Numerical evaluation of a novel crashworthy device for pier protection from barge impact

Abstract

Bridges located in navigation waterways are susceptible to ship impact due to the large ship transportation volume nowadays. The development of effective energy-dissipation devices which can protect bridges from ship impact has drawn much attention in recent years. As a result, many different types of protective structures such as composite crashworthy devices have been developed, analyzed and applied in bridge engineering. However, such protective structures are often extremely costly and were difficult to repair after an impact event. This paper aims to develop a novel crashworthy device with a steel-frame configuration of potentially low production cost and to numerically evaluate its mechanical behavior to quantify its energy-dissipation capacity. The strategy of using reduced cross-sections for certain steel beams in the device is proposed to limit plastic mechanisms within certain structural components whilst ensuring that others remain elastic during impact. The effectiveness of this strategy is numerically evaluated based on the assumption that the reduced cross-sections are rigidly connected to form a continuous beam model. The proposed strategy would greatly facilitate the restoration process of such devices after an impact event by replacing only those structural components where plastic deformations have occurred.