Case Study: Evaluation of a Floating Steel Fender System for Bridge Pier Protection against Vessel Collision
Publication: Journal of Bridge Engineering
Volume 21, Issue 11
Abstract
Vessel collisions with bridges occur frequently worldwide and have the potential to cause enormous casualties, substantial property loss, and environmental destruction. Physical protection systems designed for bridge piers against vessel collisions are viable solutions to alleviate/prevent those disruption costs. This paper introduces a floating steel fender system for bridge pier protection and evaluates the performance using an explicit dynamic finite-element analysis code. The analysis method is validated against available drop-weight impact tests of a steel box module, because the steel fender system is constructed by repeatedly stacking and aligning a similar subassembly. The introduced fender system noticeably reduced the peak impact force applied on a bridge pier by approximately 55.3% and on the colliding vessel by approximately 56.2% while extending the impact duration approximately 273.1% as compared to the head-on collision without any protection. It was also shown that the initial kinematic energy of the barge before impact was mainly dissipated by plastic deformation of the steel module (57.5%) and colliding barge (16.5%), as well as the damage of the rubber dampers after impact. The results indicate that the floating steel fender system has excellent energy-absorbing capabilities.
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Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful for the support from the College of Engineering at the University of Georgia and the University of Georgia Research Foundation. The first author also thanks the National Science Foundation of China (Grant 51308054). Special thanks to Wang Junjie of Tongji University for the impact test results, and the owner of Zhongxian Bridge for the design information of the steel floating fender system. The opinions, findings, and conclusions do not reflect the views of the funding institutions or other individuals.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Bridge Engineering
Volume 21 • Issue 11 • November 2016
Copyright
© 2016 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Feb 27, 2015
Accepted: Apr 25, 2016
Published online: May 25, 2016
Discussion open until: Oct 25, 2016
Published in print: Nov 1, 2016
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