Initial Design of a Double Curved Floating Bridge and Global Hydrodynamic Responses Under Environmental Conditions

Abstract

In this paper, a floating bridge concept is proposed. This bridge concept comprises a two oppositely curves in plan, which enables the cancellation of the axial forces at the bridge as one arch will be under compression while the other arch is in tension due to environmental forces acting in one direction. The road deck is carried by truss structures that are kept above the water by several elliptical cylindrical pontoons. To reduce drag load, the cross sectional area facing the current is reduced as much as possible, while the buoyancy is kept the same based on the initial weight estimation. Initial design consideration and methodology of a double curved floating bridge is presented, and a numerical model is established for analyzing this concept. Hydrodynamic and structural dynamic aspects are included in the numerical model. Parametric study of the bridge structural rigidity is performed to investigate the effect to the responses. White noise, regular and irregular wave simulations are carried out to investigate the dynamic responses of the floating bridge under different conditions.