Dynamic behavior of long-span cable-stayed bridge under ship-pylon collision

Ship collision poses a potential risk to bridges crossing navigable waterways. In the present study, the refined finite element (FE) model of a landmark long-span cable-stayed bridge is established, validated and employed to examine its global and local dynamic behaviors under ship-pylon collision. Firstly, the FE model of cable-stayed bridge is explicitly modeled, and material models are validated by simulating single component and existing impact test. Then, a modified mass weighted damping method is proposed to realize the stress initialization of bridge, and its rationality is validated by initialized states. Finally, the bridge dynamic behavior is examined by typical ship-pylon collision scenario with a ship mass of 24024 t and collision velocity of 6 m/s. It indicates that: (i) the cable-stayed bridge escapes from global collapse, while the impacted pylon experiences obvious local damage; (ii) the maximum transverse displacement of pile group foundation reaches 133 mm, which exceeds designed limitations; (iii) the whipping effect of pylon is pronounced with the maximum transverse displacement 355.9 mm reached during free vibration stage; (iv) the girder displacement lead to support failures and varied cable forces; (v) the ship and bridge have absorbed about 95.9 % and 4.1 % of collision energy.