Dynamic responses of a ribbon floating bridge under moving loads

The moving loads induced hydroelastic responses of a ribbon floating bridge composed of several nonlinearly connected modules are studied from both experimental and numerical aspects in this paper. The 1:10 model tests were conducted in the ocean basin, where the static responses by static loads and dynamic vertical displacements of the floating bridge induced by moving loads were measured. The corresponding responses were also simulated numerically based on finite element method, and are finally compared with the experimental results. The results from the static cases validated the simulations of the connectors' properties. The dynamic responses show the main characteristics of the ribbon bridge under moving loads. The results show that the nonlinearity of the connectors has a great influence on the dynamic response of the floating bridge especially for the upward dynamic responses. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.