Experiments and computations of solitary-wave forces on a coastal-bridge deck. Part I: Flat Plate

Wave-in-deck loads on exposed jetties

Bridge decks in Escambia Bay were damaged during the storm surge of Hurricane Ivan in 2004. In this study, a numerical wave-load model based on the incompressible Reynolds averaged Navier–Stokes equations and k-e equations has been used to investigate dynamic wave forces exerted on the bridge deck. The volume of fluid method is adopted in the model to describe dynamic free surface, which is capable of simulating complex discontinuous free surface during wave breaking and wave-deck interactions. The model was satisfactorily tested against experimental data of uplift wave forces on horizontal plates. The validated model was applied to investigate wave forces acting on the bridge deck in Escambia Bay in the case of Hurricane Ivan. The time history of wave profiles, turbulent velocity fields, and dynamic uplift and horizontal forces acting on the full-scale bridge deck were simulated and analyzed. Results indicate that, during the storm surge event of Hurricane Ivan, the maximum uplifting wave forces were lar...

Numerical Modeling of Dynamic Wave Force Acting on Escambia Bay Bridge Deck during Hurricane Ivan

Experimental modeling of horizontal and vertical wave forces on an elevated coastal structure

Experimental and numerical modelling of wave forces on coastal bridge superstructures with box girders, Part I: Regular waves

Simple rules are developed to estimate the maximum uplift pressures induced on the underside of a flat plate by various types of incident waves. Theoretical prediction techniques are provided for both the slow-rise pressure component and the fast-rise pressure component (impact) for different incident waves: standing waves, regular progressive waves, and dispersive waves, all in constant water depth. Laboratory experiments were conducted in a dispersive wave basin partially to check the validity of prediction techniques and partially to provide additional information so that the prediction techniques can be extended empirically to cover the more complicated but more practical situation of a plate in shoaling water. The fast-rise pressure should be of engineering concern not only because the magnitude of its peak is enormous but also because the magnitude of the corresponding impulse is significant. The slow-rise pressure component was found to range from one to two times the hydrostatic pressure.

Hsiang Wang

Papers

Water Wave Pressure on Horizontal Plate