Vehicle-bridge dynamic response analysis under copula-coupled wind and wave actions

Abstract

In the service period, coastal bridges are suffered from wind, wave, and environmental actions, which is a high-risk meteorological environment. To investigate the safety and comfort of vehicle-bridge subjected to the combined wind and wave, Copula-coupled theory is employed to discriminate the statistical correlation from wind speed (Uw) to wave height (Hs). According to the measured data, the combined values in different bivariate return period (BRP) are obtained by the optimal joint distribution (e.g., Clayton Copula). Wind forces on vehicle-bridge system involved buffeting and statical are considered. The wave forces of substructure are derived by Morison and MacCamy-Fuchs equation. A presentative double pylon cable-stayed bridge is employed to explore the effect of wind and wave loads. The vehicle-bridge dynamic response increases as the increase of BRP, especially the lateral displacement of mid-span, which is mainly affected by the first-order transverse bending fundamental frequency of the bridge. All dynamic response indexes meet the standard value.