Modeling excess shear stress around tandem piers of the longitudinal bridge by computational fluid dynamics

Abstract

This study investigates the excess shear stress field around tandem piers of longitudinal bridge based on Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). The excessive shear stress field of the single pier is used as a reference to analyze the excessive stress distribution of tandem piers. The excessive shear stress field behind a single pier is divided into three areas: vortex area (0–16.5D, where D is the diameter of the pier), recovery area (16.5D to 35.5D), and stable area (longer than 35.5D). If the downstream piers are located in the vortex areas, sheltering effects occur due to the accumulation of Kármán vortex streets. This reduces the excess shear stress between piers. If the downstream piers are located in the recovery areas, sheltering effects decrease. If the downstream piers are located in the stable areas, the sheltering effects is insignificant and the excess shear stress field around each pier becomes independent.