Hydro-structural response of complex elevated pile cap substructures to strom surge impact by smoothed particle hydrodynamics: Part 2: Model results

Abstract

Extreme waves, i.e., tsunamis and storm surges, can generate tremendous hydraulic bores capable of inflicting considerable damage to near-shore bridge infrastructure, often leading to structural failure. The conventional numerical approach to studying hydrodynamic impact is based on Eulerian grid-based, e.g., finite volume or diffused element algorithms. These perform well with perfectly defined simulation domains. However, in case of severe surface deformation, these grids must be continually reconstructed, which is time-intensive and introduces cumulative system errors. As Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamic (SPH) integrates the hydrodynamic equations of motion on each particle in Lagrangian formalism, it can handle complex wave non-linearity without mesh constraints. In this study opensource DualSPHysics model is applied to study the hydrodynamic response and group effect of elevated pile cap substructures to impulsive surge impact. Two conventional grids (2 × 2, 2 × 3 array-layout) and a hexagonal pile arrangement under three submersion levels are considered in studying the pile group effect on hydrodynamic forcing mechanism, flow characteristics, and factors governing pressure variability. The uplift thrust on the pile cap was found to be dependent on the surge fluid mass, incident velocity, and vertical distance between the surge breaking point and cap bottom. At impulsive impact, gridded pile arrangement offered greater resistance to incident surge flow. In reference to free flow condition, hexagonal layout can reduce the average flow velocity by 8.22–19.76%, while for a gridded system, it is between 14.00% and 23.52% depending on the submersion level. However, in a quasi-steady state, the flow resistance of the hexagonal system was greater. The study also compared the numerical results to accepted offshore design standards, which were found to underestimate the pile's group effect, specifically for complex hexagonal layouts. Later, it proposes rationalized force diagrams to be applied in design of complex elevated structures. The paper's finding is expected to contribute to formulating new guidelines for resilient hydraulic design of coastal and deep-water elevated structures.