PROBABILITY MODEL OF WAVE IMPACT LOAD ON THE ELEVATED PILE CAP FOR SEA-CROSSING BRIDGES

Abstract

Elevated pile cap is one of the foundation types that are commonly used to support sea-crossing bridges. However, the large weight and small lateral stiffness make it sensitive to wave impact loads. The horizontal dynamic response of the elevated pile cap induced by extreme wave is obviously larger than that calculated by the static method, which will seriously threaten the safety of the structure. Moreover, traditional calculation methods of wave impact loading seldom consider the time-varying and random characteristics of wave impact loading. This paper focuses on the wave impact force on an elevated pile cap. The time history of the horizontal component of the wave impact load was obtained from the wave flume testing of the extreme wave impact on the scale model of elevated pile cap. The time history of the horizontal component of the wave impact load was obtained from the wave flume testing of the extreme wave impact on the scale model of an elevated pile cap. A wave flume test of the extreme wave impact on the scale model of an elevated pile cap is carried out. By analyzing the normalized wave impact load time history, the time history model is established. Impact maxima and rising time of the wave impact load are analyzed with probability method. The marginal distribution of impact maxima and the rising time of the wave impact load and their joint distribution form based on Copula were finally developed.