Scour Effect on Bridge and Vehicle Responses under Bridge–Vehicle–Wave Interaction

Abstract

Bridge scour is a major cause of bridge failures and has emerged as a significant concern for bridge engineers. Most studies focus on the scour mechanism, modeling, detecting and monitoring, and countermeasures. To detect or monitor the scour, the scour effect on the response and feature change of the bridge structure should be studied first to choose an effective measurement. Currently, very few studies have been performed on the scour consequences. Therefore, the present study investigated the scour effect on the responses of the entire bridge, including the superstructure and substructure, and even the responses of vehicles traveling on the bridge, which in turn could be used to detect or monitor the scour of foundations. A field bridge with scour history was adopted, and the bridge–vehicle–wave interaction was considered. First, the soil model, scour model, and wave loads were created. The free vibrations and dynamic analyses under wave loads were then conducted on a single pile and pile groups with different scour depths. The results indicate that the scour effect on the substructure response is very significant. Finally, the vehicle–bridge–wave interaction was analyzed by incorporating the wave force as a time-variant force into the vehicle-bridge–coupled equations. The results indicate that the response changes of the bridge deck and vehicle are also significant and have the potential to be used for scour damage detection.