Numerical study on hydrodynamic characteristics of coastal bridge deck under joint action of regular waves and wind

Abstract

In harsh ocean environment, there are complex interactions between extreme surge waves and strong wind during hurricanes. Coastal infrastructures, such as coastal bridges, ineluctably need to withstand the joint action of waves and wind. During past few decades, many researchers have carried out a lot of theoretical, experimental, and numerical simulation work to study the damage mechanism of coastal bridges during extreme weather events. According to the authors’ knowledges, hydrodynamic characteristics of the coastal bridge deck under the joint action of surge waves and onshore wind have been largely ignored in previous researches. As one of the preliminary attempts, a series of numerical simulations have been performed to systematically investigate the hydrodynamic characteristics of coastal bridge deck under joint action of regular waves and onshore wind by considering the effects of prominent factors, such as wind speed, wave height, submersion depth, and water depth. The results indicates that the existence of the onshore wind can significantly distort the incident wave profile, enhance the intensity of wave impacting bridge deck, and generate the suction effects over the bridge deck, which will finally affect the hydrodynamic characteristics of the coastal bridge deck under the impact of regular waves. It is hoped that findings drawn from this study can further enhance our understanding on damage mechanism of coastal bridge decks during extreme weather events.