Multi-Barge Flotilla Impact Forces on Bridges

Bridge piers located in navigable inland waterways are designed to resist impact forces from barges and flotillas in addition to other design considerations (e.g., scour, dead and live loads, etc.). The primary design tool for estimating these forces is the AASHTO Guide Specification which provides a simple hand calculation method for determining an “equivalent impact force”. The simplicity comes at a cost of excluding the effect of the pier shape, impact duration, and interaction between barges in a flotilla. The objective of this report is to present a hand calculation method for determining barge or flotilla equivalent static impact forces on bridge piers. The primary advantage of this approach lies in its incorporation of pier geometry, interaction between barges, and impact duration. The proposed method is derived from the conduct of hundreds of finite element dynamic simulations of barges and various flotilla configurations impacting rigid and flexible rectangular and circular (or rounded end) bridge piers at different velocities. Results are presented and compared with ones derived from the AASHTO method and detailed finite element modeling. The results generated by the proposed method compare very well with ones derived from the FE modeling, while the AASHTO results are up to twice as large as one from the proposed method for the examples presented in this report.

• Record URL:
  https://doi.org/10.13023/KTC.RR.2008.13
• 
• Corporate Authors:

  University of Kentucky, Lexington

  Kentucky Transportation Center
  College of Engineering, 176 Raymond Building
  Lexington, KY  United States  40506-0281

  Kentucky Transportation Cabinet

  200 Mero Street
  Frankfort, KY  United States  40622

  Federal Highway Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Yuan, Peng
  • Harik, Issam E
  • Davidson, Michael T
• Publication Date: 2008-6

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Edition: Research Report
• Features: Figures; Photos; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 214p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Barges; Bridge piers; Crash tests; Crashes; Finite element method; Impacts; Set forward force; Water traffic; Water transportation crashes
• Subject Areas: Bridges and other structures; Design; Highways; Marine Transportation; Research; I24: Design of Bridges and Retaining Walls;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01108620
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: KTC-08-13/SPR261-03-2F
• Contract Numbers: KT SPR 261
• Files: TRIS, USDOT, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Aug 20 2008 9:06AM