Safety assessment of ship-bridge system during sea transportation under complex sea states

Abstract

With a constantly increasing demand for sea-crossing bridges, sea transportation of bridges has a broad application prospect. Although current studies have investigated the environmental loads in complex sea states and the effects of the loads on ships and bridges in their service states, there are few studies on the safety assessment of a ship-bridge system during sea transportation. The safety assessment standards of ships and bridges cannot meet the safety requirements of bridge sea transportation. The imperfection of the safety assessment technology hinders the development of bridge sea transportation. To bridge the gap, this study proposed a systematic safety assessment for the sea transportation of bridges. Firstly, the calculation of marine environmental loads and the determination of load combinations were presented. Then, the safety assessment technology was proposed from the aspects of the ship-bridge system strength, system stability, bridge stability, and anti-sliding ability. Next, the ship-bridge system of the Tseung Kwan O Bridge was numerically simulated. The dynamic responses of the system subjected to the load combinations of wind, current, and wave were evaluated. Finally, the safety of the bridge during transportation was quantitatively assessed. The technology can greatly enhance bridge safety during sea transportation.