Validation of OpenSees for Tsunami Loading on Bridge Superstructures

Abstract

The performance of bridges prone to tsunami hazards is critical to the resilience of coastal communities. An important component of resilience is the development of design guidelines, which requires simulating the hydrodynamic loads imparted on bridges by tsunami waves. To support such simulation efforts, data collected from wave flume experiments were used to validate the particle finite-element method (PFEM) implementation in OpenSees, which has been widely used for earthquake engineering simulation of bridges. The numerical results agree well with the experimental data, showing the potential use of OpenSees for determining hydrodynamic loads on engineered structures. Given the wide-ranging earthquake engineering simulation capabilities of OpenSees, these validations form a basis for simulating bridge responses to multihazard earthquake and tsunami scenarios.