Vulnerability Assessment of Bridge Piers Damaged in Barge Collision to Subsequent Hurricane Events

Abstract

In a hurricane event, bridges that span rivers near coasts are at risk of experiencing water rise and increased wave loads. Such riverine bridges often allow barges to pass underneath them on a daily basis, introducing the risk of barge collision. Considering that a barge collision can occur at any time prior to or during a hurricane, there are situations that a bridge pier damaged by a barge is not repaired when a hurricane occurs. This can be due to an inadequate assessment of pier damage, unavailability of resources for repair activities, or shortage of reaction time between the barge collision and the hurricane event. Such a multihazard risk, in which residual damage due to barge collision(s) increases the vulnerability of bridge piers to hurricane-induced wave loads, was largely unexplored in the literature. This motivated the current study to investigate a set of representative bridge piers under various barge collision and hurricane event scenarios. For this purpose, rigorous finite-element simulations are conducted to capture and compare the structural response of both intact and damaged bridge piers. With an in-depth understanding of deformation patterns and failure modes, the cumulative consequences of these two extreme events are determined in various combinations. This leads to the quantification of how hurricane-induced damage is magnified, making a bridge pier vulnerable to failure, as the extent of residual damage due to barge collision increases. The outcome of this systematic assessment is expected to help ensure the safety and functionality of the bridge structures that serve the coastal communities separated by rivers, especially during hurricane events.