and waves. The experimental results showed that sway motion resonance occurred when the wave period increased under a multihazard effect. The lateral motion of the pontoon is generated by the earthquake-induced lateral seismic radiation waves on both sides of the pontoon. However, as the wave height increased, the laterally expanding radiation waves on both sides of the pontoon were diminished by the incident waves, resulting in the fragmentation of the seismic radiation waves. Furthermore, independent of the wave height or earthquake, the roll motion of the pontoons induced by the earthquake steadily stabilized as the wave period increased. The effect of wave loads on the translational and rotational responses of floating structures under multihazard effects depends on the hydrodynamic properties of the input sea state.