Coupled CFD–FEM Simulation Methodology for Fire-Exposed Bridges
Publication: Journal of Bridge Engineering
Volume 26, Issue 10
Abstract
Evaluating the fire performance of bridges is necessary for damage mitigation as more fire-related accidents occurred on bridge structures. Current solutions adopting temperature curves can result in significant inaccuracy by neglecting the inhomogeneous characteristic of the fire-induced thermal environment. This paper proposed a numerical methodology for analyzing the coupled thermomechanical response of various bridges exposed to fires. The computational fluid dynamics (CFD) approach was implemented to reproduce the fire condition more realistically by modeling the combustion process and fire-driven flow. Then, an interface was adopted to extract the thermal boundary from the fire model. At last, the thermomechanical finite-element method (FEM) was coupled with the CFD model for determining the fire-induced response of the global bridge, thermally and structurally. By incorporating the multiscale FEM, this methodology can be extended to various large-scale bridges subjected to localized fires. The proposed approach was validated through a real fire experimental study on a steel column. To demonstrate the application of this strategy, a complex case study was carried out. A long-span cable-stayed bridge was investigated considering its girder segment was exposed to an under-deck tanker fire. Numerical results showed that the proposed method was able to capture the surrounding temperature field with strong thermal gradients and can predict not only the localized thermomechanical response of exposed segments but also the global structural performance evolution for large-scale complex bridges. The under-deck fire can introduce a significant impact on the entire cable-stayed bridge. Thereby, the multiscale FEM modeling strategy is required for the long-span bridges exposed to localized fires.
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Acknowledgments
This study was financially supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (Grant No. BK20181278 and BK20201274). Thanks to Dr. Kevin McGrattan at NIST for his support in improving the FDS codes regarding the simulation of sealed obstructions subjected to ultra-strong fires. Valuable suggestions from Xiuqi Xi at University College London are also acknowledged.
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Published In
Journal of Bridge Engineering
Volume 26 • Issue 10 • October 2021
Copyright
© 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Oct 28, 2020
Accepted: May 27, 2021
Published online: Aug 2, 2021
Published in print: Oct 1, 2021
Discussion open until: Jan 2, 2022
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