Numerical study on hydrodynamic load of real-world tsunami wave at highway bridge deck using a coupled modeling system

Abstract

In this study, a tsunami wave profile observed during the 2011 Japan Tsunami has been parameterized and applied for predicting hydrodynamic characteristics of coastal highway bridges under the impact of tsunami surge waves. The propagation of tsunami waves from the open sea to the inshore bridge site and its final impact at coastal highway bridge are typical multiscale coastal flow phenomena, whose integral simulation is beyond the reach of most existing numerical models. To simulate such multiscale flow phenomena, a newly developed coupled modeling system named the SIFUM-FVCOM system has been applied to study the tsunami wave impact at a coastal highway bridge deck. The effects of three dominant factors, particularly distance to the shoreline, clearance height, and tsunami wave height, on the resultant hydrodynamic loads at the bridge deck have been numerically investigated. The findings of this paper are believed to be instructive to improve our understandings on the hydrodynamic characteristics of coastal highway bridge under the impct of real-world tsunami wave and their future design.