Computational Design Tool for BridgeHydrodynamic Loading in Inundated Flows ofMidwest Rivers

® The contents of this report reflect the views of the authors, who are responsible for the facts and the accuracy of the information presented herein. This document is disseminated under the sponsorship of the Department of Transportation University Transportation Centers Program, in the interest of information exchange. The hydraulic forces experienced by an inundated bridge deck have great importance in the design of bridges. The proper estimation of loading exerted by the flow on the structure is important for design plans and is pertinent for evaluating its vulnerability. During a flood or hurricane highway bridges over the sea or other waterways may become partially or completely submerged. Flood flows add significant hydrodynamic loading on bridges, possibly resulting in the shearing or overturning of the bridge deck and failure of the bridge superstructures. The overall objective of the study was to establish validated computational practice to address research needs of transportation community in bridge hydraulics via computational fluid dynamic simulations. The reduced scale experiments conducted at the TFHRC hydraulics laboratory establish the foundations of validated computational practices to address the research needs of the transportation community. The simulations in this study were completed by using the supercomputers at the Argonne National Laboratory. The results of the present research provide a tool for designing new and retrofitting existing bridges so that they are able to withstand the forces and moments that may result from partial or complete inundation.