Numerical and analytical studies of ship deckhouse impact with steel and RC bridge girders

Abstract

Bridges crossing navigable waterways are under the threat of accidental collisions from passing ships. However, previous research focus was mainly placed on ship collision with bridge substructures while ship-bridge superstructure collisions were largely ignored. In fact, superstructure collision accidents between bridge girders and ship deckhouses have occurred with increasing frequency in the past decade. Therefore, it is important to evaluate the bridge girder capacity against ship superstructure collisions in the design phase. In this paper, finite element models of a ship deckhouse and three types of bridge girders are established. Numerical simulations are conducted to investigate the response of the bridge girders under ship deckhouse collisions. The application and validity of the commonly adopted rigid body assumption of bridge girders are investigated. The results are compared with integrated collision simulations where both the striking deckhouse and the struck bridge girder are modelled as deformable bodies. The impact force, structural failure mode, and energy dissipation during the collision process are discussed. The effects of girder material and structural configuration are also discussed. Based on the numerically obtained failure mode of the ship deckhouse, an efficient analytical design approach for bridge girders against ship deckhouse impacts is proposed.