Advances in bridge design for barge impacts

Designing bridges to survive barge impacts involves quantifying impact loads and evaluating structural responses. Herein, the authors present findings from high-resolution finite element simulations and physical tests that have yielded advances in design procedures for bridges. Updated barge bow force-deformation relationships are presented that incorporate dependencies on bridge element shape, size, and barge impact angle. A shock spectrum method is presented for verifying the effectiveness of barge bow force-deformation relationships. Recommendations are provided for computing the mass-related properties for tows that consist of multiple rows and columns of barges. The effects of corrosion and scour on the barge impact fragility of bridge structures are presented through high-resolution finite element simulations. Response surface surrogate models are presented for efficient generation of barge impact fragility surfaces.